By AUBRIE GEORGE | The Moorestown Sun
For the second year in a row, there will be no Fourth of July festivities in Moorestown.
The Moorestown July Fourth Parade Committee had been planning a traditional event for this year that included an Independence Day parade followed by a celebration at Memorial Field.
However, citing a lack of funding, committee members said they won’t be able to pull it off this year.
“After leading the recently completed Windows on Main Street fund raiser for the Moorestown Community House, I found out early-on that trying to raise money to save our failing centerpiece in Moorestown is not as easy as I thought it would be,” said Committee Chairman Dave Schill in an e-mail to The Sun. “The vast majority of Moorestown occupants did not contribute financially to this most worthy project, so seeking funds for a July Fourth parade would probably be impossible this year.”
Schill said the committee could not come up with the funds necessary to pay for police patrol during the parade. He said the police demand at least four hours of overtime funding per officer and the traditional parade route would call for at least four officers to block off streets.
He also said the committee could not afford the second half of the festivities at Memorial Field, including what members envisioned as an old fashioned Fourth of July celebration with a bandstand for musical groups to perform, food vendors, an apple-dunking contest, pony rides and other games and activities for families and children.
While the 2010 celebration has been canceled, Schill said the committee plans to continue to meeting in hopes that this year’s meetings have provided a basis to pull off the Fourth of July festivities in 2011.
Schill said there is currently a proposition on the table for the Moorestown Improvement Association to take on the July Fourth celebration next year and thereafter. The proposition is scheduled for a vote during the group’s June meeting.
If the MIA votes to take on July Fourth festivities, there will be a postal address released so that interested residents may submit donations to support the event, Schill said. In the meantime, residents who would like to get involved with Fourth of July festivities in the future or who would like to make donations may contact Dave Schill at 609–410–5969 or dwschill@comcast.net.
Moorestown’s traditional Fourth of July activities were canceled last year as well, also due to a lack of funding.
