Fireworks are ready to launch for the Meltdown Winter Ice Festival.
During its Jan. 22 meeting, Richmond’s Board of Public Works and Safety approved the 13th annual festival’s request to shoot fireworks between 6:30 and 10 p.m. Jan. 31 during the Meltdown Throwdown ice carving competition.
The fireworks will be shot from the parking lot of Richmond Sanitary District’s building at 25 N. Seventh St. so that they’ll be visible from Elstro Plaza but also leave a safe distance between the launch location and spectators.
The board also approved closure of the service street south of Elstro Plaza from 6 a.m. Jan. 26 until noon Feb. 2. The trailer containing ice blocks for carving will be located there. Parking spots along the east side of North Sixth Street and the brick parking spots in Elstro Plaza will be reserved Jan. 30 and 31 for food trucks during Meltdown.
Niqui McCown
Organizers of a block party from 4 to 8 p.m. July 25 received board permission to close the 600 block of South 10th Street.
The party will remember Niqui McCown 25 years after her July 22, 2001, disappearance. She was last seen in the Richmond Coin Laundry at the corner of South 10th and South E streets.
Sign approval
Crosley Lofts apartments at 21 N. 15th St. received board permission to have a projecting sign. The city’s Board of Zoning Appeals approved the sign during its Jan. 14 meeting.
The 25-square-foot vertical sign will be four inches off the brick building and approximately 10 to 12 feet above the ground. It will be visible from North A and North 15th streets.
Only wall signs are permitted at the site without a zoning variance.
Fire department
Richmond Fire Department received approval for preemployment contracts with Haygen Tomlinson, Jack Patton, Calvin King, Tyler Adams and Tyrone Washington. The prospective firefighters agree to obtain paramedicine certification within five years of their employment, and if they leave the department within five years of obtaining that certification, they would repay training costs on a sliding scale.
The board then approved RFD putting Patton, King, Adams and Washington on a hiring list.
This reporting was made possible in part by Whitewater Community Television.
A version of this article appeared in the January 28 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.