Independence Day Celebrations to be Held Saturday

By Susan Reines
Special to The Lookout

July2 – One year after nearly scrapping its Independence Day festivities, Santa Monica College’s "Celebrate America" will be held at Corsair Field on Saturday, with gates opening at 5 p.m. and fireworks lighting up the sky at around 8 p.m.

Musical entertainment will begin at 6 p.m. and will feature the University of Southern California Marching Band, the R&B band House Brew, and the children's singer/songwriter Dan Crow with his Thunderwear Band.

People are welcome to bring picnic dinners (barbecuing is prohibited), but refreshments will also be available for purchase.

Although celebrating the 228th anniversary of the country's independence on July 3 may seem to be jumping the gun, the festival is actually much closer to the mark than the June 28 and 29 celebrations of the past two years.

The college scheduled the Saturday event at the recommendation of the City, according to a May 25 City staff report. Community and Cultural Services Director Barbara Stinchfield said the decision was made “probably for reasons of crowd control."

Santa Monica College has been hosting fireworks for 21 years, and for over a decade the college’s celebration has been Santa Monica’s sole fireworks display.

The City’s evening fireworks display at the Pier, which drew hundreds of thousands of spectators from Santa Monica and surrounding communities, were scrapped in the late 1980s due to traffic and safety concerns.

In 1990, and the City began holding a "Dawn's Early Light" celebration at 4:45 am in hopes that the early hour would result in a thinner crowd. The plan, however, backfired when Dawn's Early Light drew 250,000 people in 1991 and necessitated full deployment of police and fire forces for two days.

In 1992, faced with a celebration that would cost nearly $100,000 and clog the city's streets with traffic, the City Council decided to shelve the fireworks altogether in favor of a small afternoon celebration in Palisades Park.

For years, the council co-sponsored the college's fireworks and limited the City's celebration to afternoon park festivities. Now the park festival has been dismantled, and the City's only role in Fourth of July celebrations is its financial contribution to the event at the college.

This year, the City budgeted $9,500 from the Community and Cultural Services Department’s Cultural Affairs Division for "Celebrate America."

Last year, Santa Monica faced the prospect of having no celebration at all when, in the depths of California's budget crisis, the college called off its fireworks.

Though the financial burden was nominal, since the city and local businesses footed much of the bill, it just "didn't feel right" to be celebrating when the college was facing the possibility of 30 percent cuts to its course offerings in the fall, college officials said.

Mayor Richard Bloom and the City Council rallied local businesses and residents to raise additional money for the fireworks display, and, in just over a month, residents and businesses raised the $50,000 needed for the celebration.

This year, with the economy slightly better, there was no plea for public support, but many local businesses still contributed funds for the event.

The sponsors are Coca Cola Bottling Co. of Los Angeles; SMC Associated Students; City of Santa Monica; Bourget Bros.; PennySaver; Party Rents; Kuehl for Senate; ISU Bob Gabriel; W.I. Simonson; Trader Joe's; The Argonaut and the Santa Monica Air Center.

Also contributing were Judy Neveau; Inese Verzemnieks; the Law Firm of Harding, Larmore, Kutcher & Kozal; Fisher Lumber; Asia Jewelry Co.; The Slice, Inc.; Susan Barrett; Donna & Spyros Dellaportas; Robinson/Takahashi/Katz & Associates; Martin Sosin; The Madison Project; Linscott Law & Greenspan Engineers; Herb & Brenda Katz; James Mount, and Rhoda Tuit.

Corsair Field is located at 16th Street & Pico Boulevard. Admission is free; parking is $5. For more information, call 434-3000.