CINCINNATI — The Fourth of July isn’t complete without a good fireworks show, but one community had to fight for their local fireworks to continue this year after the event was cancelled in the spring.
What You Need To Know
- The Ault Park fireworks, a 57-year tradition, was cancelled back in March
- Neighbors along with city councilman Seth Walsh came together to come up with a plan to save the long-standing Independence Day tradition
- Residents went to sponsors and door to door to raise the nearly $33,000 to run the event while Cincinnati Parks agreed to facilitate the event
- The hope is to continue the partnership in the future
Anne Sesler has been hard at work making sure everyone in the neighborhood knows the Ault Park Fireworks are back on.
Back in March, she saw a social media post saying the 57-year tradition was no more.
“Terrible. I saw it on social media," Sesler said. "It was a big 'Ault Park Fireworks cancelled.'”
As a resident of Mount Lookout for 17 years, she knew she couldn’t sit by.
“I figured there had to be a way to save it," she said. "So I started calling everyone I knew at the city and at the parks.”
Which meant a call to Cincinnati Councilman Seth Walsh.
“These become really instrumental community building events that are reasons why people choose pick neighborhoods, the reasons people choose to pick Cincinnati to live in," Councilman Walsh said. "And that's a reason people relocate to these cities. So to just not even fight for it and just let it kind of go away, I wasn't willing to do that.”
The event was previously run by the Ault Park Advisory Council, who cited the event was getting too big to handle. So the city and the parks came up with a plan to allow the residents to fundraise and the parks to facilitate the event.
“Let's challenge the community, because if they if they truly care, which they're showing us, they care," Walsh said, "they'll step up. They'll they'll raise the money and then we have the skills and expertise that we can make this happen.”
And thanks to donations from UDF, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, local businesses and residents, Sesler and others were able to raise the nearly $33,000 needed to run the event.
“It truly took a little bit from everybody to make it happen, and we did," Sesler said.
Brittany Speed has been a member of the Ault Park Advisory Council for more than a decade and is in charge of the kid’s parade. She’s glad to see the event in good hands and continuing.
“This is one of the longest standing traditions in Greater Cincinnati," Speed said. "It means a lot not only to the folks that live around the park, but it really draws community members from all across the city.”
While this year’s event will now go on as planned, the hope is to continue the long-standing Cincinnati tradition for many more years to come.
“If the community can help raise the money, if the city parks can lend their expertise in executing the event, we help pay for that. That seems like a great way to move forward," Sesler said. "And I hope we can.”
The kids' parade begins at 11 a.m., with live music and food trucks beginning at 6 p.m. and the infamous fireworks show starting at 10 p.m. Event organizers encourage community members to bring water and sunscreen and to park on neighborhood streets and walk into the park.