The best public places to view the Fireworks!

We had really great comments last year from almost everyone about the barge placement and the visibility of the Fireworks from nearly every vantage point on the harbor. I’m a firm believer in the old adage: ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” So, needless to say the Fireworks will once again be on a barge at the Mouth of the harbor.

Just for those of you who are interested; barges don’t just show up at the mouth of a busy harbor like ours and drop an anchor. It takes lots of planning and organizing to make it happen. It starts with our making an application to the Coast Guard to host a “Marine Event.” We fill out a very extensive set of documents and hope that the Coast Guard approves.

Next we try and find a suitable Barge. For that we go to Jon Wales. Jon is an old Marbleheader who sails out of the Eastern YC. He is a VP for Boston’s largest Tug Boat company (Boston Fuel & Transportation). It helps to have friends in high places! His boss, Jake Tibbets is always very helpful to us to despite the fact he is from Gloucester!

Having secured a Barge we move on to putting out some moorings for the Barge. Our old pal Laurie Willard of Willard & Son gets the nod for that job. Somehow he finds a few moorings big enough for the job and puts them in place under the watchful eye of Charlie Dalferro our Harbormaster. Charlie has a great staff working for Harbor. They are as follows: Sandy Carney, Frank McIver, Joe Homan, Dan Roads, Web Russell, Tom Sullivan, Tom Murray, & Ray Gauthier (a Salem guy but he’s OK). Anyone who has a Mooring in Marblehead Waters knows this team and we thank them for sending out a request for donations with the Mooring Permit Applications.

We have some other Waterfront types who are always there for us and do lots of the fiddle work to make everything on the waterfront work: David Haley, Marblehead Marine Contractors, Andy Smith & Matt Plauche from Smith Marine, Richie Jordan – Jordan Marine, Ralph Anderson from Marblehead Trading Company, Peter Fadden-Catherine F Fisheries and many more. In fact if this committee has anything going for it, it is that almost everyone we ask to do something is willing to drop what they are doing and get it done!

And, while on the Waterfront, I would be very remiss if I didn’t mention the Dock Masters, Launch Drivers and Dock Crews of all of the Yacht Clubs: The Boston, Corinthian, Dolphin, Eastern, Marblehead Yacht Clubs, & Pleon. Without their assistance and cooperation we simply would be lost. Further, each of these clubs makes a significant donation to the Fireworks Fund.

OK, so the Barge is in place. It is a big and imposing curiosity. For some reason, every boat in or around Marblehead Harbor feels that it is absolutely imperative that it gets as close to the Barge as possible. What they don’t realize is that the Coast Guard, the Marblehead Fire Department, The Harbormaster, and the Marblehead Police Department have established a Security Zone of 470 feet around the Barge.

Why is that necessary you might ask? Because Matt Shea and his crew are working with a few thousand pounds of highly explosive fireworks, that’s why. Well, we have a crew to handle the Security Zone around the Barge. These groups of volunteers use their own boats and their own fuel to try and protect those of you who wander a bit too close to the Barge. They politely ask you to keep back behind the markers (buoys) put in place to establish the Security Zone. Most everyone gets the idea and cooperates. For those few who just don’t get it, a quick call to the STACY H. CLARK puts things back into perspective.

The Security Zone Navy is organized by Carl Edwards. The following Marbleheaders donated their time and boats to patrol the Safety Zone: Felix Amsler, Adam Smith, Wayne Chandler, Tom Tomkins, Scott Edwards, Bill Betters, Bill Cuzner, Jack Attridge, Bob Gemmell, Peter Conway, Mike Mentuck, Mike Mentuck II, Jory Berkowitz, Tim Twombly, & Tom Huber.