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Safe, Sane Fireworks Sales In Full Swing
fireworks
The Riverbank High School Band Boosters fireworks booth is open for business this week. The group, as most non-profits which have booths open in town, are raising money for their operations. Here, RHS grad Jakob Canfield shows advisor Rebecca Walker one of the TNT brand fireworks sets they have for sale. Some groups in town are selling TNT, others are selling the Phantom brand. Ric McGinnis/The News

As the Fourth of July holiday quickly approaches, non-profit organizations across Riverbank seek to ensure that residents have adequate – and safe – fireworks with which to celebrate.

In almost every parking lot in town, fireworks booths sprang up this past week, with sales beginning for most on Friday, June 28. By city ordinance, sales must end by midnight, July 4.

Sales workers in the RHS Band Boosters booth, between KFC and Starbucks in the CVS parking lot, noted this week that in the city of Modesto, sales can continue until July 5. Here, shift supervisor Rebecca Walter said the Band group was planning on wrapping up by about 9 p.m. on Thursday, July 4.

Among those helping out at the booth were Rolando Carrillo Jr. and Jakob Canfield.

Non-profit organizations all over town are benefiting from fireworks sales.

Walker said except for organizing the man-(and woman)-power to staff the booths during open hours, the process is relatively easy, at least for TNT fireworks sales, since they are distributed out of a warehouse over in Modesto.

She said when all is said and done, the group will take what did not sell back to the warehouse, and be paid for the product that they did sell.

Shoppers should be aware that it is possible, by now, that some locations might have already sold out of all the product they had available.

Of course, city officials have been stressing the need for so-called ‘Safe and Sane’ fireworks, approved by the state Fire Marshal’s office, as those sold commercially are.

And they’d like to point out how dry local terrains are, suggesting that celebrants keep a bucket of water on hand, just in case, when setting off their pyrotechnics.

The city also has set in motion a new series of fines and penalties for the use of illegal fireworks.