Summit Hose has canceled its annual Fourth of July fireworks in Tarentum this year due to the covid-19 pandemic, fire company President Tarek Masaoud announced.
The event had been scheduled for July 3.
“We know the residents of Tarentum Borough and the surrounding communities look forward to this display every year, so this has been a hard and agonizing decision by our membership,” Masaoud said in a post on the company’s Facebook page. “We host the community fireworks not only as a fundraiser for the fire department, but also as a way for the community to come together and celebrate our freedom.”
Summit Hose has staged the community’s annual fireworks display for nearly 25 years. This is the first time it has been canceled, Masaoud said.
In addition to uncertainty over what restrictions and guidelines will be in place come July, Masaoud said the fire company can’t pay the $15,000 cost of the event. Because of the pandemic, its fundraising efforts “came to a complete halt in mid-March,” he said.
Masaoud said the company hopes to bring the fireworks back in 2021.
Tarentum Council acknowledged the cancellation of the fireworks at its meeting, held virtually, Tuesday.
Councilwoman Carrie Fox thanked the fire company for its previous work on the fireworks.
“I know this saddened them to have to cancel. That’s a very large undertaking for the fireworks,” she said. “I hope that we can look forward to next year.”
Councilman Jim Bonner noted that the event is a fundraiser for the fire company.
“They will probably be suffering a little bit by not being able to raise quite as much money,” he said. “If you can dig a little deeper to help them out, that probably would be appreciated.”
Fox said all of the borough’s fire halls will be hurting financially because of the pandemic. “They can’t get out and do the things they used to do,” she said.
