Rising costs take toll on Fourth
Annual celebrations downsized, canceled
More than 25,000 people have been drawn to Firemen’s Park in Blasdell over the past decade for one of the area’s most impressive fireworks displays.
Not this year. There will be no rockets with red glare, no bombs bursting in air. Blasdell’s fireworks show is no more.
Other communities throughout the area also are curtailing fireworks displays while some are seeking more donations for their July 4 celebrations.
Aurora has scaled back its annual concert and fireworks show in Hamlin Park.
Lancaster has even switched from draft beer to bottled in order to better track supplies.
Some area marching bands are participating in only one July 4 parade instead of two or three.
And West Seneca has tried to maintain the family-friendly nature of its Community Days festival later this month to attract patrons.
Organizers of Buffalo’s fireworks show at the Erie Canal Harbor Central Wharf, among others, have had to adapt to economic realities. For some, it means cutting costs and increasing donations.
And for Blasdell, it has meant cutting the show altogether.
Blasdell’s annual Freedom Fest attracted a few hundred residents and cost an estimated $4,000 in 1998. As attendance increased, so did the scale of the show. The village spent an estimated $60,000 of its $1.8 million general fund on bands, staging, professional lighting and sound, fireworks, rest-rooms, security and other Freedom Fest expenses. Organizers even received help from families of volunteers just to keep the show going.
Village residents and residents from nearby communities came out in such great numbers that safety became a major issue. Attendance increased to the point where handicapped parking was not possible and the park couldn’t fit all patrons.
Festivalgoers even tried to sidestep the village’s attempt at crowd control — offering a limited number of admission bracelets — by entering through railroad tracks adjacent to the park.
What was once a family festival turned into an uncontrollable mass of people, some destroying village property, village administrator Janet Plarr said.
She described being torn when the Village Board voted 3-2 in April to discontinue the festival. But in the end, safety issues created economic liabilities.
“We just cant afford it anymore,” she said. “You can’t have an event that large and not think of the insurance. Can you afford to take, in these economic times, money out of the budget to pay for a great party and not pay for storm sewers and recreation?”
Other towns have tried to do the same.
“We have had some scaled-back activities,” said Peggy Cooke, director of parks and recreation for the Town of Aurora, which holds an annual concert and fireworks show in Hamlin Park. “We had some community members that stepped up and helped us out with the cost of the event.”
Philip Kadet was one of those people. Kadet, a representative of the East Aurora-based Linton Foundation, donates funds to youth, community and cultural activities through the foundation. He said the importance of fireworks shows couldn’t be understated even in current economic times.
“It’s pretty obvious,” Kadet said. “It draws a tremendous crowd.”
The crowd that normally lines now dug-up Main Street watches various marching bands in the town’s annual parade. But Kadet said bands require marching money, all of which is donated.
And other area officials say that even the bands have made adjustments like marching in only one July 4 parade instead of two or three.
“I’ve noticed some of our [marching band] units are down,” said Linda Tufillaro, parks and recreation director for Grand Island. “We have to pay units to perform. They would like to be paid more because the bus that they rent is more. The gas is more and the whole bit. They’ll come to our parade [and] they’ll hit one instead of maybe two or three. If you’re not offering them enough, if doesn’t behoove them to rent a bus for $500 and make $250.”
The Village of Lancaster is finding other ways to make sure they get the most out of their money. The village, which holds the two-day Independence Days Festival complete with games, clowns, bands and fireworks, has switched from serving draft beer to bottled. And taste has nothing to do with the change.
“[It] gave us greater control over our inventory and allowed us to track our revenues very closely,” Mayor William Cansdale said. “We track every dollar that is spent.”
Cansdale said he monitors all costs, from supplies to workers’ hours, in order to find ways the village can save.
“If I look at that, [I can] say maybe our labor is a little bit high. For us, it’s all about decreasing costs and increasing revenue,” he said.
West Seneca took steps to cut not only its own costs but those of families who wished to attend its Community Days celebration July 26 and 27.
Premier Pyrotechnics gives extra fireworks as an incentive for paying in full ahead of time, said Joan Lillis, chairman of the West Seneca Civic and Patriotic Commission. She said organizers also worked out a deal with Hammerl Amusements to offer a $13 all-you-can-ride special.
“What we try to do is keep our rides within limits,” she said. “We try to make it as user-friendly to families as possible so that everybody can participate.”
Part of the reason organizers wanted such a deal was because they understand the pain of families who can’t afford to shell out extra money for rides, Lillis said. She described attending an area festival where a couple had to tell their young children they couldn’t ride because the price was seven rides for $20.
“[The] children wanted to go,” she said. “They were begging their parents to go. That would have been 60 dollars. And their parents had to say, ‘No, we can’t go.’ And their parents said, ‘There’s fireworks.’ How are the kids just gonna stand there and look at the rides? How do you stop kids that are six, nine and five years old?”
Some area and national organizers say you may not have to.
Buffalo Place Executive Director Michael Schmand said Buffalo’s main fireworks display at the Erie Canal Harbor Central Wharf will be the same as last year’s inaugural celebration despite what he described as “small” budget cutbacks.
Schmand said Buffalo made up the difference in other ways, such as starting the festival at 5 p. m. instead of 4 p. m.
“In these economic times, you have to figure out how you can do more with less,” he said. “It’s still going to be a quality show.”
Large display fireworks sellers have experienced a 5 percent drop in sales from a year ago, said Julie L. Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, what she called a negligible decline. In most cases, municipalities are shortening the show by a few minutes to make budget, she said.
“A little tweak here or there,“ Heckman said. “But I don’t think we’re going to see fewer fireworks.”
email: cspecht@buffnews.com email: dyadron@buffnews.com
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