Portales fireworks show cancelled for 2022
The Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce announced this week that it is forced to cancel the 2022 Portales Fireworks Show.
In early March J&M Displays, the vendor that has produced and fired the show for more than a decade announced it would be unable to produce the Portales show on July 4 this year. The Chamber, which contracts, coordinates and fund-raises for the event each year performed an exhaustive search to find another vendor or option without success.
“The short notice, coupled with worker shortages and a backlog of shipping from China where most fireworks are produced made it impossible to obtain a vendor,” said Chamber Executive Director Karl Terry. “We called dozens of companies and individuals across the country to no avail. It breaks my heart that we won’t be able to provide a show in Portales this year.”
Terry said general terms have been reached with another company for a five-year contract starting with the 2023 holiday. He hopes to have that completed and approved by the Chamber board in a few weeks to assure a show going forward.
Terry said while funds didn’t factor into this year’s cancellation, the Chamber had been notified that pricing on fireworks was going up by 20 percent this year.
“We hope to meet that challenge in a couple of ways,” said Terry. “First we’ll amp up our fund-raising efforts and second, the board has given approval to utilize funds in the Christmas Light account for fireworks along with improving and maintaining the Courthouse Light Show. The Chamber won’t be able to fund it without a continuation of donations to the Fireworks Fund, however.”
Chamber members with a dues plan that utilizes an automatic fireworks donation will still have that donation applied to the Fireworks Fund in 2022 for the 2023 show.
