Island Chain of Lakes Association Inc

Keep July 4th Booming!

If you spend summers on our beautiful chain of lakes, you know they wouldn’t be the same without the spectacular July 4th fireworks shows graciously provided by the Higgins/Bonacorda family on Chain Lake and Sheps Northshore Bar & Campground on Island Lake. While both do a bang-up job, it is a costly endeavor to provide thrills and chills of this magnitude each year. As part of our mission as a non-profit charitable foundation to continually improve the quality of our lakes and enhance recreational opportunities, the Island Chain of Lakes Association would like to raise $10,000 to help fund these efforts.

The Higgins family’s July 4th tradition was sparked 40 years ago, when Mike Higgins purchased fireworks at a local gas station and shot them off for his family. When Bill Bonacorda married Mike and Kathy’s daughter Heather, he took the show to another level, launching fireworks from the island across from the Higgins’ log home and lighting up the Chain Lake sky for an ever-growing crowd of family, friends and lake neighbors. Bill eventually acquired his pyrotechnics license and began purchasing professional fireworks from distributors. That required Bill, Heather and crew to build more sophisticated infrastructure, including tubes and racks from which the fireworks are launched, rebar to secure everything together, and electronic equipment to enhance the show. Not surprisingly, time has taken its toll, and the show cannot safely go on without a sizable investment in new equipment and infrastructure. The family also wants to purchase a pontoon to provide a safer launch pad.

Sheps Northshore had the same priority last year when they invested in a pontoon to ensure the safety of spectators and the professional fireworks crew they hire each summer to dazzle Island Lake. The show has been a long-standing summer tradition. For years, Randy Shepler held a chicken feed fundraiser, with chickens donated by Paul Johnson from Knob Hill, to help finance the fireworks. When Brady and Angie Shepler and Darin and Shelly Voegeli bought the bar and campground in 2022, they wanted to continue and enhance the much-anticipated July 4th extravaganza.

The Higgins/Bonacorda family and the owners of Sheps deeply appreciate the annual lake association donations, which will continue, as well as fundraisers and personal contributions from lake neighbors. However, this only covers a portion of their annual expenditures, leaving them to shoulder most of the financial burden on their own.

Our baseline goal for this fundraiser is to raise $10,000, to be split equally between the Chain Lake and Island Lake endeavors, but we hope to far exceed that amount. Based on the number of people currently subscribing to the Island Chain of Lakes Association Facebook page and mailing list, a tax-deductible donation of $80 from each subscriber would raise $20,000 and secure the necessary funds to keep both shows booming into the future.

It is truly unique that our chain of lakes has two opportunities to witness professional fireworks displays of this magnitude each July. As an added benefit, access to these shows dissuades amateur pyrotechnicians -- we all have that uncle -- from purchasing and launching their own fireworks, often improperly and unsafely. Keeping things safely in the hands of professionals who are constantly improving their techniques to bring us spine-tingling, awe-inducing moments of pure patriotism and beauty is a win for everyone.

Please direct questions about this endeavor to The Lake Assoc.