{"id":37673,"date":"2026-07-07T15:58:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T19:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=37673"},"modified":"2026-07-07T16:59:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T20:59:55","slug":"west-end-fireworks-a-booming-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/07\/west-end-fireworks-a-booming-success\/","title":{"rendered":"West End fireworks a booming success"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By BOB SHRALUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was just kinda thrown together in three hours,\u201d Jared Lengerich chuckled, referring to last Saturday’s fireworks show which proved to be extremely popular and a major hit on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lengerich, owner-operator of West End restaurant in Decatur, decided it would be a great way to honor the eatery’s 140th<\/sup> birthday. He was put in touch with Nate Stimpson and then everything came together rather quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fireworks went up over the K of C’s home building at the southeast end of the city, the parking lot filled with local and area folks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just decided to do it,\u201d Lengerich told WZBD.com. \u201cIt (the decision) was on a Sunday. So, yeh, it was thrown together rather quickly\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

K of C officials played an integral role, approving the free use of the parking lot and its facilities. \u201cThe K of C was really good about it,\u201d Lengerich said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJared and everyone at the West End were celebrating 140 years in business, and with this being our nation’s 250th Independence Day, he wanted to give something back to the community by hosting a free fireworks display,\u201d Stimpson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of families don’t have the time, money, or ability to put on fireworks themselves, so we thought it would be great to provide another opportunity for people to gather, celebrate, and enjoy the holiday together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, this event had two simple goals: provide a safe environment for spectators and give families a free evening of entertainment to celebrate America’s 250th birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHO ARE YOU? Lengerich didn’t know Stimpson previously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn’t even know Nate at all,\u201d he explained. \u201cI reached out to Chris Caston, who has some licensing, and he put me on to Nate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lengerich had strong words of praise for his staff and for Stimpson, who operates 50 Cal Fireworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c Jared had reached out to me about putting something together for July 4. With the original (Chamber of Commerce) display being moved to July 2 \u2026 the Fourth was suddenly open,\u201d Stimpson explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause it all came together at the last minute, the show was an all-consumer 1.4G display made up entirely of cakes,\u201dStimpson continued. \u201cEven so, thanks to Jared’s generous contribution, we were able to put together a fireworks celebration that lasted just over 20 minutes and featured more than 6,500 aerial effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJared really went above and beyond to make the evening special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lengerich had no co-sponsors, handling the show’s expenses strictly on his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor did he take any profits from a food truck brought on the scene by a West End employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe (Jared) made sure there was food available\u201d and also arranged for the use of the K of C’s restrooms, Stimpson pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So will this become an annual affair? Way to early to tell, Jared says. \u201cAt this time, I really can’t say,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FAMILY AFFAIR: For Nate Stimpson, who put on a fireworks display in the Homestead housing addition a week or so earlier, fireworks are a family affair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His family, he says, deserves a huge thank-you for helping with the fireworks display, with perimeter control and crowd safety throughout the evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd most importantly, thank you to my wife, Brianna,\u201d he told WZBD.com. \u201cFireworks season is incredibly demanding, and while I’m gone, she keeps everything running at home with our two boys without ever missing a beat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe support of family and friends is what makes weekends like this one (last Saturday) possible. While we were putting on the K of C show, my brother (Andrew) was also shooting a private display in Fort Wayne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven with the short notice, both events were completed safely and without incident.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’d also like to sincerely thank the Knights of Columbus for allowing us to use their property and facilities. Their support played a big role in making the event possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRUCKIN’: Food was made available through a food truck with ties to the Decatur restaurant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new business in town, Curbside Cravings, served it up through the efforts of Jayci Brickley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brickley, a 2024 graduate of Bellmont High School, began truckin’ food to sites earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brickley is a West End employee, following in the footsteps of her late grandmother, Anne Gage, who spent numerous years at the facility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com \u201cIt was just kinda thrown together in three hours,\u201d Jared Lengerich chuckled, referring to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37674,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,15,21],"class_list":["post-37673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-decatur","tag-featured","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/West-End-fireworks.jpg?fit=722%2C540&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37673"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37676,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37673\/revisions\/37676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}