Winona Lake Not Holding Firecracker 5K This Year; Pops Concert Location Changing
Posted
Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
WINONA LAKE – Fireworks will be a part of Winona Lake festivities this year, but not the Firecracker 5K. The Warsaw-Winona Lake fireworks will be July 4 at dusk over Winona Lake. According to Shelby Beam, Winona Lake Park Board president, the board has been discussing canceling the Firecracker 5K after last year’s 5K due to lack of participation. “Every year attendance has gone down. We get later and later registrations, and the numbers are dropping,” Beam said. The costs have risen for timing the race, and Shelby said it is a busy weekend for volunteers with other July 4 activities. “During the peak season there is a race almost every weekend in the park so there are other opportunities, and the Firecracker 5K draw was getting less and we were meeting fewer people’s needs,” Beam said. Beam said this will be a trial year in not having the event. The parks department did a survey a few years ago and the Firecracker 5K was not listed as one of the major activities people were interested in continuing. Some of the events of importance, based on the survey, were being able to get to the beach, having a clean beach and parking issues. Another event in Winona Lake will see changes this year. The location of the Christian Performing Artist Fellowship MasterWorks Patriotic Pops Concert that has been on the Winona Lake Ampitheater lawn under the big white tent will change locations this year. There will be two separate concerts this year instead of one on July 4. The first will be from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and the second is 8:30 to 10 p.m. at Rodeheaver Auditorium. According to Patrick Kavanaugh, MasterWorks artistic director, the MasterWorks Board of Directors decided that with budget reductions having the concerts indoors would save the organization $10,000. The funds would have been used for outdoor sound equipment. Kavanaugh said this would have been the 15th year for the outdoor show. “Many organizations have taken financial hits. The ship will float, but we had to make this cutback,” Kavanaugh said. CPAF needs $10,000 by June 19 to have the concert on the lawn. Donations can be sent to CPAF, P.O. Box 700, Winona Lake, IN 46590 or at masterworksfestival.org Write “Pops Concert” in the memo line.
