City of Laurens, Connect Lake Greenwood offering fireworks shows on Friday

Photo by Judith Brown

Laurens County, South Carolina – Between the Connect Lake Greenwood Fireworks Celebration at 9:30 p.m. and a larger-than-usual show in downtown Laurens soon after 9 p.m., Independence Day revelers will have options on land or at the lake. Both of the fireworks shows are planned for Friday night, July 3.

Connect Lake Greenwood is planning to begin the show at 9:30 p.m. but is asking for those planning to watch the show to register at https://www.connectlakegreenwood.org/lights-on-the-lake-2020/ . That will allow organizers to send late information in case bad weather causes changes in the plans.  The lights will launch from the area near Fellowship Camp and Conference Center, but the conference center will not be open to the public for land access this year.

The City of Laurens will host its All-American Independence Day Fireworks Spectacular Friday, July 3, and much of the downtown area will serve as the viewing grounds. The event will begin between 9 to 9:15 p.m.

“We wanted people to social distance so we felt the amphitheater wasn’t a good place for that,” said Laurens Mayor Nathan Senn. The city will not have music or activities at the Amphitheater, but rather will block off Highway 221 along Cemetery Hill from Fleming Street to West Main. It provides plenty of room to spread out and sit in lawn chairs, and the city is putting speakers up to broadcast the music that will go along with the fireworks.

For families who would prefer staying in their car to watch the show, Laurens radio station WLBG, at 860 AM and 104.1 FM, will play the same patriotic music soundtrack, Senn said.

The show will be larger than usual, said Jason Pridgen, the director of the Laurens Parks and Recreation Department. The Freedom Festival has always been covered through budgeted hospitality funds which are specifically for tourism-related activities and projects, Pridgen said. This year the city is putting the money it would have spent on a band toward additional fireworks, so the show is expected to last about 30 minutes.