Silver Valley needs community support to ensure Independence Day celebration

The Silver Valley Chamber of Commerce’s annual Fourth of July celebration in Kellogg is barely hanging on by a thread unless the community gets involved.

The holiday has a full schedule of fun activities for the whole family, but generally it is the day that builds up to the main event that happens at night, the all important fireworks show.

“The Fourth of July Committee wants the day to be enjoyed by all, however, this year we need to appeal to the public to get involved,” said committee chairman Sheila Milam said. “The slate of activities arranged for the Fourth of July includes a 5K Run, the Elks Breakfast, a parade, games and competitions, entertainment by The Sarah Brown Band, as well as a wonderful list of vendors. In years past the day concluded with a spectacular fireworks display. We do not want to miss the fireworks. Unfortunately, all of this takes money, and the most expensive item on the list is the Fireworks.”

The entire day is projected to cost around $10,000 to make sure everything happens, and almost half of that figure will go toward putting on a firework show.

“$4,000 is what it costs to make sure that we have a firework show at least worth watching,” chamber coordinator Colleen Rosson said.

This year will mark the 10th year of the event being hosted in Kellogg after it was held in Pinehurst for quite some time before that, but the event is struggling more on its decade anniversary than it did when the event was moved to Kellogg.

“The celebration is completely put on by the community, but we haven’t had enough people or support to even put together a full meeting,” Rosson said. “We really need volunteers to step up and help us with fundraising.” It isn’t just fundraising that has made things difficult though, the company that had been used in the past is now defunct which has made the purchasing of the fireworks more difficult than it had been in years past.

“We used to be able to select the specific shells (fireworks) that we wanted and get them individually,” Rosson said. “The new company doesn’t allow the same selection process and has much higher prices.”

Milam believes this to be just another obstacle that can be overcome and has set up places to donate all over the Silver Valley and has implored residents to help ensure that Independence Day celebrations don’t become a thing of the past in Shoshone County.

“We need to raise $4,000, donation cans are located at many businesses around the valley, please give what you can,” Milam said. “Your donation can also be sent directly to the Silver Valley Chamber of Commerce. We’ve raised the money before and I am confident we can do it again. Silver Valley residents, don’t let this great patriotic event be left out of our community celebrations, and don’t ignore the privilege to celebrate our independence.”