Despite a rumor making the rounds in Mammoth, the firework show at Crowley Lake is still scheduled to go off on the Fourth of July as planned.

We had heard several reports that the firework show had been cancelled for the Fourth due to troubled town finances, but Stuart Brown, the spokesman for the Town of Mammoth Lakes, emphatically stated that the fireworks show is still on.

Brown says that town staff met Monday with Crowley Lake Fish Camp staff and the pyrotechnic contractor to work out details. He speculated that  some confusion may exist this year because the chamber of commerce had lobbied to move the firework show from Crowley to the Town of Mammoth. That didn’t happen this year, and the show remains at the traditional Crowley Lake location.

We hear a lot of rumors at Sierra Wave. While this rumor is not true this time around, the fireworks at Crowley were cancelled in 2006 after a miscommunication regarding who was supposed to hire the firework contractor.

The rumor this year was that the fireworks were off because of town budget cuts. Stuart Brown explained that the fireworks, which cost roughly $25,000, were written into the Tourism and Recreation budget for the year. Some money is recouped at the Crowley Lake Fish Camp gate, but a profit or  breaking even is not the goal. Brown says, “If we break even, that’s great, but the goal is to provide visitors with the traditional fireworks show on the Fourth. We can’t afford not to have one,” he says.

Despite the talk, the firework show at Crowley Lake is set to go off on the Fourth at about 9:15 pm. A live band, called Akoustic 2, consists of two local musicians, Milo and Chris, play between 4:00 and 8:30 pm at the Crowley Lake Fish Camp.