Fourth of July Celebration Scaled Down

This year’s July Fourth festival at the waterfront will still be free to the public, but will be scaled back from previous years.This year’s July 3rd and 4th festival at the waterfront will include live concerts, fireworks and children’s activities. Sound familiar? Those things have also been present in the past, but this year’s slate is a little scaled down.Ashley Cox with the Waterfront Development Corporation says they had difficulties getting sponsors for the event – but they pushed forward.“It was really out of a desire to put on this very important event by the community because it is so beloved by the community," says Cox, "We just felt it would leave a gaping hole, were we not able to do it.”Cox says it costs about $200,000 to put on the festival, that's about $100,000 less than last year. She says another $200,000 in free advertising has been donated.