Sweetwater, FL – The City of Sweetwater has cancelled celebrations for July 4th due to lack of funds, according to a Sweetwater spokeswoman. The yearly Independence Day celebration has taken place in Sweetwater’s Ronselli park, with thousands of people in attendance enjoying music, kids activities, free food and drinks during the day, with a professional fireworks display provided by Zambelli Fireworks in the evening.
This marks the first time in a number of years since Sweewater residents and visitors will not be able to enjoy celebrating Independence Day in an official city event. According to a longtime resident and municipal government source, City of Sweetwater has organized Independence Day celebrations since the 1970s, with a professional fireworks display made possible every year by a contract with Zambelli Fireworks, a New Castle, Pennsylvania-based fireworks contractor. The fireworks contract is said to be valued at over $10,000.
The news of the cancellation comes as a financial crisis in the city has forced the Mayor’s office to layoff at least 9 city employees with at least 10 years of employment, with more to come in the next days.
Sweetwater Spokeswoman Claudia Miro commented on the layoffs and cancellation of the July 4th celebration, “We have done everything possible to avoid this situation, like reducing costs, delayed payments, (cancelling) 4th of July, stopped paying bills altogether to avoid terminating employees.. Unfortunately, we have to layoff good employees because the (city) commission and Governor Scott has taken a year to get involved. The Mayor is very sad about this situation.”
Other nearby July 4th, 2016 fireworks attractions for West Miami-Dade County include Independence Day Celebrations at City of Doral, Miami Springs, and Kendall Hammocks, among others.
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