Families are getting ready to celebrate the Fourth of July. But for many people, plans are going to look very different this year.
Shooting fireworks at Lavon Lake became a family tradition for Newt Cunningham.
"So when they took it away it was like that really took a part of our family away, too," Cunningham said.
Fireworks are now illegal on the property where Cunningham used to spend July the Fourth. It had become a go-to place to celebrate the holiday until this year. The city of Lucas recently annexed the piece of property, located along Farm-to-Market Road 3286, so the city's fireworks ban now applies there.
It isn't just revelers, like Cunningham, making other plans.
For 27 years, Alvin Lafon has sold fireworks to people at the property who then set them off within walking distance away.
"They're disappointed," Lafon said.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
The ban means Lafon had to move a mile down the road just outside Lucas city limits.
"When growth comes, it's good for some and bad for the others and I guess it was bad for us because we had to leave,” Lafon said.
Michelle Burch also had to relocate.
She said her former location was the last public place in Collin County to shoot fireworks.
"I've gotten many calls and many people stopping by asking where they're going to shoot at and I have no place to tell them," she said.
Burch is hoping customers will now find private property to set them off. She also hopes customers they'll find their way back to her stand so, like fireworks, her business doesn't fizzle out, too.
The new rule means if Collin County residents want to shoot off fireworks they need to do it on private property outside city limits with permission of that property's owner.
Firework stands are open June 24 to July 4.
