Pride of Kinston cancels Fourth of July Summerfest, fireworks due to COVID-19

Note: This story originally published on June 19.

Pride of Kinston announced yesterday, June 18, that the organization will not be hosting a July 4th Summerfest concert this year. In addition, there will be no fireworks at Pearson Park and Neuseway Nature Center typically hosted by the City and Parks and Recreation.

In the announcement, which was posted on Facebook, Pride of Kinston attributed the cancellation to COVID-19.

“No one would like to have Summerfest more than I, and we had a great band lineup again this year,” said Leon Steele, director of Pride of Kinston. “The decision, however, was based on COVID-19 regarding crowds along with related factors. The safety and wellness of our community and those involved in hosting the event must be prioritized.”

The City of Kinston decided to cancel its Fourth of July fireworks and events also due to safety concerns.

“The city’s goal is to keep folks as safe as possible during this time,” said Corey Povar, director of the Kinston Parks and Recreation Department. “Part of our effort in trying to keep our community members safe and limit folks coming into town to participate in a large event was to cancel the fireworks as well as the event around the fireworks. It’s really just an effort to try to keep our citizens and visitors as safe as possible. We’re still operating on this safer-at-home mentality and hosting a large scale event would go against that thought process.”

The cost and effort to put together a large event such as the Fourth of July celebrations makes it difficult to organize in a limited amount of time.

“Even if things fully open up in a few days, it is not enough time to organize a Summerfest concert for July 4th,” Steele said. “Many people think such events just happen. The truth is there are many expenses and much time involved in planning events. For instance, did you know it takes 6 months to plan the Christmas Parade? We have to get our team of volunteers together to plan, book the band, sign contracts and collect 1099s, buy insurance, find sponsors to offset costs, make arrangements with Pepsi, Coastal Beverage, and Parks Port-a-Johns, organize the volunteers to help at every level, arrange for and pay off-duty police officers, have sponsorship banners printed and market the event, which involves a graphic designer, billboard, web, social media and such.”

There are additional considerations when it comes to the fireworks components of the July 4th celebration, as well.

“There is the $15,000 to $20,000 for fireworks and trying to schedule the pyrotechnic team on short notice through our great Parks and Recreation Department,” Steele said. “There is also a very real possibility that the pyrotechnic folks are not doing public events right now due to the virus. There is a great deal of work and many gears to it and not enough time before July 4th.”

Pride of Kinston has not ruled out the possibility of any future summer events.

“We hope we can manage to have a couple of concerts later in the summer or an equally enjoyable alternative event that we are currently exploring as an option. Goodness knows we all need it,” said Steele.

Steele also shared recommendations for anyone looking to still celebrate with live music.

“Anyone craving live music should go to The Office (formerly The Red Room on Herritage Street downtown) that weekend for its grand opening,” he said. “Their other venue is Da Bayou in Wilson, so you know it’s going to be good for Kinston.”