The city’s annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration is set for Thursday at Lake Boren Park.

Attendees can begin gathering at the park as early as 6 p.m., when food vendors will be available. The band Big Dog Revue will take the stage from 8-10 p.m. The fireworks show will begin when it gets dark, or just after 10 p.m.

Patriotic glow necklaces and paper flags will be given out as souvenirs.

The Lake Boren Park show is the only authorized place to see fireworks in Newcastle. Residents are not allowed to light fireworks within city limits.

This year’s event is sponsored by Lake Boren Townhomes.

WANTED

Newcastle News wants to see your photos from the Newcastle Fourth of July celebration at Lake Boren Park. Email your contact information and, if possible, photos or video of your patriotic fun to newcastle@isspress.com, or contact the newspaper on Twitter at www.twitter.com/newcastlenewswa or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/newcastlenewswa. We may feature your photos in an upcoming issue or on one of our social media platforms!

On Twitter, tag your photos with #NewcastleFourth and we will retweet the best ones.

The city of Newcastle’s Fourth of July fireworks celebration will go on as planned, despite initial funding concerns and worries about public safety.

Mayor Rich Crispo brought the discussion of city events to the council’s April 16 meeting to seek input about the feasibility of the Fourth of July event.

Crispo’s main concern was public safety after last year’s event attracted between 3,500 and 5,000 people.

“It was wall-to-wall people,” he said. “There was no place to put a blanket, a chair, anything … We had two policemen there. They weren’t really enough. There weren’t enough facilities there for people to use. The lines out of the bathroom were long. In my opinion, there were safety issues.”

Councilman Steve Buri said he has attended the event with his family, but has never felt uncomfortable.

“I’ve never felt unsafe over there. It’s a great amenity for our residents,” he said “It’s a service we should provide.”

The larger impediment, however, was funding for the event. The Fourth of July celebration is expected to cost about $3,000 more than last year due to the increased cost of the fireworks display and the procurement of more police officers.

The point became moot moments later when Councilman John Dulcich announced that he had secured a $10,000 commitment from Continental Properties, the developer of Lake Boren Townhomes, to sponsor the event.

“We are sponsoring as a thank you to the community for helping us make Lake Boren Townhomes a great success,” Claudio Guincher, of Continental Properties, wrote in an email. “We have really enjoyed working in the Newcastle community, and hope that we have provided a positive addition to the community.”

Securing a sponsor does not make the public safety concerns go away, though, and Councilman Bill Erxleben suggested the staff look into them before the event.

“We’ve got concerns about traffic, we’ve got concerns about safety. They need to be addressed responsibly,” he said. “Let’s toss the ball back to the staff to do that.”

With a sponsor secured, Councilwoman Carol Simpson said she saw no reason to cease offering the event.

“If we have a sponsor, I think we should step up and do this event, and continue to seek more sponsorships and more donations to offset some of our costs, and some volunteers to direct traffic,” she said.

Finding volunteers is becoming an increasing problem, though, as the city continues to see a decline in residents willing to lend a hand, Crispo said.

“We have not been doing very well on volunteers so far this year. Last year, we did have about 125 volunteers that worked within the city of Newcastle,” he said. “But, it has been difficult at the beginning of this year to find volunteers for events, to find volunteers even for the Community Activities Commission.”

Last year, the city of Bellevue had more than 6,000 volunteers, Erxleben said, adding that Newcastle should seek guidance from its neighbor to attract more residents to get involved in the community.

“We talk about volunteerism in the city of Newcastle being one of our strengths, but we’re having problems with it recently,” he said. “Maybe it’s a combined problem of volunteerism falling off a little bit … but, it’s also the marketing.”

Residents will have the opportunity to celebrate the Fourth of July in Newcastle this year with a free concert and fireworks display at Lake Boren Park.

The sale, possession, or discharge of fireworks is illegal in Newcastle. Extra police patrols will take place to ensure everyone enjoys a safe celebration.

For those wanting to purchase and discharge their own fireworks, they are legal in Maple Valley and unincorporated King County.

The outdoor concert and fireworks will be provided with financial sponsorship from Lake Boren Townhomes and U.S. Bank.

Crowds traditionally begin gathering as early as 5 p.m. for community picnicking.

Food will be available on site starting at 6 p.m. Cherry Cherry, a Neil Diamond tribute band, will perform from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Fireworks will begin at the end of the concert.

For more information go to the city’s special events page.

UPDATED — 10:50 a.m. June 29, 2011

The city’s annual Fourth of July celebration in Lake Boren Park is a go this year, thanks to a $10,000 sponsorship from Lake Boren Townhomes, which opened in April on the north shore of Lake Boren. Resident Shel Neufeld also offered to match as much as $1,000 of contributions from local businesses for the event.*

This year’s celebration in the park will include music from Seattle cover band Shelley and the Curves, food vendors and — of course — a lot of fireworks to light up the twilight sky.

The celebration starts at 6 p.m. with fireworks starting at 10 p.m. Don’t forget a blanket. The new playground will be open for children in attendance.

“We are extremely excited to be part of the Newcastle community and are happy to do what we can to keep the celebration going,” Lake Boren Townhomes developer Claudio Guincher said in a news release. “Future homeowners will have a front row seat to the fireworks celebration. This is something we want them to be able to enjoy for years to come.”

Mayor John Dulcich said he was very grateful for the contribution from the developer.

“He’s just as excited as we are about this thing,” Dulcich said regarding Guincher.

Donations have also poured in for Newcastle Days, which will be Sept. 9 and 10. The event will be funded with a $10,000 sponsorship from Valley Medical Center and a $2,500 sponsorship from Waste Management.*

Like last year, the Friday and Saturday celebration will consist of a sidewalk sale in the downtown area the first day followed by festivities in Lake Boren Park the second day.

This year’s celebration in the park will include the Newcastle 5K run, a tennis tournament, and the popular inflatable toys and pony rides. Newcastle resident and Yes drummer Alan White and his band White will also return to rock out as the headliner for his neighbors.

Organizers said they plan to release more details in the coming weeks.

Concerts in the Park will be funded this year with a sponsorship coming from The Golf Club at Newcastle, although the sponsorship amount was not announced as of Newcastle News’ May 31 deadline.

With the sponsorships, Newcastle Days will likely be revenue neutral, City Manager Rob Wyman said. If the city obtains additional sponsorships, Concerts in the Park may also be revenue neutral.

However, the city will need to pay for between $5,000 and $8,000 of the Fourth of July celebration with money from its community events fund, budgeted at $15,000 for the year.

Nonetheless, the events have begun lining up under budget, Dulcich said.

“We’re off to a good start. We’re ahead of last year,” he said, adding that he is thrilled with the support the city’s events have received. “I’m very excited about the fact that we’re going to be able to have these events. It really builds community.”

* This story contains corrected information.