By Neil Farrell
The rockets won’t glare red over Morro Bay next 4th of July, after all the board members of the group that puts on the family picnic and fireworks show stepped down last week.
Morro Bay 4th, Inc., the non-profit all volunteer group that’s been putting on 4th of July at Tidelands Park for more than five years, announced that unless another group of citizens steps up to take over the fundraising and staging of the event, Morro Bay won’t have a celebration.
“It’s just burnout really,” said Dan Podesto the president of MB4th. “The last few years there’s just been six people on the board and there’s no new blood.”
He said putting on the actual event is a piece of cake, as they have all the contact people for things like port-a-potties and the fireworks company. It’s the fundraising part that’s gotten out of hand. It costs about $35,000 for everything. “The last several years,” Podesto said, “our goal has been to find easier ways to fundraise.” They’ve tried several things, including a failed beer festival, a fine wine raffle, and others.
Their best fund-raising events have been reduced to the Oyster Feast at Dockside Too, and the solicitation for funds through the city water bills, said Podesto.
“We can count on Tognazzini’s for $5,000 and the water bills bring in $8,000,” he explained. Those two sources were fairly easy to get but getting money from the TBID was a monumental task.”
He also asked the City Council for $20,000 last spring during the budget hearings to pay for the fireworks show, and got turned down flat.
“We thought the ‘silver bullet’ would be to get the barge moved up towards the middle of the Embarcadero but it was made clear to us that it could not be moved. And no one was willing to take that on, not the mayor or the City.”
The idea was that if the fireworks, which are shot off from a barge a half mile south of the launch ramp, could be moved northward, more of the restaurants and motels along the Embarcadero would be willing to donate, Podesto explained. As it is, they get support from five or six of the more than 20 waterfront restaurants. And only the Embarcadero Inn donates among the waterfront motels.
The Tourism Business Improvement District gave them $10,000 last year, he said, but that money came out of some $40,000 the city council gave the TBID to be distributed in support of events. “No one wants to commit to this event.”
“We’re an all volunteer group and none of us has a vested interest in tourism,” said Podesto. “The money is not coming from the businesses and that’s where it needs to come from. Only one motel gives us money — the Embarcadero Inn.”
In a news release, the MB 4th board said they were formed to:
1) Bring together the Morro Bay community and its guests to celebrate our country’s independence.
2) Create an economic boost for the local tourism-serving businesses.
(Full disclosure — this reporter was part of the MB 4th board that initial year [2009] and part of the next. And for about 14 years before that, served as the emcee [Uncle Sam] when the Chamber of Commerce ran the show. Fundraising has always been the Achilles heel of the event.)
Podesto said the six board members started talking about this more than a year ago, how to transition away from having to do so much fundraising. Putting on the event is the easiest part of it, he said.
“We all have other volunteer interests,” he said, “and we didn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. No one is willing to commit to this event.”
And it’s quite an event that starts with a family bike parade down the Embarcadero that quickly became the largest in SLO County all year.
There is also a 1-mile skateboard race and an alcohol-free family-friendly family picnic with live bands and kids’ activities at Tidelands Park. At dark, the fireworks show is shot off over the water.
So MB 4th is a member-less, director-less official non-profit organization, Podesto explained. All of the corporate papers are in order and will remain active through the end of this year. If no one steps up to form a new board and take over, at the end of 2015 the non-profit will cease to exist.
Podesto hopes that a group of people will step up and keep the event going, that’s what all of the board wishes would happen. “They won’t have to go through the hassle of starting up an original organization, the records have all been kept up, we have a website and the name [Morro Bay 4th].” They also have contracts used for vendors, so they can get a new board up to speed quickly.
“We even have some seed money left over,” he said. The only thing missing is new blood. If anyone is interested call (805) 776-3301 or email to: for more details on how to get involved.
