Roselle not giving up on fireworks

Despite missing a key deadline, Roselle officials aren't yet willing to pull the plug on a proposed July fireworks show.

The village's "Get a Bang for Your Buck" campaign is trying to raise $25,000 for a fireworks display, but the fundraising effort so far has raised less than $4,000.

As a result, the village wasn't able to get enough cash by Saturday to secure a fireworks vendor for July 4.

So village officials have decided move the date of the event to July 3. Because it's a less busy day, Roselle has more time to raise the $18,000 needed to book a vendor.

"We've decided to continue with the campaign," Mayor Gayle Smolinski said Monday. "Because we changed it (the event date), we can extend the campaign into April."

Smolinski said the extra time makes it possible for businesses that have expressed an interest in supporting the campaign to make donations.

"We're going to see where that takes us," she said. "We're going to try to see if the money will come forward."

She said officials will know by mid-April if the fireworks will be canceled and money collected will be put toward a 2015 show.

Last year's fireworks show happened because a group associated with Mission Church of Bloomingdale donated $9,000, which raised the total collected to $18,300.

Roselle has been unable to pay for fireworks out of its budget for the past four years.

Community groups such as the Roselle Chamber of Commerce and area businesses came to the rescue to pay for the display in 2010 or 2011. The show was canceled in 2012 after the village couldn't find a sponsor.

Smolinski said officials don't want to accept that this year's fireworks might not happen.

"This is always an ever-changing scenario," she said. "So we don't want to shut off any possibility of making this happen for the community if we can."

Donations to the fireworks fund can be mailed to Village of Roselle, 31 S. Prospect St., Roselle, IL 60172.

In addition, donors can visit the village's website at roselle.il.us/fireworks to make a credit card payment (convenience charges apply).

Anyone visiting the website also can download a coupon to be included with check or cash donations, track campaign donation progress and view a donor recognition page.