MARBLEHEAD — The town is the latest to cancel its celebratory Independence Day fireworks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a Facebook post Wednesday, Marblehead Fireworks and Harbor Illumination announced the cancellation, citing concerns that holding the event would cause an influx of visitors from nearby communities.
“Most surrounding towns that usually have a fireworks display on July 4th have already decided to cancel their displays entirely this year,” the post said. “In fact, according to our fireworks provider, our event would have been the only display on the entire North Shore happening on July 4th.
“As you can imagine, this would most likely have resulted in an extraordinary influx of people into our town on that day, including by land and by sea, and the committee was unanimous in our concern that this would create untenable safety and health hazards for the public.”
The town will consider holding the annual event at an alternate date later in the summer, but specified that this would only occur if other nearby towns made similar decisions due to similar concerns about incoming crowds.
“We know that this is a very disappointing announcement, but we strongly feel that the concerns for the safety and health of our community, expressed by committee members who are trained and experienced public safety professionals, warrant this approach,” they wrote.
