By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
An area summer fireworks display could well be the best in the country.
At least, according to current voting in the USA Today’s Top 10 Best Places to See Fireworks, the Amelia Earhart Festival “Concert in the Sky” ranks third.
Jacque Pregont says she quite frankly was shocked when notified the Atchison fireworks display was one of 20 nominated.
“Huge surprise and very, very excited, because the other ones on the list are huge cities with astronomical budgets for one thing and huge population for the other,” Pregont tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “So, yes, to even be nominated and be on the list is a tremendous honor.”
The Amelia Earhart Festival display ranks behind only displays at Navy Pier in Chicago and the Ford Fireworks show in Detroit in the latest voting.
The fireworks show in Atchison attracts people from throughout the region, especially the St. Joseph and Kansas City areas, but it also attracts those from even farther distances. Pregont says some drive a long way to take in the festival and the fireworks in Atchison.
“I’ve had people who actually live as far south as Texas telling me that they come almost every year,” Pregont says. “We have area people in abundance, just drive in for the day a lot of times, because we have activities all day and then (they) just stay for the fireworks.”
Pregont contends it is amazing that the Atchison fireworks show ranks as high as it does, considering most of the other shows are in larger cities with much larger budgets. Yet, Pregont doesn’t consider being a much smaller community than the others to be a disadvantage.
“We get so many complements about how people feel welcomed, they feel like everybody’s so nice to them when they come here,” Pregont says. “And for the city people, it pulls them out of that environment. Right? It’s just something new. It’s a different experience. For rural people that come in, you feel like you’re a part of the community for that time period and we want people to feel like they’re a part of our community when they come and visit.”
The Amelia Earhart Festival will be held July 19th and 20th this year with the “Concert in the Sky” the evening of the 20th. It is a near half hour display choreographed with music, celebrating the hometown of famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart. It is produced by Stellar Fireworks of Wichita in front of Earhart’s childhood home overlooking the bluffs of the Missouri River. Pregont believes it is the music and the river that make it special. As many as 50,000 people attend.
You can go to the Amelia Earhart Festival Facebook page to vote or click HERE for the USA Today page on the contest.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.