For years, the fireworks show on the shores of Lake Michigan would draw hundreds, if not thousands, of visitors to Michigan City every July.
But the show usually scheduled for mid-July was canceled this year due to the city's financial emergency.
That didn't sit too well with a number of residents who look forward to the yearly event that is up there with the boat race, lakefront art festival and in-water boat show in terms of weekends that bring the most people to Michigan City.
In response, some have jump-started a group on Facebook, called "Save The Fireworks!!!," to go with a donation page where anyone can pitch in to reach a goal of $50,000, which is what it usually costs the city to put on the show. Just two weeks after it was created, the Facebook page is already closing in on 2,000 likes.
Steve Neitzel, a sales consultant at Bosak Honda of Michigan City, was one of the ones at the forefront of that effort.
"I was greatly disappointed when I heard the Mayor was going to cancel the Fireworks this summer," Neitzel said. "I thought back to all of the memories that I had growing up going to the show as well as all the businesses that it would affect."
Neitzel contacted a friend who shared the same concerns to see if other residents would like to get something started with the hopes of saving the show by raising enough funds through the community.
"We planned a couple meetings and started organizing ideas and speaking to public officials to see what actually could be done," Neitzel said.
Dorothy Poplawski, born and raised in nearby Trail Creek, remembers attending the firework shows every summer with her parents and brother.
"It was absolutely the highlight of my summer," she said of the fireworks show, while offering some ideas to further promote the grassroots effort to fund this as a community in 2014.
"The ideas are still fresh," she said. "I would like to have the students at Michigan City Area Schools participate in a contest to design the 'Save the Fireworks' t-shirt logo. I'm also going to try to put together a bike rally for the local motorcyclists. Someone at the mall also offered to help by offering his support with his air slides by donation from an event."
Other residents who support the effort have already met with Neitzel and others leading the effort. Some elected officials have also jumped on board as has Mike Hale, secretary of the Michigan City Summer Festival board. Hale set up an Indiegogopage where anyone can donate to the $50,000 goal. So far $120 has been raised in only a few days since the site went live. As of March 4, there are still 58 days remaining for the group to reach their goal.
"We would love to see the full $50,000 raised from all our collaborative efforts," Poplawski said.
