(Seguin) — Get your car radios, cell phones and/or blue tooth speakers ready as this year’s Freedom Fiesta Fireworks Show will not only bring wonderment to the eyes but also wonderment to the ears.
After a year-long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Seguin’s fireworks show is making an even special return this Saturday night with the help of Seguin Radio KWED. The radio station this year will be providing patriotic music specially choreographed with this year’s fireworks show at Max Starcke Park.
KWED General Manager Darren Dunn says that the music is being made possible by sponsor, Nissan of New Braunfels.
“The Nissan dealership was eager to help us provide the musical portion of the fireworks show. We are thankful that the Seguin community will be able to enjoy an amazing fireworks show, and also have that experience enhanced by patriotic music,” said Dunn.
Jack Jones, director of Seguin’s Parks and Recreation Department, says he is appreciative to KWED and Nissan of New Braunfels for bringing the music to wherever folks choose to enjoy the show.
“We are really excited this year. The general manager there at the radio station, Darren Dunn emailed me and said ‘hey, we’d like to do music this year and this is kind of a bucket list thing for me. Believe it or not, I’ve always wanted to have in the past 25 years that I have done this in my career of fireworks, I’ve always wanted to have fireworks go off with music and having a radio station here and Darren emailing me and finding New Braunfels Nissan to sponsor the patriotic music, you just can’t get better than that,” said Jones.
As for this year’s display, Jones says the fireworks are being prepped to “be bigger and better than ever.”
“We have a great fireworks show lined up. We’ve increased the budget from two years ago a little bit by 20 percent so hopefully, we’ll get say a 20 percent even better show than 2019 and if you remember the show in 2019, it was spectacular, so we are hoping for the same show but maybe a tad better. We’ll see on Saturday at 9:30,” said Jones.
Jones says the best views for the fireworks will be from Max Starcke Park and the surrounding area. Seating on the Starcke Park Golf Course putting greens, however, is prohibited.
“The Seguin Events Complex is a good place to park even the Seguin Coliseum parking lot, the Softball Four-Plex parking lot, but if you wanted to walk over or you park off-site and want to get closer, we have opened up the softball four-plex. You can bring a blanket, bring your lawn chairs and of course the four softball fields, restrooms are there. Those will be available with the cars all around you, you just go out there and find a spot. We are also going to open up the Smokey Joe Williams Field and there are bleachers there at Smokey Joe and the bleachers, it turns out, face the fireworks show. So, if you don’t bring a chair, you can go into the bleachers and have a good view of the fireworks show or you can go onto the field and bring a lawn chair or a blanket and watch the show,” said Jones.
Jones says those planning to attend the fireworks display should arrive early, expect large crowds and should be mindful of park rules.
“With being the only show that I know of in the area on July 3, we still have a lot of people who come out, so you definitely need to be patient and find a place to park anywhere kind of in and around Starcke Park,” said Jones. “The show is going to be fired on the golf course. The only viewing for the show in Starcke Park West will be kind of along South Austin Street. There’s a little bit of viewing there — kind of on the west side of the golf course but for the most part, we ask folks to try to spread out as much as they can. Max Starcke Park East is a good spot, plenty of room over there to get out and view the fireworks show because a lot of folks will be pulled off on South Austin Street watching the show from the road. You just have to be careful when you park along South Austin Street, it’s still an open roadway. You just have to be cautious and careful when you open your door and cross the street. I really expect a record attendance given that we haven’t had a show in two years and this Saturday night, we are going to get a lot of people from out of town coming in to watch this show as well and hopefully, a lot of Segunites, a lot of their friends and relatives will come (too).”
Jones says he is eager to welcome back the fireworks show. He says after a long and hard year, Seguin deserves it.
“That’s like a sign that we are kind of back to normal, kind of. We still have COVID obviously and folks still need to be cautious of others and social distancing when they can and of course get your shot if you want to. But the signs that we are having our fireworks show again this year after skipping 2020, it seems like more of a sense of normalcy. So, we are excited to have this show,” said Jones.
The fireworks show gets underway at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, July 3. To listen to the music, turn your radio dial to AM 1580 KWED or click on the red play button found at the top of the radio station’s website at SeguinToday.com.
In addition to providing the music for the fireworks, KWED, the night before, will also be hosting its annual Freedom Fiesta in downtown Seguin. This year’s Freedom Fiesta will feature a food truck festival and live music by Clint Taft & the Buck Wild Band. The Fourth of July celebration will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday in Central Park. The event is free.