McIntire fireworks may go dim in ’10
The Daily Progress
People enjoy the July 4, 2007, fireworks show at McIntire Park.
Citing tough economic times, the group that twice rescued McIntire Park’s July 4 fireworks celebration will no longer sponsor the event after this year, throwing the future of the event into uncertainty.
Charlottesville’s Save the Fireworks Committee, a band of local businesses that has for seven years planned and funded the city’s annual Independence Day celebration, is dropping the festival after this year, officials said Wednesday.
“We’re going to have a great display this year,” said Ray Cadell, longtime committee member and fireworks supporter. “The fireworks will be top notch, but we’re cutting back on the bands and rides and games.”
Organizers decided to drop the festival after seeing the recession’s toll on local businesses and fundraising. They said that they don’t want to compete for funds with nonprofit groups that provide “basic human services.”
“With the economic struggles we all face, it is not the right time to ask private donors or local governments to fund this type of event,” Dave Phillips, the committee chairman, said in an e-mail. “Simply put, celebrating our nation’s birth is important, but there are more pressing needs for our community, at this time.”
The committee twice has taken over the festival, once from the Charlottesville-Albemarle Jaycees and again from the Charlottesville Downtown Foundation. The committee took its name when it stepped in after the Jaycees canceled the fireworks just weeks before the 2002 holiday, citing decreased donations and manpower problems.
“They did it for dozens and dozens of years and it takes a lot of bodies and effort to put it on. They just couldn’t do it anymore,” Cadell said. “That year I wrote a check and twisted the arms of friends, including [attorney] Bill Tucker, and we had a great party. The downtown foundation took it over for a year and ran into the same problem and we stepped back in.”
The downtown foundation, with volunteer help from committee members, funded and manned the fireworks in 2003, but gave it up for 2004.
The committee stepped back in and has run the festival since.
During that time, the festival expanded to an all-day event including rides for children and soundstages highlighting local bands and headliners, including Cadell’s band, Big Ray and the Kool Kats.
Organizers raised money mostly from small businesses with Cadell’s Century 21 real estate firm, the law firm of Tucker, Griffin and Barnes and the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors providing core support.
Albemarle County contributed some money while Charlottesville donated shuttle buses and police for security, Cadell said. Much of that changed this year, however.
“The county has said there’s no money for us in the budget. For a couple of years, we got support from the Dave Matthews Band, but that’s ended this year,” Cadell said. “We used to go out and knock on doors of local businesses and most could donate something. But, this year, many who supported us for years have had to make hard decisions.”
Cadell said it’s hard to justify asking money for fireworks when other organizations are seeking money for cancer research, sexual assault prevention, shelters for battered women and other social needs.
“There’s a lot of competition for donations,” he said. “It’s not like we’re curing cancer; we’re blowing things up.”
Committee members are hoping that the city, county or a large company or organization will take over the fireworks for next year.
“It would be a shame to see it disappear,” Cadell said. “With the historic connection to Thomas Jefferson, the Constitution, the Revolution and so much American history, a celebration seems to fit in so well.”
If an organization steps forward, Phillips said Save the Fireworks members would gladly help.
“[The committee] stands willing and ready to assist,” he said. “[We’ll] be happy to turn over all of the existing organizational structure to a suitable successor.”
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Reader Reactions
Discretion is the better part of success, and if you’re going to make such a ridiculous statement to the press, you’re going to make it to prospective donors, who are, let’s face it, buddies.
Meet the key spokesman for the “Save the Fireworks” team. Note that the focus is on the fireworks?
“Blowing stuff up” is something you say when you’re sitting around with the guys having a beer after the show. It’s not what you say to the newspaper reporter.
Words matter.
Nice work taking yourself too seriously, Big Al. Ray makes an insightful, humorous comment about the difficulties of competing against other pressing priorities, and you take him to task for it.
Well, I think we know why they haven’t been able to raise money:
“There’s a lot of competition for donations,” he said. “It’s not like we’re curing cancer; we’re blowing things up.”
No, Ray, you’re not blowing things up.
Independence Day celebrates the birth of a nation created out of a unique set of principles and ideals. Personal freedom was a revolutionary concept at the time (and remains so today in most of the world), and standing up to the most powerful empire on the planet at the time took serious Chutzpah.
That nation has survived for 233 years, and while that’s not much in global terms it’s important to note that many in the world, if not most, had no doubt whatsoever that America would not last more than a couple of years - certainly no longer than it would take King George to put together another war.
THAT’S what Independence Day celebrates, and the traditional fireworks are and should be just one part of that celebration. It’s a coming-together of a People to recognize the one thing that ties all Americans together: BEING AMERICANS.
Of course, if you’re trying to sell it to people as “blowing things up” you’re probably not going to get much financial support. That’s probably not the most effective marketing approach.
It’s great that so many small businesses have supported this event in recent years. The question is, where are the large corporate donors? There are none. THIS is where the city and county need to provide support: get the big donors involved. Make calls. Twist arms. Offer name sponsorship, and create a multi-year agreement. It can happen, but it will NEVER happen if you put all of your eggs in the “me and my buddies” basket.
Kudos - MAJOR kudos to them to carrying it as far as they did! But that dog was going to stop hunting sooner or later. Without a corporate sugar daddy and a lot more governmental support there’s only so much a small group of dedicated people can do, and they can only do it for so long. That they did it at all is awesome and they have earned and deserve the community’s gratitude.
You can’t count on the city or county to provide funding, but they can help negotiate with the fireworks vendors. They can help with insurance or underwrite the liability (the cost of them adding a rider to their insurance would be much less than the committee buying a separate policy).
But I can appreciate that the current team is done. It’s a ton and a half of work to do year-round. The question is, who will pick up the ball and run with it?
Anyone?
Bueller?
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