More Nonprofits May Sell Fireworks

Following a complaint from a local veterans’ organization about how the city decides who can sell fireworks each summer, the City Council may expand its list of “grandfathered” fireworks groups to 25, officials said.

The city allows 25 Fillmore-based nonprofit groups to sell fireworks in booths along California 126 from June 28 to July 6. It has allowed fireworks sales since the 1920s.

In 1996 it adopted a policy giving groups that had sold fireworks for the last three years priority to apply for one of the 25 slots for the next year. Other groups would be chosen after the 21 groups on that list told the city their plans, officials said.

But the Fillmore post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars said that has left it with only a few weeks’ notice each year on whether it gets a booth, not much time to prepare for the rush of sales, said Richard Schuck, past commander of Post 9637.

On Tuesday the City Council introduced an ordinance updating the grandfather list to the 25 groups that sold fireworks in July 2000, including the VFW. Other groups new to the list will be the Church of Religious Science, the Future Farmers Booster Club and the Santa Clara River Valley Railroad Historical Society.

The council will vote on whether to adopt the law at its Oct. 24 meeting, said Steve McClary, deputy city clerk.

The fireworks sales are major fund-raisers for the nonprofit groups, McClary said. Sales average $40,000 to $50,000 per booth. Most of the proceeds funnel back into Fillmore. The VFW contributes its proceeds to local youth programs, a VFW long-term care home in Michigan and other charities, Schuck said.