“We were looking forward to celebrating America’s independence with the entire community, but our primary concern continues to be the health, safety, and welfare of our residents, employees, and visitors,” the city said in a statement.
Fairborn has held a July 4 celebration for over 70 years, Howard said. The two-day event has grown to attract thousands of visitors each year, which would make following restrictions on mass gatherings and social distancing difficult.
“We want to send a special thank you to all our faithful sponsors, musicians, vendors, local business community, residents, and volunteers who make the block party, parade, and fireworks a success year after year,” the city’s statement said.
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Howard said there is a possibility that the fireworks could be rescheduled for later in the year, as the city has held the contract with Rozzi Fireworks, but “nothing is set in stone for that, nor do we have a time frame of when that would happen.”
The block party and parade are planned by the community-led Fourth of July Committee. Co-chair of the committee, Jamie Brauer, said this was a difficult decision to make, but the committee felt it was most responsible move.
“I know people are upset about it, but we can’t have a festival without vendors or sponsors,” Brauer said, “and we’re not even sure when the ban on mass gatherings is going to be lifted. There just was no safe way to do it.”
The committee won’t lose much money on vendors or other scheduled events for the block party because contracts hadn’t yet been signed and all parties were aware of the coronavirus-related uncertainty. Vendors the committee had put down deposits for will roll over to next year’s July 4 celebration.
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