NO LAKE MURRAY FIREWORKS & MUSICFEST EVENT FOR JULY 2021

Organizers expect neighborhood event to return in 2022

As California moves from tier system restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19, the Lake Murray Fireworks & MusicFest committee has been in contact with city and county officials about the feasibility of hosting a July 4, 2021 event. Based on permit restrictions, liability concerns, and public health risks, the committee has made the difficult decision to postpone the festivities until 2022.

“We are not comfortable hosting an event that encourages people to gather, while the city would require us to set up the area for gathering,” said event chair Tracy Dahlkamp.  “Overall, we decided that we would be unable to host a high-quality event that we could be proud of and the community deserves.”

To host just the fireworks portion of the annual event, the San Diego Parks and Recreation Department would have required organizers to obtain an event permit, insurance, lake staffing, trash cans, dumpsters and portable toilets, traffic safety measures, and a police presence for crowd control.

Furthermore, legal counsel advised it would be difficult to enforce social distancing and mask-wearing at a fireworks event with gatherings around the lake and visible throughout the region.

This is the second Lake Murray Fireworks & MusicFest canceled since the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020. Previous Independence Day music festivals at Lake Murray Community Park drew a rotating crowd of an estimated 3,000 people. The evening fireworks show could be seen by an estimated 100,000 people throughout La Mesa and San Diego’s Navajo neighborhoods of Grantville, Allied Gardens, Del Cerro, and

San Carlos.  The committee looks forward to organizing the event for 2022.