RIVER FIREWORKS SHOW ON HOLD

Plans for an elaborate Fourth of July fireworks show on the Cape Girardeau riverfront are on hold after a potential corporate sponsor pulled out of discussions reportedly for financial reasons.

Tracey Glenn, public information officer for the city of Cape Girardeau, said the city and the Convention and Visitors Bureau had been courting a possible corporate sponsor -- which she declined to name -- to help pick up the tab for the proposed $30,000 event. She said the sponsor decided late last week to not participate.

"I think it was a matter of not having their budget finalized," Glenn said. "They wanted an event they could call their own and be the only sponsor of. It came down to we needed to know an answer, and they didn't have their budget finalized, and they decided they couldn't do this."

Glenn said the city now will pursue other avenues for funding a fireworks show. One possibility is to work in conjunction with other groups that might be interested in staging an event.

She added that without a corporate sponsor plans likely will have to be scaled back considerably.

"We were looking at doing a bigger event that would draw people from all around -- a longer show, bigger fireworks, choreographed with music," she said.

"We don't have to do that big of a show, and now that this sponsor has said they aren't going to participate, we probably won't."

July Fourth celebrations have been unsuccessful in Cape Girardeau the last few years. In 1997, VFW Post 3838 resurrected a communitywide Fourth of July picnic in the city that had been discontinued in 1989. Even though entertainment was hired for the daylong Arena Park event, attendance was sparse.

After similar experiences in 1998 and 1999 and spending from $8,000 to $12,000 a year on the picnic, VFW members voted in 2000 to not sponsor the celebration anymore.

Pete Rhodes, VFW club manager, said last year that VFW members were frustrated by the lack of city and public support for the event. He said the organization never asked merchants and civic groups for much money, and the city of Cape Girardeau did not contribute money to help pay for the event.

"But we wouldn't mind spending $12,000 if somebody had showed up," Rhodes said.

Other July Fourth celebrations, including fireworks displays, take place in nearby Jackson and Oran each year.