Kingfisher’s annual lighted Christmas parade and downtown holiday fireworks has become one of Northwest Oklahoma’s most popular holiday events, attracting more than twice the local population to Kingfisher’s Main Street for one spectacular night each December.

Which makes it even harder to believe that the tradition started completely by accident nine years ago, thanks to a rain-soaked July 4.

In 2010, unrelenting rain forced Kingfisher’s popular Fourth of July fireworks display to be canceled.

The city’s fireworks vendor suggested a novel repurposing of the thousands of dollars worth of pyrotechnics that would otherwise go unused – what about firing them from downtown rooftops at the conclusion of the annual nighttime Christmas parade?

So in front of the then-typical parade audience of several hundred people huddled on Main Street sidewalks, the first Kingfisher Christmas fireworks show was presented, choreographed to holiday music and a Christmas message of love and hope broadcast over the downtown speaker system.

Captured in digital pictures by then City Commissioner Jeff Johnson, a talented amateur photographer, the magical sight of fireworks lighting a crisp winter’s night sky above downtown buildings festooned in holiday finery also captured the imagination of a growing audience.

The event drew so much interest – from those who wished they’d attended as well as those who had – that local businesses started donating the cost of making the Christmas fireworks a permanent closing act to the annual parade.

Since then, the fireworks have been featured in ground and aerial videos, photographs used in city and chamber of commerce promotional materials, on the pyrotechnic company’s website and even as a popular backdrop for Facebook selfies.

And every year the crowds have grown, spilling into the streets after the parade and filling downtown blocks from curb to curb.

Last year’s crowd was estimated at more than 10,000 spectators and Kingfisher Chamber Manager Shawna Rupp said her office started getting calls in early September from people who want to know the date of this year’s event so they can plan their families’ holiday celebrations around it.

That’s the good news.

And that’s also the bad news.

“It’s become a huge event, which means a huge challenge to make sure it all happens in the safest and least disruptive way possible,” Police Chief Dennis Baker said.

And it also means the days of waiting until October to start planning the parade are long gone.

“This year we started in February and we’ve met every month since then,” Baker said.

The “we” is an ad hoc committee of city personnel and chamber representatives who have worked diligently to resolve safety and logistical issues that have been identified over the last nine years and establish a detailed flexible plan that hopefully will only need tweaking in subsequent years.

In addition to Baker and Rupp, the committee members include Asst. Police Chief David Catron, Fire Chief Tony Stewart, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. Bill Reitz and chamber members Chris Cameron, Brian Henderson, B.J. Waeger and Phyllis Stinnett.

Together, committee members have hammered through a punch list several pages long of preparations designed to make the event safer as well as more streamlined and professional.

Some changes will be obvious to parade-goers, including barricades constructed by Chisholm Trail Technology Center’s welding program that will outline the designated spectator section.

“We have more people now than the sidewalks can hold, so we’ll extend the spectator area into the parallel parking spaces,” Baker said. “The barriers are intended to keep people from moving further out into the street during the parade, especially small children.”

After the parade, spectators again will be allowed to spill into the street for the fireworks, he said.

New parade rules, drawn up after reviewing rules used by other communities, will require more attention to safety – such as requiring helmets on children riding ATV’s and setting age limits for operators of such vehicles, depending on their horsepower.

No late parade entries will be allowed this year and all safety rules will be strictly enforced, including no candy tossing.

“We’re tightening it down to keep everyone safe,” Baker said. “We have no problem directing floats off of the parade route if they violate that rule or any other.

“A child darting out in front of big floats chasing candy in the dark is an accident risk none of us wants.”

Temporary signs also will go up designating 16 additional handicapped parking spaces on downtown side streets and temporary lighting will be added to make designated parking areas easier to negotiate.

Rupp said food trucks will be congregated in one area, in the vacant lots where the old 89er Theater and neighboring building were located.

“We appreciate those property owners allowing us to do that,” Rupp said.

Interspersed with Christmas music, the downtown speaker system will broadcast pre-recorded safety information prior to the start of the parade.

Other changes won’t be as obvious to spectators, including extending the detour routes for highway traffic further out from downtown and deploying more law enforcement and chamber personnel at crossroads to make sure vehicles don’t try to cut back through town.

Detour maps will be shared in advance with area oil companies through the Energize for Safety Coalition.

Keeping vehicles outside the “safety zone” where fireworks are staged also will be a high priority.

Then after the fireworks are finished, the final priority is reopening the highway as quickly and safely as possible, Baker said.

“We’re pulling in every resource we can get our hands on to make sure that this event goes off without a hitch, but also ensure we have officers free to fulfill our normal responsibilities of responding to calls elsewhere in town,” Baker said.

While 10,000 people have their eyes on the sky, Baker and other law enforcement personnel have to be watching everything else.