Financial Stability for Marquette July 4th Events

After several years of financial uncertainty, one of the area’s largest Independence Day festivities is on the road to self-sufficiency.

The City of Marquette is no longer able to afford spending money on a community 4th of July celebration.

2005 was the last time the event had any general fund money spent on it.

In early 2007, then-Marquette mayor Tom Tourville said money and volunteers were in such short supply that the fireworks might never happen again.

That’s no longer the case, and Tourville says the next step is to raise money for an endowment that will pay for the event every year.

He says they still do have to fund-raise a bit from year to year, but not as much as they’d have to do if they weren’t making progress with the endowment.

Tourville says he’s very impressed by how much the community pulls together to support the event.

Some nearby local governments also chip in.

Even the city of Marquette still offers behind-the-scenes support.

Tourville says police and public works crews work a lot of hours to block off streets and provide security.

The fireworks are at 10 tomorrow night.

The smaller fireworks are launched from the base of the Lower Harbor ore dock.

The larger ones are launched from a barge after it’s floated out into the middle of the harbor.