Grove Chapel Church will hold its fifth annual fireworks show at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 28. Fireworks will begin about 9:45 p.m. Bring lawn chairs and blankets.
A passion for lighting fireworks since childhood and longtime membership at Grove Chapel Church helped spark Chris Wages’ decision to help his community.
“Every year, the (fireworks show has) grown,” he said. “We've done it long enough, you start seeing the same people every year come out and look forward to it. It kind of puts our little country church on the map.”
Jason Phillips, the church’s pastor, said he believes the church should be active in its community, leading to the start of the fireworks show in 2020 and the fifth annual show at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 28, complete with music and concessions.
“Our main focus is to be very thankful and bring our community in and let them just have a day,” he said. “We do it, honestly, just to be a blessing to our community and our neighbors.”
With an increase from roughly 300 people in 2020 to “upwards” of 700-800 people last year, Phillips said the church has adapted planning processes.
He said the church pays off-duty police officers and deputies to handle traffic, hired Oglethorpe County’s Nothin’ Nu Band to perform and will have concessions.
“This year, we’ve got a guy that’s going to have boiled peanuts,” Phillips said. “We give away a lot of sparklers and stuff like that to give kids something to do. We’re trying to think of things to do that might make it more family-oriented.”
Wages, a Colbert resident and Grove Chapel Church member since 2008, has helped plan and ignite the fireworks with his brother Brian since the show’s first year.
He said they will spend “a couple months” putting the show together and a few hours to input each into an electronic firing system that will queue the fireworks to go off in a specific order.
This year, the show will last roughly 23 minutes and include consumer grade fireworks like bottle rockets and Roman candles, and professional grade fireworks that require special training in order to purchase.
For Phillips, the show has also allowed the church community to connect with residents from outside Arnoldsville and Winterville, as well as veterans who have watched previous shows.
“(The veterans) just felt like this was kind of what our country was founded on,” he said. “Local people come together, becoming one big family, country.”
Phillips said the church and fireworks show have done “big things” for the Lord and the community.
“It excites our people to see people coming out and being able to talk to people, and find out where they’re from and hear their stories,” he said. “We just end up making a lot of friendships we normally wouldn’t have had.”