Scheduling Woes Doom July 4 Fiesta

The annual Fourth of July Fiesta, sponsored by the Fountain Valley Chamber of Commerce, won’t be held this year because of scheduling conflicts, chamber officials said Friday.

“We just couldn’t get it together,” said Betty Mignanelli, chamber executive director.

Mignanelli said that scheduling problems included coordinating location availability, hiring subcontractors to put on the event and rounding up volunteers.

The event has been at Mile Square Regional Park since 1982 and in past years has featured a fireworks show, a carnival, vendors, arts and crafts and entertainment. It has attracted 40,000 to 50,000 people.

“We regret that the community won’t be able to enjoy the fireworks display,” Mignanelli said.

This year, the chamber had planned not to hold a three- or four-day summer fiesta, but instead had planned a springtime event and a one-day Fourth of July celebration, said Margie Hopkins, chamber president.

It became impossible to organize a community event by spring, Hopkins said, but the chamber then hoped to still hold a one-day Fourth of July celebration. But Mignanelli said that the chamber didn’t book a location and a carnival operator in time.

“The carnival we had used in the past had already been scheduled for another event,” she said.

Mignanelli said the chamber then asked another carnival company to put on the show, but the owner objected to his employees being fingerprinted. A 10-year-old city law requires that special-event employees be fingerprinted as part of a background check.

She said that background checks and finger-printing has never been a problem with past companies.

Hopkins said the chamber is hoping to replace the summer fiesta with a spring event in 1997 and also include a one-day Independence Day celebration event, featuring a fireworks show, concerts and family picnics.