Since at least the early 1950's, LHYC has sponsored the annual Fourth of July fireworks display.  Until very recently, this display was fully funded by the Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club as a service to the community.  Due to changes in fireworks regulations, about 11 years ago the display was required to move from the LH YC docks to a barge display in the middle of the lake.  While safer and allowing for a larger display, the change required renting, transporting, and launching 4 barges, approximately doubling the cost of the display.  (In order to ease concerns about locating barges, and to significantly reduce transportation costs, the Club purchased four barges last year.)  Fortunately, annual fund raising efforts have been successful in offsetting these increased costs, although LHYC continues to finance about 50% of the total costs of the display.  The municipalities, businesses, and individuals below were kind enough to contribute to the fireworks display last year, and most have already signed up again this year as sponsors.  We thank them all for their support.  If you would like to contribute, please send an email to fireworks@lhyc.com, and we will be glad to contact you.

The 2008 Fireworks went off finally after an hour weather delay.  As thundershowers came through the region Thursday evening, the LHYC Fireworks Committee spent a tense few hours checking radar and hoping for a "window" to get the the barges on to the water and the show underway.  That opportunity finally presented itself at about 9:40 PM, and the show got underway about 30 minutes later.   We have received several inquiries as to why the fireworks were not delayed until the rain date.  The decision to postpone must be made around 6 PM, prior to the loading of the shells on to the barges.  Once the shells are loaded, the decision becomes either "go" or "cancel" - postponement is no longer an option, as the shells cannot be re-stored once they are open, and it is impossible to get an entire second show of shells on such short notice.  Given the forecast and radar at 6 PM, the decision was made to load the barges, at which point we were committed to putting the show in air at some point in the evening unless the weather became relentless.  (In the future, if you see the barges being loaded, you can figure the odds are in favor of the show going on.)  Please beware that numerous LHYC members put in countless hours of volunteer time for this contribution to the wider community.  We sweat the weather more than anyone.  And while a few boaters were obviously disappointed that the fireworks went off on the scheduled date, many lakefront homeowners were very glad they did.  We thank you for your patience, and hope you enjoyed the show!