The rising levels of the Mississippi River will mean some changes for the Quad Cities annual Independence Day celebration. Instead of being launched from a barge, fireworks on July 3rd for this year's Red, White, and Boom will be fired from the Centennial Bridge between Rock Island and Davenport.
Event chair, Ken Croken, says he learned just this morning that the Illinois Department of Transportation has given its permission to use the bridge.
"This year we've brought a new vendor to the event. This is the same vendor that shoots fireworks from Navy Pier, and Centennial Bridge will be an ideal location."
The company from Chicago is Melrose Pyrotechnics.
Flooding means activities in Davenport cannot be held in LeClaire Park, but instead will move to the adjacent baseball stadium, Modern Woodmen Park. In Rock Island, activities will be held in Schwiebert Riverfront Park as usual, but the docks at the park will be closed. Fireworks are set for 9:30 Thursday night, and the Centennial Bridge will be completely closed to traffic for about two hours.