For the second consecutive year, the Cañon City 4th of July fireworks committee has raised enough funds to present a fireworks show from Skyline Drive to celebrate Independence Day. The show will begin at dusk Thursday night. The six-person committee is tasked with raising $25,000 for the show, without financial support from the city or county.
“The fundraising went well,” said Dolly Gonzales, who started the initiative in 2023. “A lot of people stepped up and came forward.” A ‘Night at Rooftop’ fundraiser at Whitewater Rooftop Social on June 20 garnered $4,000.
Community members donated silent auction items and Applewood donated its time to perform. Gonzales hopes to add an event preceding the fireworks display next year, possibly a marathon and “good-old-fashioned” Fourth of July games with vendors, food trucks, watermelon and contests. It was a slow start last year getting community members on board with a new event, but now that they’ve seen what their money goes toward, they have been much more willing to contribute this year.
“People loved it, they were so happy with it,” Gonzales said of the 2023 event. The fireworks committee has taken great steps to address fire and safety concerns that some may have. “The professional fireworks show is not the threat,” she said.
“It’s the people in the neighborhoods that are shooting off aerials, they are loud, they are unannounced, those are the fireworks that are really the danger to the community.�.
