Thunder in the Highlands |
Thunder in the Highlands!EVENT: Thunder in the Highlands is a family-oriented, town-wide event that will be exciting with food, music, and fireworks!DATE: Friday, June 29, 2012 (rain date July 6) Gates Open to the Public at 5:30 PM (Vendor Set-up begins at 4:00 pm) PLACE: Jungle Habitat (near Greenwood Lake Airport) COST: $15 per carload |
Registration Forms |
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| SAFETY FIRST: Thunder in the Highlands is presented at the old Jungle Habitat Facility, in the Heart of the Highlands. The beauty of the area comes from 15 acres of parking lots being surrounded by dense forest. While at the Thunder in the Highlands event we ask that you remain in the designated areas which are patrolled by West Milford Police and State Forestry Rangers. This NJ State Forestry property has been successfully used for the past four Thunder in the Highlands events and we look forward to the same Safety and Success in 2012! | |
Presented by the West Milford Police Athletic LeagueThunder in the Highlands 2012 !!!Perseverance! That is our theme for this year’s annual Fireworks show at the Jungle Habitat Property in West Milford.You may recall that last year the West Milford Town Council decided that due to budget restrictions the township’s firework extravaganza would have to be cancelled. However the Board of Directors at the West Milford Police Athletic League boldly stepped forward and took over the show, turning it into a great night of fun for a worthy cause. Boy did we have no idea what we were in for! While working diligently to secure all the necessary permits and vendors on such short notice we pulled it off, ALMOST! Many of you will recall that right near the end of June 2010 a hiker and his dog encountered a black bear while hiking through the Park. While dogs and bears are never a good mix the State required that the Park be closed down until the “aggressive bear” was captured. While we waited, we scrambled around to reschedule the event for the following week, the bear was indeed caught and the park reopened. Not only was this a major local news story but when the Associated Press picked up the story and ran it nationwide we had more publicity than we thought possible. Image WMPAL in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times? As we were poised to push the show to the following weekend the entire region came under a tremendous heat wave. Since throughout the State there were already several wildfires burning out of control the State DEP cancelled all Fireworks displays in rural settings. Go figure. Well the hard headed members of the PAL decided that we would just wait it out and so we rescheduled the event for Labor Day weekend. Finally the show went on. A great time was enjoyed by about 3000 people. We had a DJ, rides for the kids, some very chilly Board of Education Members in the dunk tank, and some great food! Our Vendors did a great job as well and the night was capped with an awesome fireworks display! It was very encouraging to everyone, to see the whole town, and beyond, come together for a great cause. This years event is poised to be even bigger and better! With the help of Joyce Leinberger and Rocky Hazelman, both of Autumn Lights fame, we have added more vendors, more rides for the kids, a mechanical bull for the brave and a bigger selection of food. Gone is our resident DJ thanks to the folks at North Jersey Guitar who have arranged an evening of live bands for our pleasure. Let’s see what local celebrities and politicians are willing to brave the dunk tank for charity! Finally there will be another great fireworks display at dusk! But it does not stop there. On Saturday we will be hosting the first annual Highlands Family Fun Fest. We will be having a street fair type event featuring a carnival, pony rides, merchant and food vendors, agricultural presentations, an antique car show and again live music all day long. At 4:00 on Saturday we are thrilled to be presenting the headliner band of Brian Fitzpatrick and the Band of Brothers. These guys are simply fantastic musicians with a great following! They are from West Milford, are very accomplished and put on a great show! You do not want to miss them! As you may not know the West Milford Police Athletic League is a 503C non profit charity that serves the children of our community. We enroll over 2000 boys and girls in our various programs each year. We have a building that contains 3 gymnasiums and are proud to be able to open our facilities after school to our teenagers for free as we provide a safe healthy environment for them to gather. However registration fees alone do not cover the cost of running our programs. We rely on various fund raisers throughout the year to make up the shortfall. Programs such as our Tricky Tray, Trail of Terror, Holiday Hoopfest and Thunder in the Highlands all help make ends meet. It is our desire that you come out and have a great time on both days at this safe family oriented event while helping to support this very important piece of our community! Finally remember to visit us at www.ThunderintheHighlands.com for updates and important announcements. We are on Facebook as well! We hope to see everyone there! On behalf of the Board of Directors, Bill Hemstead President WMPAL Directors; Tom Dionisio, Lois Wolff, John Parkyn, David Chandler, Bill Collister, Rob Barone, Steve Malaguti, John Torp, Ty Basket, Mark Lynch, Mark Minadeo, & Ed Milko |
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