New life for fireworks at McIntire

Organizers of Charlottesville’s annual Independence Day celebration will announce a deal today that allows the financially troubled fireworks display to continue into the future.

“We have brokered a deal to continue the fireworks, which were in serious jeopardy,” said Ray Cadell, a real estate agent who founded the Save the Fireworks Committee, a group of local business leaders that funded and operated the celebration for the past seven years.

Cadell and other organizers declined to provide much information about the deal, saying it would be detailed at a press conference today at McIntire Park.

Cadell would say only that a donor has agreed to help the event avoid cancellation. The Save the Fireworks Committee announced in early June that the 2009 fireworks would be the last, citing the terrible economy and the difficulty of raising contributions.

“I’m so proud and pleased that some local non-politically oriented folks have stepped forward and said ‘We’re happy to help,’” Cadell said.

A call to the Save the Fireworks Committee’s office on Monday went to a voicemail recording of Dave Phillips, the committee’s chairman, announcing a “very special arrangement” between Charlottesville, Albemarle County and other interested concerns.

In the recording, Phillips called the deal a “community plan for conducting and continuing the fireworks celebration for the future.”

Phillips, who is also the chief executive officer of the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors, is on vacation this week and was unavailable for comment Monday.

The Save the Fireworks Committee twice took over management of Charlottesville’s annual July Fourth fireworks display at McIntire Park. The group took over from the Charlottesville-Albemarle Jaycees in 2002 after the organization canceled the display a few weeks before Independence Day. The committee took over again after the Charlottesville Downtown Foundation threw in the towel after running the fireworks in 2003.

This year’s scaled-back fireworks display cost roughly $20,000, down from the event’s usual $40,000 to $50,000 price tag. This year, the park did not open until 6 p.m. and featured far fewer musical acts and other entertainment.

Both Charlottesville and Albemarle County chip in to help out with the event, but it has relied primarily on the contributions of business people such as Cadell and Bill Tucker of the Tucker Griffin Barnes law firm.

Charlottesville spokesman Ric Barrick said the city is not interested in financing the fireworks program, but will continue offering in-kind support, including from its parks, police and transportation departments. For this year’s event, the city provided a total of $12,442 in in-kind services.

“We obviously view it as a partnership with the community and we want to see it continue,” Barrick said. “But we feel it’s best run by the community rather than the city.”

Albemarle County allocated $10,000 in fiscal 2007, 2008 and 2009 to support the event. The county did not earmark money for the fireworks in its current fiscal year, as the Save the Fireworks Committee did not apply for public funds.