Jaycees hoping rain stays away

Among those who have been spending a lot of time watching The Weather Channel this week is Bryan Hammock, who is chairman of this year’s fireworks show for the Hannibal Jaycees. As Saturday night’s show has drawn closer, Hammock admits he’s turned his TV off.
“I finally stopped watching because all I’ve seen is rain in the forecast for Saturday. We’ve been keeping an eye on it. I’ve been watching The Weather Channel a lot this week. I think everybody else has, too,” he said.
With rain in the forecast Friday night and Saturday, the Jaycees were taking precautions to protect the work that had been completed on Friday.
“If it rains tonight (Friday) all of our mortars will be covered in plastic and we’ll try to weather proof them as much as possible,” said Hammock. “If it rains early in the morning tomorrow (Saturday) I think we’ll be in pretty good shape. Some of our local vendors have been gracious enough to loan us some 10 by 10 (foot) canopy tents where we could actually try to load some shells during the day even if we have a few showers so we could keep mortars dry. As long as we’re loaded and wired up and ready to go tomorrow evening, and it’s not raining when we go to do this, there should be a display regardless.”
What sort of weather do the Jaycees need in order for the show to proceed?
“It can be overcast. If it’s really, really windy and blowing in the wrong direction, we really need to be careful with what we’re doing there. If it’s not raining, that’s our main concern,” said Hammock.
Weather permitting, the show is expected to begin around 9:30 p.m. and should last for approximately 30 minutes.