Celebrate Antioch Foundation to Take Pause From 4th of July Fireworks and Parade

On Friday, the Celebrate Antioch Foundation sent a letter to the City of Antioch informing them that their foundation is taking a pause from organizing and sponsoring the 4th of July fireworks and celebration.

This comes after a decade ago, a group of citizens came together to create the Celebrate Antioch Foundation to bring fireworks and a 4th of July Celebration back to the City of Antioch after it went on hiatus. Through volunteerism and fundraising the group was able to put on a 4th of July celebration each year for the past decade.

The Celebrate Antioch Foundation works to raise anywhere from $65-75k each year for the event, with the city contributing $20-35k for fireworks. Outside of the fireworks donation, Celebrate Antioch has fund raised for the remaining balance to put on the event.

Here is a copy of the letter sent Friday city manager Con Johnson, parks and recreation director Brad Helfenberger, mayor Lamar Thorpe and the entire city council:

Council and City Staff,

11 years ago, a group of citizens came together to help our city.  During the great recession the City of Antioch, on the verge of bankruptcy, was unable to continue to bring the decades-long 4^th of July fireworks and celebration to its citizens.  After a two-year absence, this group of citizens, all volunteers, privately raised the monies needed and organized a great 4^th of July celebration and fireworks show in 2012 where over 10,000  attended. The following year this group formed a nonprofit 501c3, the Celebrate Antioch Foundation and for the last 10 years has continued to volunteer and privately bring the 4^th of July and other great community celebrations free to the residents and families of Antioch. 

This has only been possible because of a great working relationship with the City of Antioch and the support of the City Council. Unfortunately, that relationship has changed, and it has become clear to our foundation that the mayor and city would like to go in a different direction.  We have come to this conclusion because of the city’s actions toward our organization. Last year’s Juneteenth debacle, the lack of acknowledgement for our work on the Sesquicentennial and your most recent efforts to reach out to another organization, to organize and facilitate Antioch’s 4^th of July festivities have spoken for you. For the City of Antioch to proceed in this manner, without the respect of a conversation with our foundation, has been very disappointing.

Planning and fundraising for the 4^th of July is a massive undertaking and is a very expensive event for CAF.  The preparation for this event starts the year prior in order to bring a safe and quality event to our community.  And more importantly, this only happens because of the dedication of our volunteers who unselfishly offer hours and hours of their time and energy to CAF events and giving back to their community.  It is impossible nor financially plausible for CAF to continue down this path of organizing an Antioch 4^th of July celebration without having a willing partnership with the city. 

Therefore, and considering what has transpired, it is the decision of the executive board, officers and members of the Celebrate Antioch Foundation to take a pause and we will not be organizing or sponsoring Antioch’s 4^th of July fireworks and celebration this year. We want to be clear that this decision has absolutely nothing to do with Park and Recreation Director Brad Helfenberger or his department.  Brad has been an exceptional and professional partner with our foundation, and we look forward to working with him on our foundation’s other upcoming community celebrations.

We wish you well.

Thank you,

Celebrate Antioch Foundation Executive Board and Officers

Photo by Beverly Knight of Empower Antioch Today

Joy Motts, President of the Celebrate Antioch Foundation, said Tuesday the decision to pause the event came in an October vote of their board after the lack of communication from city hall and the appearance the city has in wanting to go in another direction for events.

She further explained the foundation were not going to begin entering agreements on fireworks or begin negotiations on other items for the event without a firm commitment from city hall which she says the city has failed to communicate.

“It’s been strained relationship for the entire year and a lot of officers in our group were not shown any recognition for their efforts,” said Motts who reiterated they are volunteers. “The city has acted in an unprofessional manner in their dealings and have failed to communicate what they are looking for.”

Motts was quick to point out that  Brad Helfenberger, Park and Recreation Director, has been great to work with, however, outside of him there has been no communication from the mayor or city manager.

“Its incredibly disrespectful and disappointing. They asked us to take on Sesquicentennial which was extremely difficult which should have been years in the making but we had only several months and was a full-time job,” explained Motts. “Yes, we had a MOU for the money we received for our efforts, but it came out to like 15 cents an hour.”

Motts says the 4th of July event takes a year to plan due to coordination, fundraising, entering agreements to allow for a fireworks show, while ensuring security is in place.

“The mayor has no idea how difficult it is to put on this event and coordinate a parade, fireworks show, work with community partners, plus security along with everything else that has to be taken care of,” explained Motts. “It’s sad for us, the 4^th of July is why we all came together. A group came together to bring it back and everyone thought we were crazy and have done it ever since the past 10-years.”

She further explained that Antioch City Hall has lost touch with the community because Celebrate Antioch Foundation is all volunteers who have jobs and families but put in the effort in the name of helping local business thrive while taking pride during community events.

One group who was approached by the City of Antioch was the Antioch Chamber of Commerce. However, new President and CEO Daniel H. Sohn quickly shot that down.

“I was approached by the city in passing but we were not formally asked,” explained Sohn. “We do not have the staffing to take on the event. Whether we were approached or not, there was nothing formal.”

It is unclear what plans the city of Antioch will have for its July 4th Celebration as it had been community driven for the past decade.

Juneteenth Event Fiasco

Last year, as Celebrate Antioch Foundation was planning its Juneteenth event when they were forced to move its event to the City of Brentwood after games were played by Mayor Lamar Thorpe and City Manager Con Johnson who took city funds and created their own event.

They gave a directive to the Parks and Recreation Director to pull the permits from Celebrate Antioch and took the organizing away claiming they wanted “bigger and better and wanted the black community to organize this event”.

Celebrate Antioch Foundation sponsored an event in Brentwood City Park while the City of Antioch created their own event at Williamson Ranch Park.

After a public records request, the city spent $48,635 according to Finance Director Dawn Merchant on the Antioch Juneteenth event. That funding was $11,635 from the City’s Civic Arts Fund and $37,000 from the City Managers budget within the General Fund.