(Toledo News Now) - The cities of Perrysburg and Maumee are gearing up for their fireworks show Wednesday night.
About 1,000 fireworks will be set off, and thousands of people will be in both cities to celebrate.
"This event has gone on in Maumee for a number of years," said Maumee Mayor Rich Carr. "We partner with the City of Perrysburg. Each community pays for half the fireworks and it's just a great event for both communities."
The show costs each city $15,000. They come up with the money on their own, or with help from donors. This year, The Appliance Center donated $5,000 to the City of Maumee for the show.
"It's never been a more important time to support our home town and give back," said John Oswald, owner of The Appliance Center. "They've been so good to us for 50 years."
There will be activities going on before the fireworks, too. There will be an inflatable for kids and a concert.
"Kids can bring ball, stuff to play with on the lawn," said Bethany McGraw, with the Maumee Business Uptown Association. "We're really looking forward to it."
All of the pre-firework activities will take place on the lawn of St. Paul Lutheran Church.
The fireworks will be launched from the Fort Meigs Memorial Bridge, which will be closed two hours before the celebration. The fireworks will begin at 10 p.m.
Thousands will gather in the surrounding areas for the show.
"This won't be just Maumee and Perrysburg residents, this will be people coming from all over, and when you work together like that, you can achieve great things," said Perrysburg Fire Chief Jeff Klein.
During the pre-show activities, there will be local businesses and vendors selling food, like Deet's BBQ and funnel cakes. It's all an effort to help boost the local economy.
"It's that exposure," McGraw said. "It's just getting into people's minds that uptown Maumee is still around, it still exists, it's still some great shops around here. It's a great place to be."
Among the thousands of people will be the local firefighters and police to keep everyone safe.
"This is the one day of the year that no one can take off," said Chief Klein. "We will be fully staffed, and we like to think that you are safe 100 percent of the time."
