In recent years, there has been an intense debate around fireworks and whether or not it is appropriate for the KLA to sponsor the display. For 2025, the KLA executive has decided to end our involvement with fireworks as we are no longer able to manage the risks to persons and property associated with the display, nor can we justify spending such a significant portion of member dues on it. We have spent a great deal of time debating this issue and fielding input from all sides, and we need now to re-focus our energy on the many other activities that serve our mission.

What follows here is a thorough explanation of how we arrived at this decision. If you are among those who are disappointed, upset or confused, we hope you will take the time to review it and put to rest any ill feelings or assumptions about the KLA's move away from this tradition. Thank you for your understanding.

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Fireworks have been the subject of much debate across cottage country for a number of years now. For more than 20 years, the KLA has sponsored a Canada Day fireworks display launched from Umbrella Island. Recently, though, KLA has heard concern from members regarding whether this display is consistent with the KLA mission. In response, the KLA conducted a town hall and member survey in 2024, and also researched how other lake associations and municipalities are handling the issue.

We listened carefully to the full range of views both for and against fireworks expressed in the town hall and survey, some very passionate and others uncertain. Overall, support for the KLA fireworks was divided 50/50, and more than half felt that fireworks are not consistent with the KLA’s mission. The only clear message was that 2/3 of members believed a central, KLA-sponsored event would reduce the risks of fire, injury, pollution and property damage associated with multiple displays around the lake. (Details of the results were reported in the 2024 Wavelength.)

The KLA executive therefore committed to coordinating the Canada Day display so long as we could limit these risks by:

• Launching from a safe location away from cottages and forest (namely, Umbrella Island)
• Limiting the size of the display to what could be purchased for ~ $1000
• Using consumer grade fireworks in biodegradable packaging, not commercial or display grade fireworks
• Organizing volunteers to clean up the following morning
• Encouraging residents and guests to attend a single display and refrain from setting off their own displays all around the lake

We concluded, “as long as volunteers come forward, we will do our best to make it happen”.

Leading up to Canada Day 2024, the KLA asked for member volunteers to launch a display from the traditional location of Umbrella Island, away from cottages and their occupants, and away from flammable forest. Although many volunteered to clean up, no members were able or willing to set up and launch the display.

In the end, in order to fulfill our commitment to doing our best, the KLA donated the funds we had allocated for fireworks to a generous and enthusiastic group of non-members. Since we were not supervising the event, it did raise some concerns about our liability, and we were not able to determine the location, type or amount of fireworks deployed.

The resulting display was spectacular, and we are grateful to the group who donated their time and effort to carry it out. Afterward, though, the KLA received an equal measure of praise and outrage. We found ourselves in a difficult position, and we have spent the ensuing months re-considering the pros and cons of our participation in the event.

At this time, we feel that we can no longer meet the goal of mitigating the risks associated with fireworks, as requested by 2/3 of our member survey respondents. The risks, as well as the disruptions, environmental impacts and financial cost, have come to outweigh the potential benefit to the community, however fun and beautiful they are for 20 minutes a year. KLA member dues will, we believe, be better spent on events at which we can socialize face-to-face, as well as on community and personal safety, water quality monitoring, government and NGO engagement, and community education. The KLA will continue to sponsor the Canada Day Concert on the water, and we will kick off a “Spirit Day” this year, encouraging cottagers to celebrate Canada Day with dock and boat decorations (details to come).

We understand that this decision will be disappointing to members for whom the event has been a great tradition, and we hope that you will not react with anger or censure. As volunteers we have worked very hard for several years now to garner your input, research alternatives, and debate the options. Please take the time to understand the challenge of our position, the reasons we felt it was time to move away from KLA involvement in the event, and our desire to re-direct our energies away from this debate and toward all the other work we do for the benefit of this community as a whole. We hope you will join us in setting aside differences and come together in celebration of Canada, and of the community that makes Koshlong so special to us all.

As always, your respectful feedback is welcome at koshlonglake@gmail.com.