Ahwatukee's annual Fourth of July fireworks show has been canceled and its future is in jeopardy.
President Lindy Lutz Cash told ABC15 in a phone interview on Wednesday that the rising costs to put on the event, fewer places to hold it, and the recent dropping out of its "host organization" which would have funded the event, all contributed to its cancelation.
This year would have marked the 42nd year for the "Red, White and Boom" fireworks show.
Lutz said the "host organization" pulled out of the event about a month ago giving them little time to secure the finances and permits to put it on. She declined to provide the name of the organization citing a Board decision and not wanting to harm community relations.
She said the future of the event will depend on finding someone, or multiple people, to fund and organize it. The Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce would then help provide volunteers and day-of help, she said.
Lutz was unable to provide how much it costs to put on the fireworks nor how many people attended last year.
HDE Agency, a multi-media marketing agency in Phoenix that puts on other festivals around town, has helped produce the fireworks show for the last five years, said Jen Pruett, public relations manager for the agency.
She said just under 10,000 people attended last year's event. The agency was also unable to discuss how much the event costs to produce nor name the organization that pulled out.
To be clear, HDE is not the organization that pulled out.
Ahwatukee Foothill News first published news about the event's cancelation last week. When asked if anyone had reached out about helping revive the event since that story, Lutz said: "not yet, not yet."
