Update: Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has declared April 2, 2010, “The Day the People Saved the Fireworks.” Read the full declaration.
Just 24 hours after KIRO radio talk show host Dave Ross and restaurateur Tom Douglas began a pledge drive to return the Family 4th fireworks to Lake Union and Gas Works Park, the $500,000 goal has been reached.
Both Microsoft and Starbucks agreed to each pay $125,000 if other businesses and citizens pitched in the remaining $250,000. “We’re pleased to announce, with your help we have reached the goal of raising $500,000 in pledges. According to One Reel, the nonprofit that organizes the show, that is the amount needed to keep the show going,” an announcement posted on MyNorthwest.com states.
“The power of community is truly amazing,” Wallingford Chamber of Commerce president Kara Ceriello tells us. “It’s patriotic, it’s fun, it’s cool, it’s ours,” she says of the fireworks.
Mikhael Williams, spokesperson for One Reel, which has produced the event for more than 20 years, told us yesterday that Monday was the deadline to meet the goal.
(Full disclosure: Next Door Media, which powers MyWallingford.com, has donated to this fund.)
SWEET!!!