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SALT LAKE CITY -- Greater priorities and a lack of funds could make Fourth of July fireworks at Sugar House Park a thing of the past.
The fireworks are a tradition for many people and the show at Sugar House Park at 1330 East 2100 South in Salt Lake City will go on this year without a hitch.
But there is a big cloud hanging over next year.
President of the Park Authority Board of Trustees Lex Hemphill says, "I'm not in a position right now to definitively say there will be no fireworks in 2010, but I can say that the Park Authority is not going to be funding it."
Hemphill says the reason is a simple one: upkeep.
Hemphill tells KSL the park authority remapped its master plan in 2007, a decision that ultimately led to the one not to fund the fireworks show in 2010. "Our job, we think, and this was the primary mission as stated in that master plan, is for us to preserve the park. That's our first responsibility."
"We decided we are not going to fund the fireworks in 2010," he said, adding, "nobody on the board is happy to be facing this. But by the same token, the park authority has been funding this for the better part of the last two decades, and we just have a greater demand for the use of that money now than fireworks," he added.
He says it cost about $27,000 to put on the fireworks display last year. That is equivalent to only half of what rentals bring in over a year.
Hemphill says the $27,000 spent in 2008 is after the Sugar House Park Authority had already cut back substantially. About three or four years ago, Hemphill says the show's expenses ran over $40,000. The expenses were pared back to closer to $33,000, offset to $27,000 by vendor fees. The concern is that the costs are going to go up, including additional fees from the city, and the park's facilities are not going to repair or maintain themselves.
Hemphill says unless a donor comes forward, Sugar House Park could be dark on the night of July 4, 2010.
E-mail: bbruce@ksl.com
