Friends, Fireworks, and Fun

Listening to Jimmy and Tammy Barton talk about family adventures on the lake, there is nothing but smiles in the room as memories jump to the forefront and clamor to be shared. Jimmy has always been an avid lake lover. And what started out as friendly family fireworks on the water became a magnificent show to complete with a band, friends, and an all day family affair that people all over have come to love and enjoy.

The Bartons were originally from Randolph County. Jimmy's mother was from the river, his father was from downtown Wedowee. The old chapel on County Road 804 called Auslen Chapel was where his mother grew up attending church. It's still open for people to tour. They spent a lot of time on the river as a family. The old house, as he refers to it, was about 100 feet from the river, and they spent their time hunting and fishing there as a family when he was growing up. In the 90's, Jimmy and his siblings divided their grandmother's property up for the family. In 2002, the siblings and Jimmy went in on building their first lake house.

When the water backed up in 83, Jimmy decided that even though it was January, he would put on his wetsuit and get out his skis to be the first to ski the new lake. As far as he knows, he was the first.

In 1989, a neighbor by the name of Tony Knight started a small fireworks show off his lot there in Sand Harbor. His daughter's birthday was July 1 so they did the show around the 4th of July. In 2000, Jerry Poss and his family bought property across from them. His daughter's birthday was on July 4th, so they started doing the show together in 2000. By about 2007 or 2008, another neighbor Kelly Greer, whom Jimmy met at Flat Rock with their families, joined along with the fun. Kelly and Jimmy would go to State Line Fireworks on the Georgia line and buy about $200 - $400 worth of fireworks. They would take turns shooting off - Kelly and Jimmy, Tony and then the Poss family, and they would rotate around.

As the show grew, Jimmy got his fireworks license so that he could purchase them wholesale and the show turned into one big one. Over time, it has grown to a wholesale cost of $5,000 (which would be about $15,000 retail). Local friends donate the make the show possible. The current version of the show includes 45 minutes worth of fireworks along with a band that stars up and plays between the reloading of the boxes. Now they can us the bank and set everything out and it's all wired remote control. 16 boards which have 7 - 8 fireworks cases in each. 250 grams to 500 grams cases. 120 mortars are 5 inch mortars, which Jimmy describes as the "big boom."

When the daughters were younger, the Greers and Bartons would rate the boards in a notebook and give feedback to their dads about how to make the show better.

When Kelly Greer passed in 2020, Jimmy mourned the loss of his good friend and wondered if he would keep the show going. They had t-shirts made of Kelly. When Victor Rundquist, a new neighbor, moved in he took up where Kelly left off and the show continued. Now they have wireless remote control settings. And every year they bring out Kelly's chair and his ashes to remember him as an integral part of the show.

Jimmy remembers fondly that, "one year, on of the boxes turned over out there on the sand and the fireworks started coming back at us and everyone started running and ducking. Kelly kicked the box into the water and saved everybody. There was a packed house for his funeral in Georgia. Victor gave a Eulogy and passed out beers to everyone at the funeral! Auburn and Wisconsin had played a ball game that year and Kelly won the bet which was a suitcase of beer. Victor passed the beer out at the funeral. Preacher said I've never been to a funeral like this before. We miss Kelly. He was an instant friend to me. We were fast friends. He was such a big jokester."