This may be the last year Foster City sets of fireworks on the Peninsula. The annual tradition doesn’t come free for the city and due to budget cuts, the dirty little phrase we’re getting used to hearing every day, this too may end. It’s really unfortunate since the cost of the fireworks are being underwritten by a local business. Bravo to them! But there are some major corporations sitting in Foster City that could easily pick up the expenses of the Foster City Police Department and Public Works, estimated at $80,000 in future years. Wouldn’t this be a great public service? Let them have banners around town, and really promote it. With fireworks shows being dropped from other city budgets – San Mateo used to have one at Bay Meadows Race Track and Redwood City stopped theirs, the only other Peninsula fireworks is in Mountain View and one has to pay to see them up close.
The 4th of July is, and always has been, a big deal in Foster City. It starts with Island United Church’s Pancake Breakfast from 8:30-11:30 AM and moves to the Family Parade at 11 AM and the Stars and Stripes Dog Show at 2 PM in the Amphitheater. The music begins in the Amphitheater at 11:45 AM and continues until the fireworks start at 9:25 PM. You can have a fun-filled day from breakfast through dinner. The Foster City Lions Club offers great BBQ for lunch and an early dinner.
Come early, spread out your blankets and chairs, and find the best spot for the day. Because of the lawn, only blankets may be used – no tarps allowed. Right now it looks like we’ll have great weather on the 4th, but that too can change so be prepared just in case the fog comes in and makes it a cold night.
If you want to see the fireworks continue in Foster City in 2011 and you work for a major employer calling Foster City home, why don’t you suggest to them that it would be a fabulous public service to sponsor them next year? It might take a grass roots effort to see them continue, so let’s start the ball rolling now. There really is no other place in the Bay Area that allows one to see fireworks on the water from small boats. It’s great fun being out there with others moving around to find the best views and then making sure you aren’t in a collision! I sure hate seeing this go away.
If you live in Foster City, please urge the City Counsel and the major corporations to do something and save Foster City’s 4th of July.
