LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. — Can you still celebrate Independence Day without fireworks?
In Lake Oswego, city officials are answering that question with something other than pyrotechnics this year; they're putting on a laser light show.
"We're looking for alternatives," Ivan Anderholm, director of Lake Oswego Parks & Recreation, said. "Things that don't necessarily burn and explode on the Fourth of July."
Lake Oswego will host a professional laser light show at Millennium Plaza Park at dusk, the night of the fourth. They're calling it a Fourth of July Illumination Celebration. Nu-Salt Laser International will put on the show using a fog machine, screen and even trees as a backdrops.
"One of the biggest impacts is we're not going to have the effect on animals and pets and there won't be debris that falls out of the sky," Anderholm said. "There's not going to be the opportunity for cinders to catch things on fire."
Last year, the City of Lake Oswego put on a public fireworks display, which Anderholm said required an "intense emergency operations plan." This year, that won't be necessary. The question is, will people go for it? Many at the park on Tuesday said they’d give it a try.
"I love laser shows," Henry Els said. "Fireworks are cool to but they can be obnoxious, so I feel like it'd be a cool change of pace."
"I think it would be real cool," Jahlysa Azaret said. "I'm a weenie, so sometimes when the fireworks are going off, it gets a little bit loud for me and I'm always thinking about fires."
Anderholm said he hoped others would feel the same way.
"My hope is that people show up and enjoy it," Anderholm said. "That it becomes something we do every Fourth of July."
The annual fireworks display put on by the Lake Corporation will still go on as planned and won’t be impacted by the city’s decision to try something new.