Beachwood Cancels Labor Day Fireworks

Beachwood was one of a handful of towns to made the decision to postpone their Independence Day fireworks shows to Labor Day Weekend. When those towns were making those decisions, we all had that bit of positive thinking that led us to believe that things would be okay by the end of summer, and we'd be able to celebrate Labor Day with a big fireworks spectacular.

How naive we were.

Because of the spikes in numbers we've seen lately, Governor Murphy cut the number of people allowed at public gatherings down again. That limit means Beachwood had to make the difficult decision to cancel their fireworks show entirely. Here's the post from Beachwood Recreation that shares the announcement from Mayor Roma:

It's crappy news, but you can't really hold it against the town of Beachwood. If the state says you can't have large gatherings, and Beachwood expects 15,000 people, there's just no way to make it work. Could you imagine what would happen if the town tried to move forward, only to have the event stopped the night of because the government steps in and shuts it down?

Our sister station WOBM has been part of the Beachwood fireworks forever, so it's an extra bummer for us around here.

In case you're wondering why the town doesn't just block off the area to visitors and allow people to watch from their houses or boats, Beachwood Recreation actually responded to a few comments like that. It sounds nice on paper, but it wouldn't be fair to people who don't live in the immediate viewing area. You would still have people trying to drive as close as they could get, congesting the roads in and around Beachwood.

It's just another bummer to add to your 2020 diary.