Yelm FFA Alumni helps light up the sky for Fourth of July

Yelm’s FFA Alumni Association helped local residents and supporters of the organization light up the sky leading up to and on the Fourth of July, as its annual fireworks sale returned to the 507 Taproom’s parking lot.

For the first time, the Yelm FFA Alumni Association also set up a booth in Roy at the Roy Grange. The Roy Lions donated the trailer and fireworks to the alumni group for the group to raise more funds to give back to the FFA program at YHS.

“Bill DeVore with 507 Taproom has been amazing. We’ve had complete support from him. He was our first community member supporter award winner, which acknowledged that he’s really supported us 100%,” said Kim Muir, secretary and treasurer for the association. “The grange has been great to work with, letting us know where we can set up and where we can have our trailer out there. It’s been a really positive experience.”

Muir added that the organization gives six scholarships each year, provides money for FFA members to eat at competitions, and even helped fund YHS’s FFA team’s upcoming trip to Indianapolis.

“We support the FFA students. We are the parent group that does that. We help with funding for the state conference. This year, we gave each of the students $250 towards their cost because the cost went up considerably,” Muir said. “Wherever there’s a need that can’t be met through the FFA organization itself, then that’s where we as the alumni step in and help. This is the first year that we’ve had a stand in Roy. The Roy Lions graciously donated their trailer and leftover fireworks. They wanted to give it to us because they appreciate our contribution to kids.”

This year, Yelm’s FFA Alumni Association firework sale included around 15 adult volunteers selling fireworks and around 15 additional student volunteers to hold signs. Muir added that a lot of the adult volunteers are parents, while some are younger alumni recently departed from YHS. An alumni member also stayed overnight in a camp trailer at each location to keep an eye on the inventory.

“For us, we love the customers to see the kids in action because we’re giving back to the kids, the kids we’re supporting and sending to the state competition,” Muir said. “We appreciate our group of volunteers because if we didn’t have our alumni members here, we would have a hard time manning two stands.”

This year, Muir said Yelm’s FFA Alumni Association featured a variety of product inventory. Both stands will be open on July 4. Both locations will be open until all inventory is cleared on the holiday.

“The customer base determines how late we stay open. If we’re busy, we’ll stay open until 10 p.m. If we haven’t seen anyone since 8 p.m. and it’s getting to be 9 p.m., we’ll probably close up,” Muir said. “We have a great team that makes great packages based on what people want to spend moneywise. We try to make really good deals to accommodate everybody’s price range. Our first day was a little slow, but it’s been picking up. As we get closer to the fourth, that’s when we tend to get really busy.”

Following the conclusion of the firework sale, the association will host a concessions stand in McKenna on Saturday, July 13, for participants in the annual Seattle to Portland bike ride. The group then returns to YHS on Sept. 14 for the annual Yelm FFA Alumni Association car show.

For more information on events hosted by the Yelm FFA Alumni Association, visit its self-titled Facebook page. Muir said people can message the Facebook page with any questions.