News

By Jane Smith

After canceling the celebration last year, Boynton Beach will host its Fourth of July event at the city’s Intracoastal Park, commissioners decided April 20.
To ensure social distancing of 6 feet, Boynton Beach marketing staff recommended limiting attendance to 3,500, requiring a ticket system and installing fences and gates, said Eleanor Krusell, the city’s public communications and marketing director.
She added that no children’s activities or play areas will be available, another precaution against the spread of the coronavirus. Fireworks will be set off from a barge in the Intracoastal Waterway.
In 2019, Boynton Beach police estimated that 6,000 people had packed the waterfront park for the Independence Day event, Krusell said.
Delray Beach will hear options for Fourth of July festivities at the May 4 City Commission meeting. Lantana plans to shoot off fireworks on July 4 at the town’s Bicentennial Park while celebrating its centennial. Boca Raton will not host an Independence Day event this year.
Boynton Beach marketing staff had wanted to hold the July 4 fireworks at the city’s Oceanfront Park. Doing so, they suggested, would allow two linear rows of viewing, on the beach and on the boardwalk.
The fireworks would be set off on a barge in the ocean that would add $9,000 to the cost.
Boynton Beach owns the Oceanfront Park beach, but it sits within Ocean Ridge and is subject to that town’s rules. The Ocean Ridge town manager told her counterpart in Boynton Beach that it was unlikely that town commissioners would agree to give the city a special-event permit for the fireworks.
Ocean Ridge has canceled all events because of the pandemic, said Lori LaVerriere, Boynton Beach city manager.
“Rule it out this year,” LaVerriere said.