City of Davis cancels Fourth of July fireworks, festivities due to coronavirus concerns
The city of Davis has officially canceled its July 4 festivities this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, authorities announced Monday.
That includes the fireworks show, according to a news release by the city.
The decision comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a “framework” last week for the factors being considered before California can reopen.
“Although the current shelter in place guidelines are very likely going to be over by the Fourth of July, we expect that there will be continuing restrictions on large events and crowds through summer,” said Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel in a statement. “Unfortunately, Davis just doesn’t have a large enough space that allows the event to go on and still provide adequate protection for everyone to see the fireworks.”
The governor has remained vague about the timeline for the state’s reopening of public life. Easing of restrictions within the statewide stay-at-home mandate, which was ordered into place March 19 and currently prohibits Californians from leaving their residence for any purpose deemed non-essential, will be a gradual process that will likely see large public gatherings — such as sporting events, music concerts and holiday celebrations — among the last to resume, with Newsom casting doubt during last week’s daily news briefings that any such events could proceed as early as this summer.
Yolo County’s order, which it has phrased as a “shelter-in-place order,” is currently set to expire May 1 but has already been extended once, from its original end date of April 7.
Newsom has not yet specified any time frame for when the current statewide stay-at-home order may be lifted or modified, only saying that the state must meet six indicators, which he revealed and explained during a news conference last Tuesday, before it can implement a plan to ease out of the stay-home and physical distancing protocols.
Davis appears to be the first city in the greater Sacramento area to formally cancel its Fourth of July celebrations, though the current trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic has cast considerable doubt for annual holiday festivities that frequently bring hundreds to central locations across Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer and Yolo counties to watch fireworks. The holiday remains more than two months away.
In the news release, Pytel suggested the city “may very well want to have a City-wide celebration” to mark the end of the COVID-19 crisis, whenever that may be.
“We look forward to bringing back this Davis tradition next year,” Mayor Brett Lee said in a prepared statement. “For now, we must consider the safety of our community as our top priority in addition to the financial implications of waiting until the last minute to cancel this event.”
