photo by: John Young

Spectators line the bank of the Kansas River at Burcham Park to watch the annual fireworks show on Monday, July 4, 2016.

Lawrence is officially a fireworks-free city, but organizers of the new Lawrence Go Fourth festival are promising a bigger display of firepower this year than ever before.

Mike Logan, owner of downtown’s The Granada Theater, has taken over organizing the community’s Independence Day celebration, slated for 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday at Burcham Park along the banks of the Kansas River. Logan told the Journal-World last month that the budget for the fireworks show would be increased to $12,000 for Wednesday’s festivities, up from $8,000 a year ago.

The event is free, but multiple vendors will be on hand selling food, beer and other items. The family-friendly celebration will feature live music, a DJ, buskers and a kids’ area with a bouncy house and other inflatable contraptions.

Performers include singer-songwriter Sky Smeed, progressive bluegrass band Signal Ridge, the genre-mixing Rolling Foliage, and a five-piece “Country Blues Boogie-Woogie Band” called The Running Late.

The fireworks show itself, presented by the Lawrence Jaycees, will begin sometime after 9:30 p.m.

A shuttle service from the Lawrence Public Library parking garage near Seventh and Vermont streets will provide transportation to Burcham Park. More information on the Lawrence Go Fourth celebrations can be found online at lawrencegofourth.com.

The possession, sale and handling of fireworks have been prohibited in Lawrence since 2002, but that hasn’t stopped folks from playing with fire(works) and paying the price in years past.

In 2017, a somewhat quiet year for Independence Day celebrations, Lawrence police took almost 200 fireworks-related calls for July 4 festivities, but they issued just three citations. By comparison, officers handed out 44 citations over a seven-day period around July 4, 2014. In the past, police have issued an average of nine tickets per year, the Journal-World previously reported.

As a reminder, only novelty items (think sparklers, party poppers and snappers) are allowed within city limits. Residents may legally ignite fireworks and novelty items on private property in the unincorporated areas around Douglas County, however, but only with the property owner’s permission and only during certain times. (Those periods include 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m. to midnight Wednesday.)

As for Independence Day weather, Matt Wolters, meteorologist with Topeka’s National Weather Service office, says the holiday will be hot and humid. Temperatures should top out in the mid-90s with the heat index rising to about 105. Skies will be mostly clear with no chance of rain.

Anyone outside for an extended period needs to drink lots of liquids and be aware that soda and alcoholic beverages only exacerbate dehydration.

— Journal-World reporter Elvyn Jones contributed to this report.