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Fizzling Out

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THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: May 31, 2008

Government-sanctioned fireworks shows are a staple of Fourth of July celebrations. This year, however, various factors, both local and on the other side of the globe, are prompting many local government, here in Pinellas and elsewhere, to scrap their traditional Independence Day fireworks displays.

Tarpon Springs, for example, has said it is facing the same sort of revenue problems most other Florida counties and cities are experiencing. So it is taking the nearly $23,000 it might have spent on fireworks and using it to get the city's emergency information AM radio station, off the air since late last year because of technical problems, back in operation. Instead of fireworks Tarpon Springs will hold what is being billed as an old-fashioned – in other words cheaper, at only $5,000 – community patriotic party.

Plant City, over in Hillsborough County, isn't having fireworks either. The city can't afford the expense and the businesses city officials hoped would pay for the show say the economic slowdown has left them unable to bear the cost.

Dunedin is having a fireworks display this year, on July 3. The city was able to get a good deal on fireworks from its supplier, according to David White, city special events coordinator. That is a lucky break. Thanks to a disaster earlier this year in China – some 20 warehouses containing fireworks exploded – pyrotechnics supplies are tight. That means in many parts of the country fireworks aren't available or are too expensive.

Safety Harbor will have a Fourth of July fireworks this year. The city has cut spending in other areas to be able to afford the show, says Brad Purdy, its communications manager.

So we're wondering: Which will go the way of the dodo bird first after becoming too costly, the public fireworks show or the internal-combustion engine?

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