Community Corner

More Bang for Less Buck at This Year's Southampton Days

The annual Fourth of July Celebration at Tamanend Park will feature an extended fireworks show for a lower admission price.

“Celebrating 40 years: Fun, Fair & Family” is the theme for this year’s Southampton Days celebration.

In an interesting twist, to mark the 40th anniversary of Southampton’s week-long fair celebrating the Fourth of July, the Southampton Days committee has decided to make some changes to this year’s festivities.

Most notably, organizers will charge a $3 general admission to the fair as opposed to charging a $7 admission for just the fireworks. This general admission will only be charged for the first day of the fair, July 4, from 6 p.m. until closing.

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“In the past, we always just charged for admission to the fireworks,” said Patrick Miller, chairman of the Southampton Days Committee. “What we found was a lot of people would come to the fair and sit around until the fireworks started and not pay to see the show.”

Miller said in the interest of fairness and spreading the cost out among all who attend, the committee decided to charge a lower admission fee to everyone who attends the fair that evening.

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In years past, many people would bring blankets and picnic baskets and stake out a good spot to view the show on the grounds just outside of the gate. They would often hang around during the early evening hours when the fair was closed to ready the grounds for the evening’s events and wait for the show to begin, thereby avoiding paying for admission.

“There will be none of that this year,” said Miller. “Security will do a sweep of the grounds as we close at 4 p.m. and everyone will be asked to leave.”

He said fairgoers are welcome to return when the gates open at 6 p.m. but they will be asked to pay the $3 admission fee for the evening’s festivities.

The admission fee will be charged to everyone over the age of three. The $3 charge will include full access to the fairgrounds, the concert and the fireworks show.

Organizers hope this will help to avoid, when excessively hot weather kept many from coming out to see the fireworks and the committee was unable to make ends meet at the end of the fair.

The committee has since repaid Upper Southampton for their services. Miller said the committee submitted a partial payment in December and then he personally delivered a check fulfilling the obligation to the township nearly two months ago.

He said they are currently in negotiations with Northampton Township, detailing exactly what payments, if any, are to be made for this year’s event coverage and support.

“What they have proposed to us is very fair,” said Miller. “They have worked diligently to reduce the cost and return a fair proposal.”

Miller said he is going to discuss the proposal with the executive board of the Southampton Days Committee, and he plans to meet again with representatives from Northampton Township to finalize the details before the committee’s next general meeting on Thursday, May 5.


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