Fireworks only, please

Re: “Final funding push” [Volume 23, Issue 4 or bit.ly/2qvz2mg]

In your April 21 edition, Editor at Large Doug Curlee wrote a good and very informative article about Tracy Dalkamp and her committee’s efforts toward the ‘Final Funding Push’ for bringing back a  July 4 fireworks display to Lake Murray this summer.

While I understand Ms. Dalkamp’s desire to fund a complete day of entertainment for the community, to continue to deprive it of the fireworks display which we have long been missing these past five years, solely because she thinks it should be an “all or nothing” day-long, publicly funded event seems incredibly selfish on her part.

I’m hoping someone at your paper can get that word back to her, loud and clear. [Editor’s note: The Lake Murray Fireworks and Musicfest is not a publicly- funded event. It is funded by private, tax-deductible donations.]

The $20,000-plus, which Ms. Dalkamp already has in hand, is a nice sum and would easily pay for a beautiful fireworks display.

The event doesn’t need to be turned into yet another chaotic, loud, overly-commercialized, day-long “street fair” in order for it to be an enjoyable time. I believe the locals are getting rather tired of having all of our annual traditions turned into that sort of teeming, impersonal fiasco, anyway.

Our community is simple and family-oriented — and we like it that way. What we really want is a nice, old-fashioned day at the lake, picnicking with our friends and family as we look forward to a fireworks display after sunset. That’s about it.

If a band is needed, which I don’t believe any are, why not see if the Patrick Henry High School Marching Band, or other local high school bands, would be willing to donate some patriotic play time in the afternoon leading up to the event?

Many of the other venues around the county all tune in to the local radio stations (for free) after dark for fireworks-accompanying music. We all used to do that at past events, too. Can’t we continue that cost-saving tradition? It would save a bundle. And we’d still be getting what we really want — and what we’re actually donating for — the fireworks.

So, to Ms. Dalkamp and whomever else is running the Lake Murray fireworks fundraising show, I hope you will know that, while we do appreciate your vision, we hope you will not be so driven and single-minded in it that you will not also have a workable (and more budget-friendly) “Plan B” option on standby, that will still allow you to open the park to the community for the day, regardless of whether you entertain us, or we entertain ourselves in the hours leading up to what we hope will be a wonderful fireworks display.

I thank you for the opportunity to voice my opinion.

—Anna Covington, San Carlos