By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
ssoldan@mihomepaper.com
Ortonville—The annual Food Trucks and Fireworks event in Ortonville has been canceled.
“The lone local fireworks launch location, on the grounds of Brandon High and Middle Schools, will be undergoing major construction this summer and will not be available,” said Ortonville Village Manager Matt Ryan. “The 2025 bond project will see significant needed improvements, which can only be completed while school is not in session. School leaders worked with their construction teams in an effort to rearrange their project calendar to accommodate the fireworks show, but there simply was not a path forward that could achieve both goals of a fireworks show and timely project completion.”
The bond projects are set for summer 2025 completion, and include multiple parking lots at both Brandon High School and Brandon Middle School, as well as the service drive between the two properties and the maintenance garage and bus garage lots.
“The way the firework rules are written, for each inch of shell size, you have to have a 70 feet diameter protection,” said Brandon Fire Chief Dave Kwapis. “So if you have a ten inch shell, which is what we usually launch, you need 700 feet in one direction, 700 feet in another. That means no buildings and low vegetation.”
Kwapis said the reason the high school is the shooting location annually for the fireworks event is because it is the highest point along the M-15 corridor in Ortonville, it provides the most amount of parking, and has access to M-15.
“By losing the school, we lose about 900 parking spots,” he said.
Other locations were also talked about, but parking and clearance continued to be a concern.
“Unfortunately, none of those alternative options proved feasible,” said Ryan. “After significant effort, it is evident that there simply will not be an option for a fireworks show or similar event on July 3 for 2025.”
The Brandon Township park was also a consideration but due to the ITC transmission lines which require clearances and special permissions. There also only parking for about 100 cars.
Ryan also said that they are looking forward to being back and better than ever in 2026 for the 250th anniversary of the United States declaring independence.
“Planning is underway for a great event to commemorate this once-in-a-lifetime occasion,” he said. “I personally want to extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the many community partners from Brandon Schools, Brandon Fire, Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, the Ortonville DDA, Friends of AMOS, The village of Ortonville and Brandon Township. Their collective passion for the community and for the tradition of the July 3 fireworks show led to an impressive level of collegial cross-agency work to develop a plan to keep from canceling.”