Bucks for the bang – Fireworks organizers need financial help

With a little over one month to go before the annual Fourth of July festivities in town, and just days after successfully organizing the town’s bi-annual Memorial Day Parade, Winthrop veteran and businessman Ronald “Lou” Camacho and his supporters and volunteers are looking for help from tech savvy Winthropites, who can go on line and vote for Winthrop in a nationwide contest.

Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. is sponsoring a contest to donate $10,000 to one small town in the United States to help defray the costs of Independence Day celebrations, and Winthrop is on the list of communities that is eligible to win the grand prize.

“We’re asking people to take a few minutes and go to the website www.Bringbackthe4th.com and vote for Winthrop, to give us a chance to win the $10,000 Grand Prize,” said Camacho. “It’s a national contest, but the city or town that gets the most votes can win $10,000 toward the costs of their July 4th celebrations.”

In Winthrop, that would mean that both the July 4th Fireworks display organized and ignited by Camacho and Point Shirley Association’s annual Horribles Parade would benefit from the prize money.

“I spoke to some of the people from Liberty Mutual, and currently Winthrop is ranked 20th in the country, and that was before we started publicizing the contest,” said Camacho, who is also hoping to send a message home to parents through the school district’s ConnectEd system.

“The important thing is that the deadline for the contest is June 15, so all votes have to be placed before then,” added Camacho, who owns and operates Sound Systems in Winthrop Centre.

With or without the prize money, Camacho said the July 4th celebration in Winthrop will go off just as it always does, it just might be a little louder if the town can garner enough votes on line.

“We’ll be selling the t-shirts and taking donations, just like we always do,” he said. “The t-shirts are on their way and should be available shortly.”

Camacho added that all donations and payments for t-shirts can be made out to the town of Winthrop, with “4th of July Weekend” specified in the memo line of the check. For more information or to find out when the t-shirts are in, call Camacho at 617-846-7787.