It was unknown at deadline today whether the Indiana General Assembly would resolve the budget impasse and avert the shutdown of “nonessential” services--including state parks--threatened by Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Such a shutdown, however, would almost inevitably kill the community fireworks exhibition scheduled for Wednesday night at Indiana Dunes State Park (IDSP).

Heather Ennis, executive director of the Chesterton/Duneland Chamber of Commerce, told the Chesterton Tribune this morning that Daniels’ threatened shutdown would force the cancellation of the fireworks. “We don’t have another venue to move the fireworks to,” she said. “If the park closes, there’s not a whole lot we can do. There’s just no other place with adequate parking. If the budget doesn’t pass, we won’t be able to have it.”

But, Ennis added, “we expect from what we’ve heard that the budget will go through.”

IDSP Property Manager Brandt Baughman confirmed Ennis’ reading of the situation. “For us,” he said, “if the park’s shut down, the park’s shut down. If there is a budget impasse, we will have to close the park. If you take our parking spots out of the equation, that cuts down on the access considerably.”

As of deadline today, Daniels’ press secretary, Jane Jankowski, had not returned a call from the Tribune seeking comment on the possibility of the governor’s issuing an exemption to IDSP for the sake of the fireworks or on the probable public-relations disaster which a cancellation of the fireworks would cause the governor.

Mike Bremer, chief ranger at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore--whose Porter Beach and Kemil Beach flank the IDSP beach--expressed the hope that, if Daniels opts to pursue a shutdown, the community organizers have “a plan to get the message out early and often to let people know that there will be no fireworks.”

Ennis did note that--should the budget impasse be resolved in a timely manner but bad weather or high waves still preclude the fireworks on Wednesday night--a rain date of Thursday night has been arranged. “Our contract with the fireworks firm and the barge company permits for a rain date,” she said. “If the water’s too rough but the park is open, the exhibition will be on July 2.”

Waves of four and half feet or higher would likely prompt the U.S. Coast Guard to prohibit the fireworks barge from taking its position off the IDSP beach, Ennis said.

The National Weather Service was forecasting today northwest winds of 15 to 20 knots to persist through Wednesday morning with waves of three to six feet.

If the fireworks exhibition does take place as scheduled, there will be plenty of law enforcement officers from a variety of agencies on hand to deal with traffic and safety issues.

Of particular concern is the bottleneck of Porter Beach. “As soon as the public parking lot there fills up, we’re going to shut down the road into Porter Beach and just let in residents and people who say they’re visiting residents,” Police Chief Jamie Spanier said. “And we’ll be prepared to ticket and tow anyone who parks along the road.”

Spanier added that IDSP is treating the exhibition as though it were scheduled on a holiday weekend and will have approximately 100 employees on the ground. Both Porter and Chesterton police officers, along with Indiana Conservation Officers--some of them in boats in Lake Michigan--will be on duty at IDSP, he said.

A strong presence of National Park Service rangers is also planned, Bremer said. “We’re going to have extra staff working at Porter Beach and Kemil Beach to help people find their way. The Town of Porter has a pretty good plan to control traffic into Porter Beach. They’re going to take care of that issue before it becomes an issue.”

Bremer reminded persons who attend the exhibition that all private fireworks--including sparklers and firecrackers--are banned at the National Lakeshore. “We don’t want any fires started and we don’t want anyone injured,” he said.

Alcohol is similarly banned at both IDSP and the National Lakeshore.

Posted 6/30/2009