With America mired in a recession, and the latest job numbers worse than expected, it’s a natural “hook” for a story about fireworks throughout the country. Is the recession causing fireworks displays to fizzle?
There are some contradictory reports. For instance, NBC News reports that financial crisis has caused many communities to either eliminate fireworks, cut back or consider not lighting up the sky next year:
The skies will be dark and silent over Colorado Springs, Colo., on Saturday. Because of the recession, city officials canceled their Fourth of July fireworks display, a three-decade-old extravaganza that was one of the biggest Independence Day parties in the state.
More than 50,000 people usually turn out for the show at Memorial Park, which traditionally features the Colorado Springs Philharmonic Orchestra booming not one, not two, but six howitzer cannons in time to Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.” But this year, the army of donors who fund the pyrotechnics have cut back, and the city itself couldn’t find enough money to pay for the city crews who keep watch.
With the recession, now in its 19th month, eating away at state and local budgets everywhere, it will be a silent Fourth for many communities across the country that have canceled their annual shows.
In others, where planning was well under way, officials have decided to go ahead with this year’s celebrations but have already said they could eliminate next year’s displays.
The piece notes that when there’s a fireworks display it usually entails a bunch of costs to the city, even if a private group puts it on — such as police overtime, etc.
And it offers some specifics:
* Springfield, Mo., is hosting the National Fireworks Association’s annual convention next year, making this Independence Day an ideal opportunity to show off. But for the first time in 27 years, it canceled its annual Firefall celebration, which usually brings 70,000 people to Greene County.
* In nearby Nixa, Mo., the Chamber of Commerce decided it couldn’t afford to spend $12,000 to salvage the annual Sky High celebration. City officials canceled funding because the collapse of the local construction industry sharply reduced tax revenue. When you take that much business out of a community, that hits everybody — hits the city, all our businesses,” Chamber President Sharon Whitehill Gray said..
* In Flint, Mich., which has laid off some city workers to address a $14 million budget deficit, officials canceled the annual Fireworks Festival before the local Downtown Development Authority stepped in last month with a $10,000 donation. Last week, the city canceled the show again. A city spokesman said the donation came too late for officials to complete plans for police and other services “in the midst of staff reduction.”
* Similarly, officials in Charles Town, W.Va., held out hope that public donations would salvage their annual show, which they said lost $17,000 last year. But the fundraising drive fell short, and the display was canceled Wednesday.
On the other hand, CNBC, while noting some cutbacks, insists the fireworks business is booming in terms of sales:
Consumers may be cutting back on clothes, electronics and fancy dinners this recession, but pyrophiles across America aren’t skimping on Fourth of July fireworks.
“It is going to be a banner year for the consumer fireworks industry,” says Julie Heckman, head of the American Pyrotechnics Association.
“We are all depressed, we want a distraction,” she says. “People want something to elevate their mood at a relatively inexpensive cost.”
Given the rising cost of gas and travel, coupled with an unemployment rate of 9 percent, Heckman expects people to stay in their backyards this year.
William Weimer, vice president of Phantom Fireworks, a retailer based in Indiana, is slightly more cautious. He expects only slightly higher sales for 2009, admitting the industry is “not immune to the economy by any stretch of the imagination.”
But unlike the retail portion of the business, professional pyrotechnic firms that put on displays for towns and cities are feeling the crunch. According to Bob Kerns, director of operations at Melrose Pyrotechnics in Chicago, “Some smaller communities are having trouble raising funds.” He expects sales to be slightly lower this year.
One reason why the fireworks industry isn’t a dud this year, CNBC says: some states have loosened laws:
Nevertheless, Fourth of July is Christmas for fireworks retailers, who generate as much as 90 percent of sales around the holiday, according to Heckman.
She attributes steady sales to the recent liberalization of fireworks laws in states like Connecticut, Minnesota, Maryand, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona. Indeed, in Phantom’s home state of Indiana, sales spiked nearly 30 percent when legislators moved from partial to complete liberalization, says Weimer.
Today just 5 states ban consumer fireworks entirely, all located in the Northeast: Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island.
It seems that the sky will be just as bright this Fourth of July as in past years. But that doesn’t mean the economy hasn’t taken its toll.
A number of cities have dropped their fireworks displays because of costs, said Gary Markenson, executive director of the Missouri Municipal League.
“When you’re laying off police officers, it’s hard to blow up $15,000 worth of gunpowder,” he said. “I think the general public would prefer that fireworks demonstrations are cut before firemen.”
Fireworks displays have been canceled this weekend at locations including Lake Contrary, Blue Springs, Mo., and Shawnee Mission Park in Kansas, due to lack of funding. That trend may continue if the economy continues to slump.
Julie L. Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, said the recession has caused a 10 percent decline in business for some fireworks companies from last year.
“We’ve not seen communities struggle to the level that they are this year to be able to fund their shows,” she said.
There will be no fireworks display in Blue Hill this Fourth of July due to the poor economic climate, but business is booming elsewhere as municipalities and private groups have worked hard to raise funds to pay for the fire that lights up the nation’s birthday.
For the past two years the Hancock County town has fronted the money for the fireworks display for the Fourth to Remember celebration and paid the funds back through donations. There’s about $10,000 in the account, but the selectmen and the fireworks committee opted not to spend the funds this year.
“Given the economy, we felt that in good conscience we couldn’t do it this year,” said Selectman Jim Schatz. “We thought that to spend that much money on something that will light things up for a few seconds and then is gone was not the thing to do. Unless we were sure we could pay the town back, we didn’t want to pull the trigger on it this year.
Some local governments and community organizations in towns like Gallatin have scaled back or eliminated their large-scale pyrotechnic displays this weekend.
All that pop and sizzle can cost thousands. In tough economic times, event organizers say, it’s hard to see that much money shot out of a rocket.
“It’s the recession. … That’s the most honest way I can put it,” said Tom Lawrence, general manager of the Franklin radio station that had put on Spring Hill’s public fireworks display.
Lawrence said the station wasn’t able to raise the roughly $22,000 it would cost to put on the fireworks show. An annual children’s parade will still be held.
The trend is playing out across the country, especially in small and midsize cities. Some fireworks companies have reported that business is off about 10 percent from last year, said Julie L. Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, an industry group.
“We’ve not seen communities struggle to the level that they are this year to be able to fund their shows,” she said.
While fireworks shows throughout the nation are being canceled or scaled back because of a sluggish economy, many counties in Central Kentucky are committed to putting on good shows.
Those watching the Lexington fireworks display will get an unabridged show.
Penny Ebel, the city’s special events director, said Lexington’s fireworks show costs about $35,000, but the show has not been scaled back from the regular 19-minute program because the city has a two-year contract with Zambelli Fireworks Internationale.
Lexington’s Fourth of July Festival is funded by sponsorships, vendor fees and the Bluegrass 10,000 footrace entry fees.
“We may be looking at cutting back next year,” Ebel said. “All budgets have been cut slightly, so as I get into fiscal year 2010, I could have to be very creative to support the events we do.”
Ebel added that she thinks the fireworks are something that everyone in the community looks forward to and “if necessary, I would try to look at shortening the time of the show, instead of cutting out the fireworks completely.”
Phyllis Mattingly, chairwoman of Versailles’ Magical Musical Fourth Event, said that even though the county has “flatlined a lot of contributions to civic activities,” the Versailles fireworks display has not been shortened.
“This is something that people want, especially since they aren’t traveling as much this year,” Mattingly said.
Some Fourth of July traditions that started nearly 100 years ago are being relied on again to carry the holiday spirit this weekend.
Out of necessity, they have to.
The tough fiscal times have dimmed some fireworks displays, and forced the cancellation of talent shows in all but a handful of Milwaukee parks, putting more emphasis on the activities embraced as part of the first organized civic Fourth of July activities in 1911. That is: Kids parading on bikes decorated with crepe paper streamers, free ice cream, small flags, games and contests.
“If you look at one park, it may not seem like a big celebration, but when you look across the city, it’s a wonderful community celebration that we hope to continue for the families in Milwaukee,” said Joanne Jalowiec, president of the Wilson Park Fourth of July Association. “I hope that
…..In the Milwaukee area, St. Francis and Glendale officials say the fireworks displays have been reduced but not doused.
Donations that supported the spectacle in St. Francis are down about 25%, according to City Administrator Ralph Voltner.
“It really is a reflection of the economy,” he said.
Glendale, which also relies on private donations to supplement its fireworks fund, will cut back from two nights of bursts to just one, on the Fourth itself.
There are other reports from throughout the country — and Newsweek puts it into perspective:
In Yonkers, N.Y., it was a tough decision: they could either blast some fireworks into the sky to celebrate American independence … or have some extra money (say, $100,000) to pay the police squad overtime. You can imagine what they chose. In Flint, Mich., the Fourth of July festivities were canceled, then saved by a sponsor, then stalled again when the town realized one week wasn’t enough time to prepare.
From Arizona to Ohio, savvy bureaucrats have spent the last week trying to save their good ole fashioned fireworks displays. What if, like some folks in Connecticut, they charged each car $5? What if, like Houston, they scaled back the display to something more affordable? What if they begged and bartered with any sponsor or city agency that could swoop in to save the show? Hey, it worked in Tucson, Ariz., where the Pascua Yaqui Tribe donated $20,000 to subsidize the once-canceled show.
There’s no truer sign of an American recession than a bailout from a Native American reservation. But the patriots in Arizona are the lucky ones, especially after more than 20 municipalities were forced to cancel their pyrotechnics. That’s depressing, but it’s not the end of the American way. “There are some towns that have scaled back due to the economy—a few dozen perhaps—but there are more than 14,000 shows across the country this weekend,” says Julie Heckman, the executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. “The situation is not as dismal as it might appear to be, and it’s certainly not affecting the industry’s bottom line.”
Her numbers are supported anecdotally by leaders in the fireworks industry….
So the likely truth on the fireworks issue?
Like other industries and pieces of traditional Americana, it’s impacted by the recession.
But is it dying or in danger of vanishing? Unlikely.
Overall: downsized this year? Yes.
But when the economy re-heats up (when ever that is) it will likely get cracking again.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.