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Croakerfest is about 5 and a half months off, but the event needs some help right now if it is to have a fireworks display this year.

This year, the Saturday event falls exactly on the Fourth of July, which creates “a small dilemma,” according to Croaker Festival organizer Candy Bohmert. That’s because there’s more demand from other towns for the services of the fireworks company the festival has used in the past.

Fireworks from a recent Croakerfest. Photo Credit: James Bossert

To do a show on the Fourth of July, Bohmert says, “the fireworks company has a policy of a minimum amount …. of ten thousand dollars. Our budget is for seven thousand.”

Faced with that 40% rise in the price for fireworks, Bohmert says the Croaker Festival has a choice to make: Change the date of the fireworks to Friday or Sunday. Cancel the show altogether. Or seek donations to cover the extra $3,000 cost.

That’s where the festival is now: seeing if individuals and groups in town would donate or become sponsors of the fireworks display.

Tiime is of the essence. Candy Bohmert says “that to make sure we don’t lose our place” she has to confirm with the fireworks company by the 15th of February. (That’s sooner than the usual April 1 deadline.) What’s more, half the money would be due soon after that.

Bohmert says that it is with some reluctance that she is turning to the public for funding. In her six years of heading up the Croaker Festival, she says, “the merry band of volunteers has prided itself on not having to ask for donations.”

With the prospect of a 40% increase in costs for fireworks, though, she is asking now. Bohmert says she’s turning to the public at large rather than tap businesses in town “because they already do so much to support the Festival.”

She says that overall, the Croaker Festival incurs costs of abut $20,000.

If you’d like to make a donation, checks may be sent to:

Croaker Festival
P.O. Box 1067
Oriental, NC 28571

Or, if you’d like to be a sponsor, call Candy Bohmert at 252-675-1411.

Posted Friday January 16, 2009 by Melinda Penkava