{"id":22081,"date":"2025-05-27T09:30:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T15:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fireworks-wont-be-allowed-at-mcgee-park-anymore\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T15:30:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T15:30:44","slug":"fireworks-wont-be-allowed-at-mcgee-park-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fireworks-wont-be-allowed-at-mcgee-park-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"Fireworks won\u2019t be allowed at McGee Park anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image naviga-align-left alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=5955d98d-c882-5333-8105-a7c5231a1b41&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2291\" alt=\"The Freedom Days fireworks display put on by the city of Farmington on Monday night went off without complication. (Mario Deschilly\/Special to Tri-City Record)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">The Freedom Days fireworks display put on by the city of Farmington on Monday night went off without complication. (Mario Deschilly\/Special to Tri-City Record)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>AZTEC \u2013 San Juan County will no longer allow lighting personal fireworks on the grounds of McGee Park over the Independence Day holiday.<\/p>\n<p>Since at least 2016, McGee Park\u2019s North parking lot has been open for families to light fireworks. What started as an event with good intent has become unsafe and uninsurable. San Juan County will not assume any risk associated with the event and will no longer allow fireworks at McGee Park. Fireworks are also not allowed at any other county property.<\/p>\n<p>New estimates based on cellphone data indicate that more than 8,500 people were in the parking lot on July 4, 2024, with more than 11,500 people visiting over the week. Vehicles were parked across parking aisles, restricting access to emergency vehicles. Groups brought alcohol, which is also not allowed at McGee Park, and fights broke out. The sheer number of people in close quarters, combined with fireworks, makes this event impossible to purchase insurance for, and bad in practice to ensure public safety.<\/p>\n<p>Crews will barricade portions of the parking lot while still allowing access to Sunray Casino and regular events at McGee Park. San Juan County Fire &amp; Rescue and San Juan County Sheriff\u2019s Deputies will be patrolling the parking lot over the Independence Day weekend. Those who light fireworks may be trespassed from McGee Park.<\/p>\n<p>Individuals who use fireworks are encouraged to use the best and safest practices, including only lighting fireworks on barren ground, having a nearby water source, not letting children light fireworks, and calling 911 if a fire gets out of control. Fireworks are not allowed on state and federal land and may be restricted inside city or town jurisdiction boundaries.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, there are opportunities to attend municipal firework displays on July 3 in Farmington and on July 5 in Bloomfield. The Fourth of July weekend includes many Freedom Days events, like the Gem &amp; Mineral show at McGee Park and the return of the Freedom Days Electric Light Parade on July 4 in downtown Farmington.<\/p>\n<p>The full schedule is online at farmingtonnm.org\/events\/freedom-days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>long-standing tradition is no longer insurable<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1222,799,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bloomfield","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22081"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}