A holiday weekend is always busy. But a holiday weekend following a pandemic is bound to be even busier.

Marquette Police Captain Mike Laurila said his department will step up patrols for the 4th of July.

“You know, with the pandemic coming to an end, people are going to want to come out and enjoy themselves, which is awesome.  We encourage everyone to do that, obviously, responsibly and safely.   We will have extra patrols on doing the beach patrol, island patrol, fireworks patrol, parade and so on and so forth. So there will be officers designated specifically for that.,” Laurila said.

People should also know state and local rules before setting off fireworks,

And, he said, they should also consider weather conditions.

“I encourage people, if they are not educated with the fireworks laws, that they can research that,” Laurila said. ” They are welcome to call down to the police department to get specifics on that. But with the dry summer we’re having,  I encourage people, if they decide to light fireworks off, to do that reasonably and safely. Keep in mind neighbors houses, embers and that sort of thing. It can only be done on private property.  It can only be done between the hours of 11 a.m. to 11:45 p.m, and  specifically on the holiday, the day before and the day after.  And, of course, you cannot be under the influence of alcohol while you are doing that.”

Here are some helpful links:

www.marquettemi.gov

www.ishpemingcity.org

www. cityofnegaunee.com

http://www.mml.org/resources/publications/one_pagers/2019-FS-Fireworks-Plus.pdf