Troy Fourth of July in jeopardy?

“Chamber Fourth of July is done!”

Troy residents caught first glimpse on

Saturday of the reader board across the street from city hall.

The message, put on display by Heather

McDougall, was an announcement that the Troy Chamber of Commerce

would no longer organize the Old-Fashioned Fourth of July

celebration, an event that draws thousands to the region every

year.

McDougall, a member of the chamber’s

Fourth of July committee, quit on Thursday, followed by Steve

Bowen, another main organizer, according to McDougall. The chamber

agreed on Friday to drop the event, she said.

She cites the malicious opposition to

the new city ordinance related to the event as her reason for

giving up.

“I expected the controversy to die

after the ordinance was upheld and it wasn’t stopping,” she said.

“There were park committee meetings and Facebook postings and other

reasons – it just wasn’t stopping. As a volunteer, my thing is,

volunteers don’t fight, they quit.”

Councilmember Gary Rose said he

sympathizes with the chamber.

“The chamber said they weren’t going to

do it anymore if they didn’t get the ordinance,” Rose said, “but

there was so much static against it, they said, ‘heck with it,’ and

I don’t blame them a bit.”

Chamber president Melody Condron, who

is stepping down from her role because she has moved to Libby, said

that the news is disappointing because the Fourth of July weekend

is consistently the local businesses’ largest weekend of sales

every year.

“We’re talking thousands and thousands

of dollars not coming into Troy, which is tragic,” she said.

The event has been a hot topic since

October when McDougall presented the Troy City Council with a

ready-made ordinance that, she said, would support a safer and more

successful event. The council passed the ordinance’s final reading

last December despite strong public protest and then voted in favor

of it again in January to overturn a veto by mayor Don Banning.

The ban on dogs, outside fireworks,

bikes and skateboards during the event supported safety regulations

already in place, McDougall had explained. The ban on outside food

and beverages, with some exceptions, would encourage higher chamber

food and alcohol sales, she said – funds that are used to finance

the following year’s event.

Bowen had little to say on the record,

other than he had heard that the council was repealing the

ordinance.

“If it’s going to be a free-for-all

down there,” he said, “I don’t want to be responsible for it.”

The council didn’t intend to repeal the

ordinance, councilmembers Fran McCully and Rose said, as long as

the chamber, which introduced the measure, was running the

show.

However, if another entity or group of

volunteers picks it up, they agreed, the council will keep or

repeal the ordinance depending on the new organizers’ wishes.

“I do know that the talk is there and

the thought is there,” McCully said. “It will depend upon who takes

the event.”

After McDougall advertised that the

chamber would no longer be involved, community leaders began

phoning each other to assemble a team to take over the event.

Troy business-owner Darren Coldwell

said on Monday that having had only a day to plan, he was pleased

with the number and caliber of people who had already come

forward.

“We’re making a serious effort to make

sure the Fourth of July in Troy is as good as it’s ever been,” he

said. “To my surprise, there are great people stepping up to bat

who are willing to help.”

McDougall said it is not her intention

to terminate the Fourth of July tradition in Troy and said that she

will gladly donate money for the event.

“I hope somebody takes it over and I

hope they do a wonderful job,” she said. “I think the Fourth is

very, very important. That’s why I want to leave it.”