BRONSON, MI (WTVB) – A benefit dinner, auction and corn hole tournament will held Friday night at the American Legion in Bronson to benefit the Bronson men involved in the Gilead Lake fireworks accident.
The benefit begins at 6:00 p.m. and all proceeds will be given to Eric Smith, Joe Drennan, and Peter Foster. The three have organized and put on the Gilead Lake fireworks show for the past five years with donations from the community.
This year, the event turned tragic when a spark ignited a bucket of mortar-round-type fireworks at the beginning of the fireworks show, setting off an explosion of fireworks, which blasted Smith, Drennan and Foster along with Cody Penny, Toben Schnell and Adam Losinski off of the makeshift pontoon and into the water.
The men suffered burns but Smith, who owns Smitty’s Pizza and is a teacher and golf coach at Bronson High School, took the brunt of the injuries. He has since been released from the Bronson Methodist Hospital Burn and Wound Center in Kalamazoo.
The benefit will include an Italian dinner, live music, a silent auction and a corn hole tournament.
Though the dinner charge is set at $10 per person and $5 for kids under 12, any additional donations will gladly be accepted.
