Southampton Days Committee Reconvenes After August Hiatus

Close to 20 Upper Southampton residents and volunteers gathered in the Farmhouse at Tamanend Park as the Southampton Days Committee met Monday evening for the first time since this year’s July festival.  

The committee gathered to discuss what worked this year, what didn’t work, and lay groundwork for changes and future plans.  

This year marked an important milestone.

“For the first time in many years we were able to keep our heads above water,” said Southampton Days Committee Chairman Patrick Miller.  

That required overcoming a steep list of expenses.

“For fireworks alone this year we budgeted $23,000,” said Miller.  “It’s $6,000 just to rent the buses.”

This year, the committee shopped around for the most economical ways to bring the fair to Southampton without skimping on quality.

 “We lost a lot of money last year,” said Miller, attributing the loss mainly to last year’s poor weather conditions. 

“We made a lot of cuts this year, though, and shopped around for stuff,” said Southampton Days Committee President Glenn Roggio.  “We saved $2,000 just by changing fireworks companies.”    

Miller and Roggio both agreed that the general admission charged for the fireworks on July 4th was one of the biggest assets in offsetting costs.    

In previous years, only those that wished a front-row seat for the fireworks display and ground show had to pay for admission. This year, although the admission fee was lowered from $7 to $3, everyone attending the fair on the fourth of July was asked to pay.  

“Lowering the admission fee to $3 really helped us out,” said Miller.  “For a family of four - it’s still only $12” to attend the fair and fireworks on the 4th.

Of course, the perfect weather didn’t hurt.  

Miller said the committee takes out weather insurance in the event of rain on the night of the fireworks.  The committee pays $3,000 for the insurance.  If the show is rained out, they are paid $20,000.  

Still, the fair stands to pull in a little more than that if Mother Nature cooperates.

 “What really helped make money this year is we had great weather,” said Miller.  “That was a huge factor for us.”

Roggio said that between the price change for admission to the fireworks and the weather "it was phenomenal.”     

Operating independent of the township, the Southampton Days Committee works behind the scenes all year long in order to pull the parade and week-long festival off without a hitch.

Miller said Upper Southampton budgets roughly $25,000 to cover all the police overtime that’s necessary to keep the event safe.

Although it’s early in the committee’s planning phase, some ideas already began to take root during their first meeting.  

Rules governing admission for the Southampton Talent Show are under review.  The event, while wildly successful and popular in its second year, drew criticism from some for allowing contestants to enter multiple times as part of different acts.

The committee appears set to make it so that each contestant is only allowed one performance.  Miller also broached the idea of “charging a very minimal entrance fee” to each contestant.

The possibility of a canned food drive was also discussed.

Meeting the first Thursday of every month right up until next year’s celebration, the committee is looking for volunteers to help plan and run the event.  There is also a vacant fundraising position as well as a opening for a bicycle parade judge.

More information about the committee, as well as contact info, is available on their website.