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Dave Ross and Luke Burbank have some ideas on how to keep the Fourth of July fireworks show going at Lake Union. (AP Photo/file)

A few ideas to save Seattle's Fourth of July fireworks show

BY Jamie Skorheim  on March 5, 2013 @ 11:44 am (Updated: 1:08 pm - 3/5/13 )

After the public stepped up to save Seattle's Fourth of July fireworks show in 2010, the show's producers are going to the pot again, asking for donations for the 2013 show. But KIRO Radio's Dave Ross who actually launched the 2010 drive for donations is doubtful this route can continue to deliver.

"What was the key to our effort in 2010 was there was this outpouring of support and part of it was because nobody could even conceive of the idea of the fireworks being in trouble so there was a spontaneous aspect which I think is going to be impossible to duplicate," says Ross.

"A lot of people said, 'Well let's do this every year.' I said, 'You can only have a real emergency once.' You can't rerun the same emergency a second and third time, because then it is not an emergency."

One Reel, the event producer's of the Family Fourth at Lake Union, say they need to raise $500,000 by March 31 to move forward with a 2013 show.

"If the funds are not raised to safely produce the event, One Reel will not execute the event in 2013 and will begin planning for 2014," says a message at the Family4th.org website.

The website has already begun collecting donations, but Dave notes their pie chart is nowhere near full. It looks like only about an eighth of the money needed has been raised. If Dave's right that the sense of urgency present in the 2010 campaign can't carry over year after year, what are the other options? Dave and co-host Luke Burbank have come up with a few.

Luke's first suggestion is to charge for admission.

"What if they charged $2 a person at Gas Works? Don't you think most people would probably pay that?" says Luke.

The One Reel website says the annual Fourth of July show serves half a million people in the community, so Luke says if you charge each person just $1 that should cover it.

But Dave points out a big portion of that number is probably folks that watch the show on TV, so how would you get their $1?

So, if people paying to get in won't cover it, might they pay for other services that could help raise funds?

"What if they did this, free beer but it's $200 to use the Port-a-Potty," says Luke. "Because I would pay that sometimes if I've had enough free beer."

In Dave's experience, he says this might not be a good idea.

"Here's the thing, my experience with crowds where that has been the case, my last experience was Woodstock '94, a yellowish creek begins to run across the event grounds."

Luke has one more potential solution, that at least would preserve the show for that portion that would be happy to watch it on TV: replay last year's show.

"They could just put it on TV and I wouldn't know it wasn't happening in real life."

If you're not sold on these solutions, but determined to attend the fireworks show on Lake Union this year, they're still in need of a couple hundred thousand dollars. Donations can be made here.

Jamie Skorheim, MyNorthwest.com Editor
Whether it's floating on Green Lake, eating shrimp tacos at Agua Verde, or taking weekend drives out to the Cascades, she loves to enjoy the Pacific Northwest lifestyle as much as humanly possible.
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Comments (19)


  • Add A Comment

  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Sounds like they probably have enough money to do a decent
    March 5, 2013 11:31 am
    parade.

    I'd rather see a parade. More civic involvement, more of a patriotic message possible.

    By the way, a fireworks show doesn't have to cost a half-million dollars. They have little shows in places like Port Orchard, Bainbridge Island, etc etc etc that almost certainly price out in the tens of thousands- at most- certainly not a half million bucks.

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  • otherpointofview wrote...
    chuck
    March 5, 2013 12:33 pm
    the 500k isn't just for fireworks.it's security, portapotties, logicstics etc etc.. anycase.. i'd rather not have a 4th of July fireworks show..it just keeps my kids up at night
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    MY grand kids love the excuse to STAY UP to watch the fireworks.
    March 5, 2013 1:39 pm
    It's fun the whole crowd can enjoy.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Country_Dog wrote...
    Sequester the Fireworks
    March 5, 2013 1:05 pm
    I'm sick and tired of being extorted.
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  • Glover W wrote...
    Just add it to my bill Seattle
    March 5, 2013 1:06 pm
    Oh...And the check is the mail!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    Just add it to my bill Seattle
    March 5, 2013 1:22 pm
    do worry they did! Best you don't a vote. Just look to SoDo! Yes I got a hard on.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    Best part of it, you didn't get a vote.
    March 5, 2013 1:26 pm
    getting more like Boo Hoo everyday. I fixed this one xxxcop go pick on someone else.
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  • murr wrote...
    Extras are for when times are flushed with money
    March 5, 2013 1:34 pm
    Like new cars are for people that can afford them, and the payments. NOT like Obama cliff care. Its broke, before its even started.
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    I've got two words - Paul Allen.
    March 5, 2013 1:37 pm
    Case in point, Ivar Hagland has dead dead now - what - twenty years. And Ivar's hasn't been a sponsor for several years, BUT most people I know still call it the 'Forth of Julivar'.

    Thems that still got the money can do themselves a world of good by picking up the tab. Sure, endowing a library might be better, but stick your name on a library and 'who cares'?

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    By the way, Luke. If someone wanted to charge me $200 to use a port-a-potty
    March 5, 2013 1:46 pm
    the back side of that little outhouse would get awfully wet in a hurry.
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  • Kylek wrote...
    I would rather see the bans lifted on fireworks
    March 5, 2013 1:55 pm
    I grew up with being able to launch fireworks in the neighborhood the the rest of the neighbors launching fireworks as I was growing up. Now As I have recently bought my own house in the last 3 years, I have found fireworks are banned and my kids won't get the same summer time fun of launching fireworks off at home.
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  • messiah101 wrote...
    Kylek
    March 5, 2013 2:52 pm
    You mean your kids can't blow off appendages or burn down the neighborhood with fireworks.What happened yesterday won't ever happen again,I used to pay 15 cents for a Draft Beer.Get over it I did
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Don't worry about the kids, messiah - we've now got ObamaCare to fix their fingers.
    March 5, 2013 3:42 pm
    But give me enough park land next to a lake, a $10,000 budget and a dozen young adults to set stuff off and I can produce a dang good show for a several square mile area with the best works and cakes available at reservations. ...Last year various friends and family spent only about $1000 and the show went on for 3 hours. Combined with perhaps a half dozen other private shows in Skyway, and we had a far better show than at Lake Union for under $10,000 all toll.
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