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Fireworks support Ripon church youth group
fireworks church
The TNT Fireworks booth supporting the youth programs at One Church in Ripon is located in front of the church’s new home at 1043 S. Acacia Ave.

Sam Leatherman is hoping and even praying for a busy Fourth of July.

He and his wife Ashley are the youth pastors at One Church in Ripon as well as the many volunteers working the TNT Fireworks booth located in the parking lot of the church’s new location at 1043 S. Acacia Ave.

This was the former Ripon Power Play Sports Arena.

Leatherman and others are excited about the new One Church, bigger and more spacious, scheduled to open Aug. 13.

A visit to the One Church TNT Fireworks booth provides a sneak preview at the new digs.

More importantly, 100 percent of the proceeds from the sales of fireworks will help support the various youth programs at One Church.

“We’re now right down the street from the only high school in town,” said Leatherman of the planned afterschool program.

But that’s just one of many programs and activities in the works for One Church.

The new facility will also accommodate community gatherings, according to Leatherman.

“We want to be a blessing to the city in as many ways as possible,” he said.

One Church has operated a fireworks booth for the past three years.

The previous other locations were in the SaveMart Shopping Center and Taco Bell, both along West Colony Road.

“We had to rent for those spaces,” said Leatherman, who explained the reason for this year’s move to the rent-free space on the new church property.

An attention-grabbing fireworks sign pointing to the church site on South Acacia Avenue can be spotted on Doak Boulevard.

Leatherman added that social media, namely, Facebook and Instagram, has also served as a way of communicating the location of the fireworks booth.

“We’re hoping these last two days will be our busiest,” he said.