Lasers Fire Over Crowd for Patriotic Celebration at Williston

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

Hundreds of residents from Williston and the surrounding area gathered Saturday night at Horseman’s Park for a laser light show and fireworks finale.

Portions of the laser show drew crowd applause when Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA was played over loudspeakers while red, white, and blue images of soldiers, firefighters, police, and the military flashed on a tall inflated screen as colored laser beams shot over the crowd.

Council President Debra Jones said she talked to LaserNet officials before the show to ask if they could give a longer fireworks finale because residents expressed disappointment about the lack of a full-blown fireworks display this year.

She said the company agreed to do an expanded fireworks finale. The fireworks show lasted for a couple of minutes. It was originally intended to be 30 seconds.

“I think it went pretty well,” she said.

She said the crowd was larger than expected. She said unfortunately some people took seats outdoors at the Williston Animal Group shelter at the airport unaware that the lasers wouldn’t shoot high enough to see them over the trees at Horseman’s Park. She said the city tried to spread the word ahead of time that traditional off-site locations to watch the show wouldn’t work. Apparently, not everyone got the message.

A guestimate of the crowd size was about 300 people. Crowds for the traditional fireworks display at Horseman’s Park have often been many times that size.

The rain stopped early in the day and cooled the night air. It was nearly perfect temperatures to watch the show.

The Williston City Council sponsors the show and a patriotic parade.