FORT VANCOUVER, Wash. - BNSF Railway is chipping in $20,000 to bring a July 4 fireworks show back to Fort Vancouver in 2010, the Columbian reports.
This year's show was canceled after the Fort Vancouver National Trust, which has presented the daylong music-fireworks extravaganza, lost its primary sponsor last year.
Organizers hope to bring back a reformatted family-oriented show in 2010 that connects with the reserve's history.
That would be a major change from the big show in recent years that attracted 60,000 or more people to the Fort Vancouver National Site and thousands more to vantage points on both sides of the Columbia River.
BNSF is the first business to make a donation toward a 2010 event.
"We are so pleased to have received this financial support from BNSF, who stepped forward as the first of what needs to be strong annual community support," Elson Strahan, president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit trust, said in a statement. "Without such contributions, coupled with donations from attendees, the event cannot continue."
The trust, working with community partners and fireworks wholesalers, intends to operate 14 fireworks stands this summer to raise money for what promises to be a smaller event in 2010, with fireworks launched near Pearson Field, instead of from a barge moored in the Columbia River.
The 2008 event cost more than $450,000 to stage. The trust expects to spend considerably less on next year's show.
As more details become available, they will be posted on the trust's Web site, www.fortvan.org.
Donations for the 2010 Independence Day at Fort Vancouver celebration can be dropped off or mailed to trust's office: O.O. Howard House, 750 Anderson St., Vancouver, WA 98661.
(This item appeared in the Columbian May 11, 2009.)
