What a fiasco! We went to see the show last night, got stuck in horrendous traffic. We heard all the rumors of the show being cancelled due to lightning and starting to make our way out of the city along with everyone else. I didn't understand why they cancelled because the sky looked perfectly clear. To ease my confusion I asked to policemen who were directing traffic and they CONFIRMED the show was cancelled. Hearing the show went on last night makes me quite angry. What a waste of my time, gas, disappointment....a complete debacle!

Bel Air will be in the same position tonight....heavy scattered thunderstorms predicted for about the time of the parade. If there is a severe storm approaching, and you can hear the thunder, what is the safest thing to do for the participants and viewing audience? I say cancel, which is what HdG decided to do to protect everyone. Once the all-clear was given, they obviously decided to go through with it. The people who were still in Havre de Grace got to enjoy the fireworks. I'm sorry if other people didn't, but the people running the show were erring on the side of caution. If the storm had made it to Havre de Grace as predicted, the potential for people getting hurt was real.

First of all, fantastic photo's of the fireworks! Great job.
I know there are going to be a lot of people upset with the situation, but I hope they stop to think about the position that the City (or whoever makes the cancellation call) was in....The storm coming down from York area was very violent (5 people struck by lightning in Gettysburg area flooding on 83 in York) and was headed directly towards us...it literally broke up at the last second and pushed East.
I tracked the storm for 2 hours for boating reasons, and thought we were in for it.
Consider the alternative if the storm had come and the management hadn't said a word about it....
Err on the side of safety.
on another note...I think that grand finale last night was the best one that the city has ever offered....just amazing. Thanks to all who put on a great 4th celebration in this town and for thinking about the citizens safety.

Jason, I agree 100% with the call to cancel, but cancel means just that. A reversed decision was just absolutley wrong. Although the public was not charged for the events, it's still the same thing as if, just prior to a concert beginning the anouncement is made that it is canceled and will not go on, then after half the people have left, put on the performance any way. It was just the wrong thing to do !!!

We were very lucky. We sat in the brief rain & were told that the fireworks had been cancelled,While waiting for the traffic to die down. Just as we were preparing to leave, we were told that the show was again on. We could see that MANY had already left. We lamented that there would be many very disappointed children & angry adults. They could never get back into town in time. It rained (maybe) 10 minutes, and they didn't "call it off" untill it stopped raining! IMO, they should be a bit less "trigger-happy" with such huge decisions! Many people come to H De G from quite far away to see the annual event & I feel that this poor handling of the event will result in decreased revenues for the town, businesses, and restaurants, possibly for years to come!

Thirty minutes before the fireworks are to go off they announce to thousands of people they are cancelled because of a little rain. So there was a mass exodus of people leaving Tydings Park jamming the streets and grid locking traffic. Then to top it off as I am sitting in traffic what do I see in my rear view mirror but the fireworks going off. I asked one of the policeman as I inched by in my car and he says "yeah first they cancelled them but since it only rained a little they decided to go ahead and have them anyway"! What YAHOO made that decision!!! I'm sure the thousand people like me who were already in their cars heading out of town in the opposite direction are appreciating this as much as I am!!! Perhaps it would have been more appropriate to announce a delay to re-evaluate in 15-30 minutes. To go forth with the fireworks 15 minutes later was a slap in the face to all who had already left.

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To the author -
You say "confusion over possible cancellation". Are you kidding me? How is being told by multiple police officers and one E.M.T that the fireworks are cancelled, "confusion over possible cancellation"? They were straight up cancelled.

I have read on this site that the carnival pays for the fireworks display. If that is correct, I was robbed. I understand the show can be cancelled without make-up arrangements and I assume that risk of possibility. But what they decided to do last night is reprehensible.

We show up at 10:00am (my daughter marches in the parade) and stay until the fireworks are over. I have a family of four and we choose to spend our money to support the local businesses, parade, and carnival. However, next year we will take our $60 spent at the Promenade Grille for lunch, drinks and ice cream, our $20 donation to the parade bucket, our $50 spent on carnival food, snacks, and midway games, and our $100 spent on 4 ride wrist bands someplace else. SMH!

It is a shame thaat a few people are angry. Havre de Grace Fourth of July has always been an all day celebration with many families inviting all the relatives for back yard barbecues. We have welcomed with open arms anyone who wanted to come see our fireworks. I am certain that liability, contracts, and an 'iffy' weather forecast for today entered into the two decisions. Regardless of anything else, we will continue to welcome those who come for the fireworks, and celebrate for the entire day the folks who want to be here all day to enjoy everything from breakfast at a service group, a parade, family time and the carnival. Before I condemn any decision I need to know much more than that some people are angry.

How anyone can defend the decision of the officials who decided to go ahead with last night's fireworkds is ridiculous. I have no problem with the fact that they canceled them but to then change the decision and have them was absolutely unfair to all of us who were told to leave. My children were totally upset when they heard the fireworks were going off after we left. We were cheated and I am very disappointed as a father of 3 small children that the officials who made the decision are not being held accountable for their poor decision making!

Big thanks to the Harford County Sherrifs who after the announcment was made for a delay to let a storm pass, decided to tell everyone that things were canceled. HDG Police were waiting on decision as was the band and carnival. When it was announced that things were on ,we got to see the same group of sherriffs link up and walk out of the basin. Guess they wanted to go home early.

I think the majority of people, myself included, are not upset that they cancelled them. It seems everyone understands that it was done as a safety precaution for all those in attendance. What is the bothersome issue is that after going through with notifying anyone in earshot that the show was cancelled was the decision to go forward with them approx 30min (give or take how you heard the annoucement)after they were cancelled. Not only does that affect those that are in to visit, but also those of us that live in town and might not have the best viewing from our homes and venture down to see them. I would assume as this is not the first year that they would have a general idea how many would be filling the streets and sidewalks with the cancellation as it would be similar to after the show if it had gone on. There is not a great ability to just turn around and get back your spot to view them in that large of a group with the small streets in HdG.
I was one of the lucky ones who took the kids a few blocks over and was able to see the show, but I felt awful for the cars we passed that were stuck in traffic as they whipped their heads around when the show began in their rear view mirrors.
I agree that a delay should have been in effect for a bit to assess the weather before full out canceling it. I believe many would have appreciated the choice to wait out a delay even if the show was unable to go on rather than the approach that was used.

Here's an update: http://havredegrace.patch.com/articles/the-flub-of-july

Here's the bottom line---- canceled is canceled! I was VERY lucky as I didn't leave the park.....I was one of the ones standing in line fighting to get my money back for 2- @25.00 wristbands purchased 5 minutes before the cancellation! And it was VERY apparent that money was not being refunded! FIASCO is not the word for it! How do you send law enforcement to evacuate the area for safety reasons......CANCELED!!!!!!!.........and then 15 minutes later proceed with the show???? Of course pple are upset.....families in Harford County do not have that kind of money to throw around! Whoever is/was in charge of this FIASCO needs to be arranging refunds for the citizens who took the advice of the authorities!
**Option: RAINDATE......duh!

Sadly, thousands would have been disappointed whether they rescheduled or not. It was a no-win kind of decision. I'm truly sad that folks are angry.... but Perryville had the very same issue. Weather-related is a tough call. I have NO DOUBTS the committee was even more frustrated with this whole thing. Evidently the threat of severe storm was real enough that area residents received phone calls to that effect. Once the threat was over, it was a tough call. No matter WHEN they continued the fireworks... rescheduled or not... thousands would have been disappointed. Kudos to the committee for a great celebration even with the confusion over the fireworks.

There was no cancellation ordered by the committee, it was hastily ordered by the law enforcement community. A rain date for the fireworks is not an option and the organizers would have lost significantly more money than they already lost due to the hasty order to suspend the carnival. The carnival was shut down for less than 30 minutes and was open until at least 11.

Within those "30 minutes" HUNDREDS (if not more) pple left the carnival, were stuck in traffic while the fireworks were going off, and lost money on carnival wristbands and tickets that were purchased. YEAH--------> let's worry about the "organizers" losing money!

I agree with most of the people who have posted. It was not a mistake to cancel the carnival and fireworks due to a threat of storms. What is inappropriate (and idiotic) is to cancel (and order everyone to evacuate) after the storm had broken up and passed. If they had told everyone to leave at 8:30 I could understand their decision. Not at 8:55. If the storm was truly going to hit Havre de Grace it would have been too late at that time. Then to make matters worse they have the fireworks after the majority of the people (who had been waiting for hours) left. This is a classic case of either no one being in charge or the person(s) who is in charge not knowing what they are doing.

I agree with most of you as well. We were one of the hundreds told to leave the park. We packed up got in the vehicle, waited in line to get on the road and Boom there go the fireworks. We were lucky that we were stuck in traffic long enough for me to shut off my truck and tell my kids to get out to watch, but I feel the same as most; if you say they are cancelled leave them cancelled! Don't wait until 90% of the people there leave before changing your mind! Very disappointed with how this was handled.

The Baltimore Sun ran an article that said everyone left, due to 'citizens' running all over telling each other the event was cancelled. Such a lie. Police officers were telling everyone to vacate the park....a bad storm was coming. People were leaving like they were afraid! We even waited alittle longer then most..but were told to vacate. The rides shut down so we left. Sitting in traffic like everyone else, the fireworks started. My 4 y/o twin Granddaughters were soo upset. We got out onto Rt 40 and pulled over like everyone else....and watched form there. We got to see 15 min. or so of fireworks....not very good but we did get to see some. Not what we bargined for, on July 3! What a kick in the face that was. Who got to see them up close...THE CARNIES. HDG really messed up this year! I agree..cancelled mean cancelled...and delayed means delayed....someone should have gotten on a microphone and announced what was happening...WHO WAS IN CHARGE????? Someone had to make that decision...... it didnt come out of the thin air!