When July Fourth parade and fireworks organizer Matt Tavares spoke with me in April, he sounded slightly down about the prospect of pyrotechnics going up over the harbor this year.
Tavares – who took over responsibility for the longstanding celebrations from his father, Ken – said fundraising efforts were in danger of fizzling. If the small team of volunteers who make up the nonprofit July 4 Plymouth couldn’t come within $35,000 to $45,000 of the $175,000 needed by June 15, a tough call would have to be made.
“I’m going to be very worried about having to make a decision on which shoe drops,” he said then, “whether it’s the parade or the fireworks.”
That decision still hangs in the air like a multi-colored flare, but progress has been made – with an asterisk attached. More on that later.
At the urging of Select Board member Dick Quintal, Town Meeting last month approved spending an additional $50,000 in taxpayers’ money for the Fourth of July events, along with $50,000 on the separately run Thanksgiving parade. In making his pitch, Quintal cited the nation’s 250th birthday as a reason for the added appropriations.
“If it wasn’t [the 250th], I wouldn’t even be requesting this,” he said at a March Select Board meeting. “I’ve got to be honest with you, I think it’s time the town stepped up to the plate moving forward in support of these projects a little more than what they do.”
That $50,000, combined with $60,000 from the Visitor Services Board – money collected through the local hotel rooms tax – $10,000 from the Plymouth Growth & Development Corporation, and $15,00 out of the town manager’s budget adds up to $135,000.
So far, only about $3,000 has come in through individual donations, and another $10,000 has been pledged or given by businesses. That means at least $27,000 more is needed, a formidable amount considering less than half that has been donated up to now.
Funding the fireworks has for decades been a struggle. When I was editor of the Old Colony Memorial in the late ‘80s and ‘90s, Ken Tavares made an annual plea for money as the days grew short. Somehow, he always managed to pull it off. But the price was relatively modest then, about $50,000-$60,000. Today, because of inflation and other factors, it’s become a more formidable financial commitment.
The biggest cost is not the fireworks display or the parade – which is a purposely low-budget hometown affair – but public safety for both events. That accounts for an estimated $109,500.
Individual contributions, by number of donors, are up in 2026. Fifty-three people had sent money as of earlier this week, compared with about 30 at the same point in 2025, according to Tavares. It’s an improvement, but still shockingly low for a town with a population of about 70,000. People can shell out $50 or $100 for drinks, food, and balloons on July 4, but they won’t spend a few bucks for their holiday entertainment? It’s disappointing. And if I start obsessing about the thousands of dollars squandered on illegal backyard fireworks, my head might explode.
“There’s a long way to go,” Tavares said Wednesday. But he’s expecting business donations to pick up after Memorial Day.
“All in all, I’m very optimistic that we’ll get there as long as the individual donations keep coming in,” he said.
The idea behind the $50,000 Town Meeting allocation was to allow for a grander night-sky display to mark the 250th, and Tavares says that will happen. Three barges are used as launch sites, but July 4 Plymouth hasn’t had the cash to fill them all to capacity.
“This will be the first year that each one of them will be chock-a-block full,” Tavares said. “The only other year we had talked about potentially doing that was probably 2019, for 2020. We all know how that story went.”
But here’s that caveat: What happens in 2027? The $50,000 add-on was considered a one-time expenditure, especially since the municipal budget is on track to be $1.4 million in red next year. Without it, this year’s fireworks and parade would be in peril, and Tavares knows it.
“We would be dire straits,” he said. “We’re extremely grateful to Town Meeting and what they did for us, but we’re under no delusion about next year. We can’t expect that money, and we never would. We’re in the throes of getting this done for this year, but don’t think that we don’t have one eye on next year going, ‘Geez,’ you know? It’s a little worrisome.”
That could be an understatement. History shows that public support for the Fourth of July events are more in spirit than real. If the economy is lagging 12 months from now, there’s no reason to believe hundreds of people, instead of dozens, will suddenly decide to contribute. Some might think Tavares is “crying wolf.”
But there’s still time to set a more upbeat tone by putting the 2026 trendline on an upward trajectory. You can donate to July 4 Plymouth on its website or through Venmo at @july4plymouth. For old schoolers, here’s where to send a check: July 4 Plymouth Inc., P.O. Box 1776, Plymouth, MA, 02362.
Consider it a birthday present to the country.
Mark Pothier can be reached at mark@plymouthindependent.org.