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A real ‘Blast’: A look at Fourth fun returning to Lee’s Summit after pandemic pause

The booms, the flares, the food — all your favorite Fourth of July activities are back in Lee’s Summit this year after a pandemic pause. The Legacy Blast celebration will kick off at 6 p.m. July 1 at Legacy Park.

Fireworks will start around 9:30 p.m. when it gets dark, but don’t wait too long. Organizers will close access to the park at 9:15 p.m. — even earlier if it reaches capacity. In previous years, the event has attracted around 20,000 people watching from a variety of nearby venues as well as the park.

Run by Lee’s Summit Parks and Recreation and funded by the city of Lee’s Summit, the event will look a little different than in years past, courtesy of a citizen task force that helped with the planning.

“We didn’t have the event last year, the last two years. We’re coming off a fresh start. We thought it’d be a great opportunity to engage our citizens and say, ‘Here’s what we’ve done in the past. Do you have any new ideas for us to take a look at?’” said Joe Snook, administrator of parks and recreation for Lee’s Summit.

Legacy Park has four sports venues where people can set up to watch the display. This year, each venue will have a DJ playing what Snook calls high-energy music alongside balloon artists, face painters, jugglers and inflatable play structures.

On the advice of the task force, the number of balloon artists and face painters has been increased this year to shorten the lines.

Also on the entertainment menu will be carnival games. Attendees can play soccer shootout, double shot basketball, inflatable Viking ax throw, quarterback blitz football throw or tap light table, a game reminiscent of whack-a-mole.

Organizers are also setting up selfie stations for those who want to stage a moment for Instagram or TikTok.

The parking and entertainment is all free, so the only cost is from food vendors, which aren’t finalized but will include plenty of traditional fair food.

Snook said the fireworks display, put on by Wald Fireworks, will last about 20 minutes and feature approximately 900 shells.

“It’s a fantastic show. There’s not a lot of space or downtime in between shells,” Snook said. “It’s non-stop, and the finales are usually breathtaking.”

Snook said they’ve found in the past that they get more people attending if the fireworks event isn’t actually on July 4. Also, between staffing and availability of emergency services, July 4 itself is a difficult date to hold an event.

In case of rain, the event will be held July 2.