NAHANT — Town officials are considering postponing the date of Nahant’s annual Independence Day fireworks due to COVID-19 concerns.
The display — typically shot each year from Bailey’s Hill — would be the latest in a string of cancelations and postponements the town has announced in recent weeks as the summer months approach.
“We talked about it at the last Board of Selectmen meeting,” Barletta said. “As of right now, the conversation we had was leaning in the direction of not having fireworks on the Fourth of July.”
Just because fireworks may not happen on the Fourth doesn’t mean they won’t happen at all, however.
Barletta explained the contract Nahant has with Ocean State Pyrotechnics, the company behind the yearly show, may still allow the town to simply postpone its fireworks to a later date.
“We’ve signed a contract with them that allows us to delay (the fireworks display),” he said, adding that when that date might be will depend on several different factors surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and state-mandated social distancing measures.
“Rescheduling will follow the same information and data that’s also going to allow us to decide when we’re going to have town meetings (and other big gatherings),” he said. “It’s the same type of information we’re going to be looking at.
“Any type of fireworks show, even in the fall, is going to cause a large gathering, so if it’s safe for it to happen, then we’ll schedule for it.”
Board of Selectmen member Joshua Antrim said he would also likely support a motion to postpone the celebration, calling it a “prudent decision” in the current climate.
“We do our best to look to the future and guess how things are going to be, but it’s coming up fast and we need to make a decision soon,” he said. “We are definitely discussing the Fourth of July activities at our (Board of Selectmen) meeting Thursday night, and there’s a pretty good chance we’ll vote.
“The Fourth of July is a huge event here in town, so we have to be careful with groups of people and so on.”
Thursday’s Board of Selectmen meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will take place via Teleconference.
