It was “The Day After, Revisited,” Saturday in two county parks south of Lawrence.

About 40 members of the Douglas County Fireworks Assn. spent Saturday morning cleaning up Wells Overlook Park and accessible banks around Lone Star Lake, picking up spent artillery-style shells, fire-crackers and Saturn Missile Batteries.

The two parks — outside of the city of Lawrence and immune to its ban on fireworks — drew dozens of visitors for the Fourth of July.

“I think we got most of it,” Eric Garrett, secretary-treasurer for the association, said of the fireworks remnants. “Wells Overlook is spotless.”

Garrett estimated the group picked up the equivalent of about a dozen barrels of trash at Wells Overlook and about 20 barrels at Lone Star.

The association was formed last year to oppose Lawrence’s newly instituted ban on fireworks. Many of the association’s members are fireworks retailers.

The association now is trying to get the ban reversed. Members are hoping to obtain 3,900 signatures on a petition to force a public vote on the issue.

Saturday’s cleanup, however, was designed to let the public know the group does not have tunnel vision, Garrett said.

“People always think we’re just in this for ourselves; that we just want to sell fireworks,” Garrett said. “We want to promote safety and cleanliness, too.”

Linda Chae, a Kansas University senior from Olathe, left, and Lawrence High School graduate Liz Pendleton, right, set aside a used fireworks artillery shell launcher as they help pick up Independence Day debris around Lone Star Lake. Volunteers and members of the Douglas County Fireworks Assn. cleaned Saturday morning at Wells Overlook and Lone Star Lake. In background at center is association member Chuck Garrett, Eudora.

Despite opposition by some to the ban, Lawrence residents may have been safer because of it.

Firefighters with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical did not handle any fireworks-related fire calls, Deputy Chief Mark Bradford said Saturday. That has not been the case during past Fourth of July holidays.

“It was just a very quiet Fourth of July,” Bradford said. “The ban must have worked.”

Lawrence Police were kept busy Friday responding to fireworks complaints and other matters, Sgt. Mark Warren said. Although no final tally on fireworks complaints was available, Warren said it was not a major problem.

“We did have two cars assigned to handle complaints, but I don’t think they were overwhelmed or got behind,” Warren said.

Last week, Police Chief Ron Olin said officers would be primarily concerned with educating the public about the ban rather than issuing citations.

In Eudora and Baldwin, residents are allowed to shoot fireworks. But there were no fireworks-related fires in those cities, either, fire chiefs said.

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“It was an amazing Fourth,” Eudora Fire Chief Spencer McCabe said.

A spokeswoman with the Wakarusa Township Fire Department said just one fireworks-related fire was reported in the township.

Saturday, with holiday celebrations over, area residents seemed more interested in escaping the heat. Park rangers reported “medium traffic” of boats on Clinton Lake and a small number of campers.

“It’s nothing like Memorial Day,” Ranger Burdel Welsh said. “There are a few campers with air conditioners here.”

Fire & Medical paramedics responded to some heat-related calls, but emergency room personnel at Lawrence Memorial Hospital said they had not treated any patients with heat-related problems either Friday or by mid-day Saturday.