(Mission Times Courier, San Diego, CA) – In spite of many roadblocks this year, the fireworks display over Lake Murray was held as scheduled and without a hitch. Cleanup the following day also went smoothly. We hope you enjoyed the show and thank all who made a donation.

As mentioned in earlier articles, we had hoped to have a larger and longer fireworks display, but the reality of the situation is that donations from the community fell short of that goal. In fact, we had to use our reserves to pay the bills this year. Another reality is that you can’t hold a $50,000 event with $20,000 in funds/donations, so our decision was to have fireworks only.

We appreciate all the advice and comments received by the committee about the event. If you contacted us, we hope you will volunteer your time to assist with fundraising for next year’s event. Further, if you know of someone who is willing to make a sizeable donation, please pass along that information to us and we will contact the person and/or the business.

On the litigation front, Marco Gonzalez will be back in court on Aug. 31, at which time the court will decide if the City must require an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) from Special Event Permit applicants. An EIR would cost no less than $20,000 and take 6-9 months of work until the process is completed. Stay tuned for more news about that issue.

For updates about the Music Fest and Fireworks, visit www.navajoevents.com. While you’re on the site, consider signing up for automatic e-mail updates about all the listed events in the Navajo Communities. The Music Fest Committee (Don Brennan, Jay Wilson and John Pilch) thanks all who supported the event this year.