July 4th Fireworks Moved, Joliet To Raffle New D'Arcy Auto

JOLIET, IL — This summer will mark the first time that Joliet's annual 4th of July fireworks show will not be held at the Joliet Park District's Memorial Stadium property. Fireworks at Inwood are history because the park district is installing FieldTurf on all their softball fields behind the Memorial Stadium as part of a $1.4 million expense.

Come this summer, the park district does not want to take the risk that the embers from the July 4th fireworks would start their new softball fields on fire, interim city manager Jim Hock explained at Monday night's pre-council meeting for the Joliet City Council.

Tuesday night's regular agenda asks the Council to provide Hock authorization to purchase a new vehicle for the city's first-ever 4th of July Cultural Car Raffle.

Hock anticipates the expense will cost the city no more than $55,000.

Joliet's annual 4th of July fireworks show is being relocated to the Joliet Junior College campus off Houbolt Road where there is substantial parking to accommodate thousands of vehicles.

And new this year, the city of Joliet is spearheading efforts to raffle off a new truck or SUV from Terry D'Arcy and his dealership, D'Arcy Motors, on Essington Road, in conjunction with the July 4th festivities.

On the 4th of July, the winning raffle ticket will be announced. The city of Joliet aims to sell a staggering 5,500 raffle tickets at $50 apiece, Hock revealed.

The city needs to sell 1,000 raffle tickets to break-even, Hock said. He said that selling 5,500 tickets won't be a problem. He expects people from several surrounding communities to purchase a raffle ticket.

"I think these will sell pretty quickly," Hock remarked at Monday night's meeting.

If the goal is reached, two of Joliet's major non-profit organizations, the Rialto Square Theatre and the Joliet Area Historical Museum, would be the main benefactors.

The city of Joliet, last month, made substantial cuts to the budget requests from the Rialto and the Joliet museum as part of the city's 2021 operating budget. The Rialto's request was trimmed by $100,000 and the museum's amount was reduced by $75,000, Hock said Monday.

The following is the memo from Hock urging the Joliet City Council to approve the purchase of a new automobile from D'Arcy Motors, which includes $15,000 to cover all the taxes for the vehicle.

The proposal was approved at Tuesday night's regular Council meeting.