West Milford No matter the month, no matter the temperature, West Milford is a town that loves fireworks. So it wasn’t the Fourth of July, Labor Day weekend would do just fine. Disappointed by a rouge bear incident and dangerously dry conditions earlier this summer, the Police Athletic League-sponsored event got the go signal last Saturday after two aborted missions. In mid-May PAL jumped into the void left by the township’s decision to skip the annual fireworks due to budgetary concerns. That gave PAL just six weeks to put it together. Under the direction of Bill Hemstead, president of PAL’s Board of Directors, and along with the summer-long dedication of 40 volunteers, approximately 3000 spectators got to enjoy the day and the pyrotechnic display. By sundown the grounds at the former Jungle Habitat venue came alive, but it was a far cry from a July evening. It was cool and quite windy, with gusts up to 18 miles per hour, causing concern to those in the fire service who would give the final nod to start the show. High winds and fireworks are not a good match. “It was a nail biting experience because of the wind,” Hemstead said. “We planned on coming before. It’s a beautiful night and I’m glad to be here with my mom,” sand Cathy Caronk who attended with her mom, June Leonard. Just picture a third cancellation - but this time with 3000 people already assembled. You couldn’t run for the hills because you were already there. “We planned on coming twice before,” said Glen and Diane Chmielowiec who came along with their four children. “Hey, they’re doing it, and I’d rather it be a little cooler than hot.” As it turned out, the ones who most likely suffered from the weather were those brave souls in the Dunk Tank. Board of education members Tim Foley, Dave Richards and Wayne Gottlieb shook off the goose bumps and stayed the course. Raising funds for the PAL’s $7000 monthly payment on its building and for its program expenses is never easy, but this event had to be readied on three separate occasions. The cost of triple advertising alone put a dent in the budget. Volunteer manpower had to be repeatedly called out to prepare the 16 acres of land. Some vendors were lost along the way to the event and Hemstead feels that if it had gone off on the rain date of July 9 (more commonly referred to as the bear date) they would have fared better because of the extensive publicity regarding the bear. This past Friday, as Hemstead was working at the main entrance to Jungle Habitat he noticed a woman exiting her car with a dog. He gently suggested a leash. One can imagine him volunteering to carry the dog around the trails if it had come down to it. Hemstead was pleased with the outcome of the event. He was glad they gained experience and looks forward to improving next year. He is thankful to the West Milford police, fire companies, first aid squad and the park police for providing an incident-free celebration. Considering the lack of significant rainfall in August, the forest service had raised a red flag for the Jungle Habitat area. “If it had turned up just one more notch it would have been cancelled again,” he said. On Sept. 4 there were no dogs, no bears, no extreme fire conditions, no hurricane, no earthquake or any other natural disaster - but there were fireworks. In the end, because of the additional expenses incurred, Hemstead believes that PAL will just about break even. He said that was okay. “We had promised the community we were going to do this,” he said. And PAL did its best to keep its promise, and then some.