Elmore fireworks show to honor Willett

ELMORE – As has become an annual tradition, fireworks will fill the night sky at dusk on Sept. 6 in Elmore at Well Park.

This year’s the Night Before Labor Day Celebration will begin at 5 p.m. at Well Park with food and beverages. Bands will start at 5:30 p.m. with an easy listening performance by Sarabande followed by Razz and Sonzz, who will entertain from 8 to 11 p.m.

This year’s fireworks will be the first year for the Pete Willet Memorial Fireworks, which is named in honor of the lifelong Elmore resident, who spent nearly his entire life entertaining people from all over the area with his fireworks displays.

Fireworks were a passion of Willett, who died in 2012.

As a child, he would help his father and uncle as they prepared to entertain during the annual Fourth of July celebrations which they held every year beginning in 1929 at the corner of State Routes 51 and 105 along the Portage River. He started his own displays at his home for church members and later Willett decided to move his fireworks show and displays to Sugar Creek Golf Course. He even worked with the high school band to coordinate a halftime show with music and fireworks.

Although donations were accepted, practically all of the money needed to put on his displays were paid for by Willett himself. Eventually, his Elmore shows moved to the Machining Technology property. A fireworks accident in 1999 put him on the sidelines but he retained his passion for fireworks.