The first annual Duneland community fireworks exhibition would appear to have been, by anyone’s standards, a marvelous success.

Heather Ennis, executive director the Chesterton/Duneland Chamber of Commerce, estimated total attendance at more than 8,500, with 1,480 vehicles actually entering Indiana Dunes State Park (IDSP) and a goodly amount of walk-in traffic as well.

The public lot at Porter Beach was also full, Ennis said, and there’s simply no way of knowing how many folks viewed the fireworks from Kemil Beach in Beverly Shores and other locations. Anecdotal reports also indicate that Dune Acres was crowded as well.

The fireworks began at 9:20 p.m. and ended at 9:45 p.m. “It was an impressive show,” Ennis told the Chesterton Tribune today. “We did start later than we wanted to in order to accommodate people who had been sitting in traffic waiting to get in. We didn’t want anyone to miss the show.”

Ennis noted in particular that the crowd was extremely well behaved and that there was none of the incidental inconveniences typical of large gatherings, with IDSP reporting zero (0) of the following: arrests, lockouts, crashes, fights, lost children, first-aid calls, vehicles stuck in sand, and dead batteries.

“For the first year we’re extremely happy,” Ennis said. “We’ll be sitting down soon and going through a debrief on improvements for next year. But for the first year it was absolutely a wonderful success.”

“We’re grateful for the support of all the communities and sponsors who made it possible to do this,” Ennis added.

Posted 7/3/2009