Huge, safe 4th blesses city

Canyon Lake brought in guests from all over the globe to join them for an Independence Day celebration for the ages Sunday. As the guests streamed into the community, the weather cooperated and the beaches filled up with sunbathers and swimmers and the lake with boats and water toys.

“The weekend went great,” Canyon Lake POA General Manager Eric Kazakoff said. “All the comments I have heard back were that this was our best ever show. Our staff and vendors did a fantastic job.”

The Fireworks Show, choreographed to sync with patriotic music played over the radio, hit the Canyon Lake skies at 9:00 p.m. and was visible from almost anywhere in the community. Thousands of Canyon Lakers and their guests set up on the beaches, in boats and in their own backyards to view the show.

As the sun rose, early morning beach goers set up shade structures and marked their spots. The beaches were filled with side-by-side EZ-Ups and the buoyed-off water adjacent to the beaches were constantly filled with swimmers and those on water toys.

“From the city’s perspective, the 4th of July in Canyon Lake was a huge success,” City of Canyon Lake City Manager Chris Mann said. “It was so nice to be able to celebrate free of any COVID-19 restrictions.”

Chris said aside from our typical calls for service, there were no major incidents reported within the city on the holiday and all was relatively calm.

“The city and the POA split the costs of having extra Sheriff’s Deputies inside the gates all weekend,” he said. “The City Code Enforcement was on patrol in the BLM land and on the lake. Throughout the night there were a few reports of illegal fireworks, however, they were sporadic and Sheriff’s Deputies did not confiscate any fireworks or have to write any citations for fireworks.”

Photos by Dawn Lutynski

Boats line up just before the Fireworks Shows gets underway. Perfect views of the fireworks were had on the water and on beaches surrounding the lake.

The Canyon Lake POA pulled out all of the stops in an effort to make the entry of guests into the community as seamless as possible. With hundreds of cars lining up to get in, the lines were inevitable, but all made it without crazy wait times.

Selena Gentz and her family spent the 4th of July sipping refreshment while soaking in the lake, thoroughly relaxing the day away prior to the Fireworks Show that night.

Water toys and floatation devices of all types were the norm Sunday as Canyon Lakers took to the lake in a variety of ways during the perfect water sports weather.

Photo Kaylie Barron

Photo Kaylie Barron