Fireworks-filled Summer Blast is a go for July 4th on Tacoma’s waterfront
Tacoma, get ready to celebrate.
After two years of pandemic-induced hiatus and a separation from its former events producer, the city is getting a brand new Fourth of July festival.
Summer Blast will spread out over Dune Peninsula at Point Defiance Park and at Cummings Park on the Ruston Way waterfront on Independence Day, a Monday.
As the name suggests, there will be fireworks.
The event is a collaboration between Metro Parks Tacoma and the city.
What’s still up in the air is whether there will be anything in the air during daylight hours. The independent group that has produced the air show for decades says it hasn’t yet decided if it has the means to do so.
FREEDOM FAIR NO MORE
Freedom Fair, which combined a festival along Ruston Way, air show and fireworks display, was the city’s July 4th celebration for more than 40 years. It was last held in 2019.
After that year’s festival, the city announced it wanted to start fresh with a new Fourth of July celebration centered at the newly opened Dune Peninsula, an extension of Point Defiance Park.
The group that formerly organized Freedom Fair, the Tacoma Events Commission (TEC), wasn’t informed ahead of the new direction. While they were encouraged to bid on the newly formatted festival, the group declined.
While plans were underway in 2020 for the new festival, dubbed T-Town Family 4th, the non-profit TEC was making plans to hold Freedom Fair without direct city support.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down everyone’s plans for civic festivals. The producer that was tapped for the T-Town event eventually went out of business.
TEC held an air show along Ruston Way for 2021’s July 4th, but festivities were mothballed for another year.
In September 2021, the city held a Labor Day festival, called Summer Blast, because it had already paid for a fireworks display that had a “use it or lose it” stipulation.
NEW STRUCTURE
T-Town Family 4th, the festival that never was, never will be.
Summer Blast is being produced by Metro Parks Tacoma, said Sophia McKee, the agency’s events coordinator.
“We actually staffed up and resourced our events unit so that we can produce large-scale events,” she told The News Tribune last week.
The unit will also be producing Mosaic, formerly known as Ethnic Fest, in Wright Park July 23-24.
Dune Peninsula was created with the idea of using it for large events, Metro Parks has long stated. Now, that plan will be realized, McKee said.
Even with the possibility of new coronavirus variants emerging, there’s no reason that the outdoor event can’t be held this year, she said.
“We do have a responsibility for the safety of the people that attend our events,” McKee said. But, that would most likely mean revised mask and social-distancing recommendations.
Entertainment and vendors are being recruited for the event, she said.
Summer Blast will also take place at Cummings Park on Ruston Way. The walking distance between the parks is 1-1/2 miles.
Ruston Way will most likely be left open to traffic during the event. In past years, it was closed between Old Town and Ruston.
During the Freedom Fair years, the former smelter on the Ruston-Tacoma city limits went from Superfund cleanup site to Point Ruston.
“There’s going to be more pressure, wherever that comes from, to keep traffic open, because there’s so much more people there now,” McKee said.
The fireworks barge which usually has been anchored off Cummings Park is being moved further out to the same general area it was anchored for September’s Summer Blast, McKee said.
The length of the waterfront, including Dune, will have good viewing, she said.
THE CITY’S ROLE
Summer Blast will feature a city-provided fireworks display. Tacoma is also supplying police and fire support and waste and sanitation services, said Adam Cook, who manages city event planning.
He expects a somewhat smaller version of Freedom Fair. Except for the fireworks.
“We should see a pretty similar display and length of time and level of fireworks, all of that,” Cook said last week.
All told, about $80,000 worth of fireworks will be blasted into the Fourth of July sky, he said.
While cost figures are still undergoing review, the city’s annual commitment to Freedom Fair was $287,000. Out of that, $113,000 was allocated for police services, according to the city.
“The in-kind expenses are expected to be significantly less this year due to the different footprint and production,” said Tammi Bryant, director of marketing for the city’s Tacoma Venues & Events.
The city is working with Tacoma police to reduce staffing requirements, she said.
Fewer road closures could mean less policing needs, Cook said.
The city has no plans to produce an air show — a big part of past Freedom Fairs — but it’s not opposed to one, Cook said.
“If they are able to go forward with it, more power to them,” he said. “I think the more content we can provide around the region, the better we all are.”
AIR SHOW
The Tacoma Events Commission had hoped to stage Freedom Fair and its air show in 2020 without city help.
Now, the last vestige of the event, the air show, is on life support.
“Freedom Fair, as we remember it, is no longer,” said Doug Fratoni last week, the interim executive director for TEC. “We’re hoping to do an air show in Tacoma over the water, if we can find enough sponsors.”
TEC’s president and CEO, Tony La Stella, said the air show brought national recognition to Tacoma. Freedom Fair pulled in 125,000 festival goers annually, he said.
“In fact, our patriotic air show featuring every branch of the military presenting their jets has been a highlight in recent years and is one of the only July 4th events in the nation that features this level of an air show,” he said.
When TEC’s contract for Freedom Fair wasn’t renewed in 2019, there were hard feelings.
TEC put on 2021’s air show by itself, Fratoni said.
This year, the group needs at least $60,000 to put it on.
The all-volunteer TEC is run on a shoestring budget.
“We’ve downsized our office,” Fratoni said. “No one’s getting paid. We do it for the love of community.”
In addition, Wings and Wheels, the annual car and airplane show at the Narrows Airport, might or might not happen, he said. A change in ownership of airport facilities has reset plans.
Pre-pandemic, crowds of up to 8,000 packed the airport for Wings and Wheels.
“It was growing every year,” Fratoni said. In 2021, 5,500 attended a drive-in version.
La Stella said a determination on this year’s air show and Wings and Wheels should be made in by mid-April.
This story was originally published March 29, 2022 at 11:04 AM.
