St. Cloud Fireworks- So. Many. Questions.

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to flare up around the country, municipalities are trying to come up with a safe way to continue the tradition of Fourth of July fireworks displays. Some towns have already canceled their celebrations due to concerns over the pandemic.

As it turns out, St. Cloud will put on a fireworks display on the 4th of July after all. Sort of.

Instead of the typical fireworks set off from a barge on the Mississippi River to be viewed from Hester and Wilson Parks, the city is going to shoot off the pyrotechnics from a 'mystery location' at ten p.m., with residents filled in on the top-secret locale just ten minutes before showtime.

According to committee president Tom Richardson:

Probably about 10 minutes before showtime, so about 9:50 p.m. on July 4th.  We don't walk folks to try to rush to that location, but we want folks to look in that direction, step outside in your backyard or on your doorstep.

Let me get this straight: If I am a St. Cloud resident, I am supposed to just sit in my living room waiting for Secret Squirrel to slip a note under my door with the longitude and latitude of the mystery location? Then I am supposed to just turn my head from my back yard and BOOM instant fireworks display?

How is this even remotely possible? Are they going to shoot off the fireworks from the top of Sherburne Hall at SCSU? Will they be launching them from an airplane that can magically display fireworks the entire town of 66,000 people can see?

I understand wanting to be cautious about large gatherings of people, but fireworks are among the easiest events to socially distance at. Hester Park and Wilson Park are pretty big, plus there are hundreds of other locations around the city that you can see the fireworks from when they are launched from their normal location.

Personally, I think the city should have just tucked the money away for next year and gone big when the pandemic has (hopefully) subsided.

What do you think? Is it better than nothing, or do you think it's a strange and pointless thing to do?