Change in Cody Fireworks Display

The fireworks show in Cody this 4th of July will look a little different.
With the disbanding of the Cody Skylighters volunteer organization this year, the community was without an Independence Day fireworks coordinator. So they contacted Chris Good, who has been in charge of putting on the Byron Fireworks show for the last twenty-plus years, which draws spectators from all over the region.
But Good ran into a hiccup in his plans when he designed the show to be shot from a location inside the city limits, above the Cathcart Center on the West Strip – and Fire Marshal Sam Wilde brought his concerns to the City Council.
Wilde says the traditional location, across the river from the gravel pit just north of the Shoshone River, is ideal because there are no structures nearby. But should a fire break out due to the explosives, he told the Council there would be real danger to nearby homes and businesses if the venue was moved to inside the City limits.

Wilde adds that additionally, the volunteer fire department is stretched fairly thin during the 4th of July activities as it is.

Wilde spoke to the City Council about his concerns, and the Council on a split vote denied the request to move the venue inside the City limits. But Good says that the show will go on as he designed it – however, it won’t be as high or as visible to the entire community as he had planned.

The funding for the annual spectacle is still being gathered – the Chamber of Commerce is selling t-shirts and accepting donations to fund the event.