No fourth of July fireworks in Marion this year due to lack of funds

Jun 20, 2018

There will be no Fourth of July fireworks show in Marion this year due to a lack of funding.

Town Administrator Paul Dawson told the Board of Selectmen the news during its Tuesday evening meeting. Dawson said that it typically costs about $50,000 to put on the show, and that the town currently only has $9,548 in its fireworks-funding account.

“It’s nowhere near the amount necessary to hold the annual fireworks event,” Dawson said. “So, I regret to have to inform the board that there will be no Independence Day fireworks in Marion this year.”

The Fourth of July fireworks show returned to Marion last year after a one-year hiatus that was also due to a lack of funding. Last year's show, however, was funded largely through the Marion Fireworks Committee's "Twenty from Many" campaign and a $10,000 donation from Tabor Academy.

Organizers launched the effort on donation website GoFundMe with the hope that if many residents and visitors donated $20 to the cause, the group would raise the tens of thousands of dollars needed to put on the fireworks show. Things got down to the wire, but the $10,000 donation from Tabor put the committee within $2,000 of its goal, and the community footed the rest.

Dawson said the town will hold the money that's currently in its fireworks account and increase fundraising efforts so the show can return next summer.