Members of the Eureka Springs Parks and Recreation Commission said they received “numerous” calls and messages from residents inquiring why there was no fireworks display in the city for the Fourth of July holiday.
At the commission’s July 5 workshop at The Auditorium, commissioners Bren Marshell and Ruth Hager said they fielded questions regarding the lack of fireworks since a display has fallen under the parks department in past years.
“In the last 24 hours I have gotten numerous private messages and a couple of phone calls because, I guess, people in town know I’m on the commission and obviously it’s based around the lack of us doing anything for Fourth of July,” said Marshell, who is new to the commission. “It kind of caught me off guard at first because I never even thought about the Fourth of July celebration falling under parks.”
The issue was discussed months ago when the 2022 budget was approved, according to parks director Scott Miskiel.
“There were a couple of issues that led to us not doing fireworks, the biggest one being budgetary,” Miskiel said. “It was over $15,000 and that’s money that we really don’t have to spend on an event that’s over in about an hour when that same $15,000 will pay for approximately half of all of the design work that we need, for instance, just in Basin Park.
“So, when we’re looking at not being able to fund things that we are required to do, such as protecting and preserving assets, and we have assets that we are scratching our heads wondering how do we pay for design and ultimately to implement repairs, it’s hard to come up with $15,000 … and it was going to be more this year, by the way.”
Miskiel said even if the commission had ponied up the money to have a fireworks show it likely wouldn’t have happened during the three-day weekend.
“They couldn’t do it on the Fourth of July,” Miskiel said. “In fact, I think Thursday was the closest they could have done it. So, they weren’t even able or willing to do it on the Fourth of July or even the Fourth of July weekend.”
Parks being responsible for the event has also been questioned, Miskiel said.
“There’s also an issue that it hasn’t even been done in the parks the past several years,” Miskiel said. “It used to be done years ago at Lake Leatherwood, and I could see if we were doing it in a parks facility where the parks and recreation commission might be responsible for that, but to put on fireworks that weren’t even part of any of our parks, I think that was at least one of the other issues.”
Hager said she doesn’t think the commission “dropped the ball” this year, mainly because of the costs that would have been involved.
“There was a lot of demand, unknown demand, not much supply, and the potential for a huge, huge expenditure,” Hager said.
After many years held at Lake Leatherwood, the fireworks display was moved to the Marble Flats area so it could be closer to downtown, Hager said.
“Fireworks are always a good event, but of course there’s always people that don’t like fireworks and finding a location that works for everyone,” Hager said. “Lake Leatherwood for years and years was a great place for it, but you know, depending on the day of the week, [having it there] doesn’t help shops downtown.”
Regardless of what commission or group a potential fireworks display falls under, celebrations are needed for Eureka Springs — especially since it was founded on July 4, 1879, Marshell said.
“I don’t see, being a tourist town, how we could not have some form of things going on for the Christmas season as well as Fourth of July,” Marshell said. “Even if we did Fourth of July as more of a Founders Day celebration.”
“There were a couple of issues that led to us not doing fireworks, the biggest one being budgetary. … That’s money that we really don’t have to spend on an event that’s over in about an hour.”
— Eureka Springs Parks and Recreation director Scott Miskiel
