Organizers pleased with fireworks show

With great weather, solid attendance and ramped up activities for the kids, organizers are calling the 50th Independence Day at Fort Vancouver celebration a great success.

Final attendance numbers aren’t yet available but it looks like they will be on par with the 30,000 to 35,000 average of the last three years, said Cara Cantonwine, director of programs for the Fort Vancouver National Trust, which runs the event.

“Logistically everything went beautifully,” Cantonwine said. “Vendors did well, everything went well. Now we’re just hustling to get everything cleaned up.”

Typically it takes about half a day for volunteers to remove all the trash and other debris from the field, although the main stage takes longer to dismantle because it includes a lot of equipment, she said.

Michael McCormic, 15, of CAM Academy, won Thursday’s Sing Fourth Teen Vocal Competition and will get a $1,000 college scholarship for his performance of “Feeling Good” by Michael Buble.

The kids’ games area, which included a new booth from Radio Disney, was also a big success, Cantonwine said.

“They tossed out about 1,000 water balloons and gave out about 3,000 prizes,” she said.

It looks like the event will pay for itself again this year once ticket sales and other revenue is tallied, although it will take a few days to know for sure, Cantonwine said.

“Since we reformatted the event with admission and sponsorships it’s essentially a break-even show,” she said.