LAKE LINDEN — A local business owner announced plans to hold a fireworks display to replace Lake Linden’s canceled Fourth of July celebration at Thursday’s meeting of the Lake Linden Village Council, drawing concerns from village officials that the resulting crowd would violate the governor’s executive order.

Erik Kiilunen said he planned to set the display from his property in Tamarack. Kiilunen is CEO of Neuvokas Corp. in Ahmeek, and also the creator of the “All Business is Essential” movement, for which he funded billboards protesting the orders throughout the state. 

The village decided not to hold its annual celebration this year, citing the uncertainty created by state restrictions and the need to line up vendors and supplies in advance. 

Kiilunen had sought to purchase fireworks from the village, as well as line up the fire department’s services in setting the fireworks off safely. Although the village would normally have the fireworks by now, it had not purchased any because of the uncertainty, Clerk Bob Poirier said. And while the fire department used to set the fireworks off, in recent years their vendor has supplied a pyrotechnician, Poirier said. 

Although Kiilunen’s display would not take place in the village, the park would provide a natural vantage point, council members said. 

A normal Fourth of July celebration draws upwards of 3,000 people, said Police Chief Tom Rosemurgy. With other celebrations in the Copper Country also canceled, he estimated it could draw twice as many.  

That crowd would be well above the limit in the governor’s June executive order. For the Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan, up to 500 people are allowed at outdoor performance and sporting venues. 

Village officials said whatever their personal position on the orders, they plan to adhere to them.

“We’re still liable for that as a municipality,” Rosemurgy said. “I have no way of policing that large of an area, that many people.”

With no formal event, the fire department will not run the fenced-in liquor area that normally exists, Rosemurgy said. The sheriff’s department will also not provide the five or so deputies it normally provides, Rosemurgy said. 

Kiilunen told Rosemurgy he would contact other departments from around the area to line up help. 

“I’ll get on my knees,” he said. “Beg, borrow and steal. I want this celebration.”

“If we could get 20 officers down here to help us, would that be enough?” Rosemurgy said. “It probably would be. But again, it violates our governor’s executive order, whether I agree with it or not.”

Rosemurgy recommended to the council that it not sell any fireworks to someone encouraging 10,000 people in the park. 

Village President Glenn Schuldt suggested holding the event at the South Range Snowmobile Club, which he’d heard was available. 

“You can recruit your brains out, sir,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean that that isn’t against what the governor says … I’m a staunch Republican and a conservative person, and I understand where you’re coming from, but I have to do what we have to do.”