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<\/a>Fundraising had not gone well, and many large donors who made last year\u2019s party happen didn\u2019t show up this time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need about $75,000 to make it happen,\u201d said Rob Hotz at the time. He\u2019s one of the hardworking committee people who puts the event together.<\/p>\n
But somehow, it came together \u2014 $77,500 dollars came through GoFundMe and other donations, and several businesses who were new to the mix came through in the pinch.<\/p>\n
Several of those were from La Mesa, which came as a pleasant surprise to Hotz.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew a lot of people from La Mesa came last year, and we figured it\u2019d catch on there with some businesses. It apparently did,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A major contributor to the fundraising effort is Stormburg Orthodontics, a San Carlos dental practice that pitched in the $15,000 to be the title sponsor for the event.<\/p>\n Dr. Kurt Stornburg says it was a no-brainer for his office.<\/p>\n \u201cThis community is where most of our patients come from, and giving back to the community is only good practice,\u201d he said. \u201cWe donate to other things as well, but this is important to the community. No doubt we\u2019ll be back again next year.\u201d<\/p>\n The concert started at 11 a.m., and ran right through until the 9 p.m. scheduled fireworks display.<\/p>\n Organizers of the event and the nine food vendors said the morning and afternoon crowds may have been a little smaller than last year, but that things began to pick up as evening approached.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By the time the fireworks touched off, Ron Hotz figures there were 10,000 people there to watch and cheer \u2014 many of whom had parked as far away as Patrick Henry High School. That is a very long walk.<\/p>\n In addition to seeing more funding for the Lake Murray fireworks come from La Mesa, extra security was also donated to the event by the La Mesa Police Department, which provided their services free of charge.<\/p>\n Additional La Mesa involvement was demonstrated by the appearance of two very attractive and dynamic young ladies \u2014 Miss La Mesa, Kelli Loper and Miss Teen La Mesa, Kennedy Dirken.<\/p>\n I caught the two of them at the start and finish line for the children\u2019s pillowcase sack races.<\/p>\n Couldn\u2019t resist asking Loper if they knew they\u2019d be doing this when they won their titles.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, not really,\u201d she replied, \u201cbut what we mainly do is raise donations for things \u2014 and we\u2019re really good at that.\u201d<\/p>\n Might want to put them on the team for next year\u2019s fundraising.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll know in August whether there\u2019s enough money to seed the effort for next year\u2019s celebration.<\/p>\n There probably will be \u2014 the committee\u2019s gotten pretty good at this.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>