Cape Coral’s Red, White & Boom July 4 celebration postponed until Labor Day

COVID-19 has impacted jobs, businesses and events worldwide. Now, you can add Cape Coral’s huge Independence Day celebration to the list.

Cape Coral city leaders decided to postpone this year’s “Red, White & Boom” celebration due to concerns of COVID-19.

According to city spokeswoman Maureen Buice, the event was postponed to Labor Day weekend to be held in conjunction with the City’s 50th-anniversary celebration.

That’s if Florida’s reopening plan continues and COVID-19 slows down. That means the tens of thousands of people who normally celebrate July 4th near the Cape Coral Parkway Bridge will have to find someplace else to celebrate our independence safely.

“It’s tough. I mean our largest single-day event is obviously Red, White and Boom,” said Todd King, special events coordinator for the City of Cape Coral.

Fireworks, food and music at the event bring in crowds of 30,000 to 40,000 people to celebrate America’s independence.

That’s why the city made the call to push the celebration back, lining it up with the city’s 50th anniversary.

“Mid-March, when this whole thing started, we’ve been running a million different scenarios to figure out how we could get a safe environment and still celebrate our nation’s birthday,” said Russell Anderson of Cape Coral. “Other plans in place were a virtual show where we would have shot the show and broadcast it with a media partner. We looked at a drive-in Fourth of July.”

People who have experienced the crowds say it was the right move.

“Too many people and this is your life we’re talking about,” said Joyce Preston of Cape Coral.

“You have to be looking out for the people,” said George Lutchman of Cape Coral. “You don’t want a situation where people get sick.”

Big Storm Brewing Co., which sponsors the event, agrees.

“It’s unfortunate we have to do this but let’s take the time over the next few weeks and months to kind of reorganize and plan something bigger and better that everyone feels safe, that they want to go to,” said LJ Govoni with Big Storm Brewing Co.

The city said it’s working on plans for the Fourth of July. Right now it’s unclear if there will be fireworks. A military jet fly-over is also a possibility.