The annual fireworks show at Main Beach in East Hampton Village, once a Fourth of July tradition but more recently held in mid to late-August, will once again take place on July 4, when the nation will celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding.
Bradford Billet, chairman and chief executive officer of the East Hampton Village Foundation, told The Star this week that the village and the foundation, in collaboration with the East Hampton Fire Department, East Hampton Town Natural Resources Department, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, secured approval to hold the fireworks display on Independence Day. “It took a lot of legwork, and the town’s Natural Resources office was instrumental in getting this to happen,” he said. It is expected that the annual fireworks display will be held on July 4 next year and in 2028 as well, he said.
Any nesting piping plovers, which are classified as federally threatened, will be protected, Mr. Billet said. “I believe there are just scratchings, and not a nest there,” he said of Main Beach. “We are
making the assumption that a nest will occur but far enough away from where we are going to be launching that it is acceptable to the senior biologist responsible for administration of the Endangered Species Act. There is no nest there, but if one were to appear we'd still be in compliance.”
The federal agency “gets a lot of credit for being flexible enough in working with us,” he said. “This was a one-time plan” for the 250th anniversary celebration, “and if successful we will make an application next year and they will have the right to approve our plan, so when we say we’ll do this next year and the year after that, it is subject to Fish and Wildlife approval.”
“We also have agreed to post both cameras and security guards to protect the plovers from the public during such time in which we are shooting off fireworks,” Mr. Billet said. “We are protecting wildlife and at the same time providing a great show to the public.”
“People we’ve told are thrilled,” said Marcos Baladron, the village administrator. “The village board is thrilled to have fireworks back on July 4.”
Those planning to attend have been encouraged to arrive by 8 p.m., when a pre-fireworks live music performance will begin, the artist to be revealed on June 17. Classical music will accompany the fireworks, which will begin after dark. “We may have a couple of surprises, too,” Mr. Billet said. “But you’ve got to be there.”
“I’m very happy that we’re able to do the fireworks for the 250th back at Main Beach, where they belong,” Mayor Jerry Larsen said on Tuesday.
In Montauk, where July fireworks were upended after nesting plovers were discovered on the downtown beach the morning of the planned show, fireworks to celebrate Independence Day will go off on the Block Island Sound side of the hamlet this year, Rachael Corsi, executive director of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, told the hamlet's citizens advisory committee. Fireworks will be launched from a barge outside the harbor.
To minimize traffic congestion and promote safety, shuttle bus service will run from downtown to locations including Gosman's Dock, Gin Beach, and the Montauk Lighthouse, Ms. Corsi said.
