Freedom Fire will return in 2013

It has received high praise from those attending but the money Logan City spends for the Independence Day in Utah State University’s Romney Stadium has been more than the amount of revenue coming in.

In spite of that fact, there will be a third annual Freedom Fire extravaganza on July 3rd, 2013.

That decision by the Logan Municipal Council came Tuesday night after a lengthy discussion about the fact that the city has gone in the hole both years Freedom Fire has been staged with USU as a partner.

The vote was four to one to approve a total budget of about $257,000 with about $47,000 to be raised by Logan City. Councilmember Dean Quayle called the event a “community tradition.”

“I shudder at times at the dollars we spend on some things,” Quayle said, “but this is the community event that Logan does throughout the year.”

Quayle continued by saying that the city needs to get more financial assistance from the county for the one-night celebration.

“I think we need to press for more RAPZ money because so many many more people participate that are not Logan citizens. I am more than willing to see this thing go forth for another year and on a year by year basis.”

Councilmember Holly Daines cast the only dissenting vote against continuing the celebration, citing needs for other on-going programs.

“We’re assuming a tremendous amount of risk,” Daines said, “and I’m just not sure our city should be a production company with the associated risk. I think we should be investing that money in something that will be there year to year.”

Logan City’s financial manager Rich Anderson said he told the council two years ago that he thought the show was worth its risk financially. This year, however, Anderson said he has had a change of mind.

Logan City’s share will come from the Parks and Recreation Department budget. Department director Russ Akina said a great deal of effort will be made to cut down on expenses and to raise more money through sponsors and RAPZ tax money.

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