Ninety minutes of foul weather put a damper on Whitefish's Fourth of July celebration Tuesday night, forcing cancellation of the annual fireworks display at City Beach. The show will not be re-scheduled.
"We apologize to the thousands of diehard folks who braved the elements to come out for the show," said Chamber Executive Director Kevin Gartland. "Like them, we were extremely disappointed to have to cancel the display, but we had no other choice."
A summer storm front began rolling-in over Whitefish Lake at about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, accompanied by high winds, lightning strikes and rain.
Within five minutes, crews preparing for the 10:30 p.m. fireworks show were dealing with swells estimated at 3-4 feet, sending waves crashing over the fireworks barge and nearly capsizing the crew's launch boat.
The boat was able to make it safely to shore, where the crew rode out the storm until shortly after 10 p.m., when the decision was made to cancel.
"At that point the wind had calmed down," Gartland said, "but it was still raining and the Weather Service was reporting a continuing chance of lightning in the area until midnight."
In addition, the rain and wave action had thoroughly waterlogged the fireworks cannons and shells, making it impossible to actually "fire" the show.
The Chamber posted news of the cancellation on it's Facebook page Tuesday night, and folks already at City Beach were informed of the cancellation by Park Rangers and local police officers, making the announcement from loudspeakers on their cruisers.
Despite the disappointment of having to cancel the show, Gartland expressed the Chamber's thanks to all those who helped manage last night's rapidly-changing situation, including the City Parks staff, Whitefish Transportation, members of the Whitefish Police Department and Flathead County Sheriff's Office, and the crews from Big Sky Fireworks and Whitefish Marine.