Nearly a hundred Bolinas residents Sunday evening expressed concerns about this month's Independence Day celebration, which packed the town with well over 1,000 revelers.

During Sunday's meeting in the community center, several townspeople said next year's celebration should be canceled, but a majority of those attending instead favored scaling down the event. They also called for organizing a workforce to make sure things run smoothly.

For decades, Bolinas closed downtown streets for its Fourth of July parade. In fact, some said that the tradition is more than a century old.

However, some townspeople have complained that each year the crowd becomes bigger and less manageable.

Complaints aired Sunday ranged from human waste on the beach to firecrackers being thrown into crowds. Resident Madeline Muir-McDermott said she suffered second and third degree burns on the back of her legs from a firecracker.

Barbara Fitzgerald said the injury occurred when someone threw a string of firecrackers into the street while people were walking by. The incident left her "picking parts of explosives out of Madeline Muir-McDermott's legs," Fitzgerald said.

For her part, McDermott said that next year there should be a first-aid station, security volunteers with walkie-talkies, and more outhouses around town.

As the townspeople took turns expressing concerns and suggestions, Myan Baker compiled a list that included: designated areas for drinking, a curfew on sales of alcoholic beverages, limiting sales to small purchases to prevent underage and excessive drinking, and designating a parking area near the edge of town where all incoming vehicles would be required to park and pay; the proceeds could be used to finance extra policing.

Other suggestions included prohibiting dances at the community center during the weekend, moving the parade from Wharf Road to Elm Road on the Big Mesa, canceling the parade, placing more recycling and trash bins in town, and making sure there are adults downtown after 7 p.m. (Sonya Amaroso said there were few adults downtown during the evening, and teenagers were drinking everywhere.)

However, Fire Chief Kevin Hicks said his 30-year involvement in Bolinas' Independence Day celebrations "was something I would hate to let go of." He agreed with many townspeople that alcohol was the key problem this year, followed by parking and trash.

Hicks also said cars parked along Mesa Road and Terrace Avenue had blocked the road to the point that emergency vehicles could not have been able to get through.

Across Bolinas Lagoon, Stinson Beach had fewer problems with rowdies, and on Monday, Jay Eickenhorst, supervisory ranger for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, explained why.

The stretch of beach that is federally owned closes at 10 p.m. year-round. On Independence Day, he noted, two rangers stationed on the federal beach inform people that the park is closed and that fireworks aren't allowed.

"We have been doing this for 20 years," he said, and "once you get a level of compliance with regulations established, it becomes relatively easy to maintain."

However, he added, the county and private portions of the beach are handled differently.

In Dillon Beach, there was a near riot at the day beach a year ago after a man in a crowd of more than 1,000 people began firing a gun into the air.

On Monday, Lawson's Landing campground, which is also in Dillon Beach, told The Light it enforces a curfew. No loud music or motorists' cruising is allowed after 9 p.m.

Lawson's also noted it pays for a fulltime deputy to provide extra security on Independence Day

Meanwhile back in Bolinas, resident Phil Binley said Sunday, "We need to let people know that they can't come into our town, trash it, and then start over again."

"I think that it would be wrong to take away the opportunity to see, make, and be on a float," added Coast Cafe owner Dave Liebenstein.

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