SPOKANE, Wash. – Spokane's downtown New Year's Eve celebration went off without a hitch but it left some people wanting more, specifically when it came to the fireworks show.
The City of Spokane’s parks and recreation department took over the New Year's Eve celebration in Riverfront Park after First Night was cancelled in January 2018.
Since 2001, First Night Spokane organized the New Year’s Eve party downtown and paid for the fireworks show. After low ticket sales for the 2017 to 2018 New Year’s Eve celebration the event was cancelled. They sold about 3,000 tickets, which was half of the target number of tickets they needed to continue the event.
There have been talks of First Night coming back at the end of 2019, but there have been no official plans announced.
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The city put on a two-minute fireworks display on New Year's Eve and some people online expressed disappointment. They wanted the show to be longer.
A spokesperson with Parks and Recreation said the show cost $3,000. They opted for a big finale type show opposed to a display with a lot of buildup.
The spokesperson said it can be expensive to put on a fireworks show. A minute of fireworks costs about a $1,000, according to the spokesperson. About $17,000 is usually budgeted for Spokane’s Fourth of July fireworks show each year.
In Coeur d’Alene, anywhere from $23,000 to $30,000 has been spent on the city’s annual Fourth of July fireworks. Coeur d’Alene’s fireworks show is put on by the Chamber of Commerce and other groups. Organizers have relied heavily on donations in past years.
An estimated 1,200 people went to watch the fireworks in Riverfront Park on New Year’s Eve. The show started at 9 p.m. instead of midnight.
