BABCOCK RANCH, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 A beloved Fourth of July tradition in Babcock Ranch is on hold this year, but the community effort behind it is continuing.<\/p>\n
Organizers of\u00a0Canopy Kaboom<\/a> tell WINK News they are canceling this year\u2019s neighborhood fireworks show because of\u00a0Charlotte County ongoing burn ban<\/a>, which prohibits the private use and discharge of fireworks due to elevated wildfire conditions.<\/p>\n The event began in 2020 as a small gathering among neighbors on Canopy Court. Over the years, it has grown into a community-funded celebration that draws hundreds of people and raises thousands of dollars for local nonprofits and graduating seniors at Babcock Neighborhood School.<\/p>\n Organizer Jessie Smutney said the decision to cancel did not come easily.<\/p>\n He and his wife spent weeks exploring ways to safely and legally move forward, reaching out to county officials, law enforcement and the fire marshal before ultimately deciding the safest choice was to cancel.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last thing I want to do is put our first responders, our firefighters, or\u00a0 homeowners around us in a dangerous situation,\u201d Smutney said.<\/p>\n While the fireworks won\u2019t light up the sky this year, organizers say the event\u2019s mission will continue.<\/p>\n Legacy Pressure Pros, the Smutney family\u2019s business, will personally contribute $2,000 to ensure two scholarships for graduating Babcock Neighborhood School students are still awarded. Students earn the scholarships by submitting essays describing how they have given back to their community, with the awards available to graduates pursuing either college or trade school.<\/p>\n Organizers also say donors who choose not to receive refunds may have their contributions added to the scholarship fund, potentially increasing the amount awarded to students this year.<\/p>\n Residents say the event has become much more than a fireworks show.<\/p>\n \u201cThey give away a lot of money to a lot of great charities,\u201d Babcock Ranch resident Bill Polk said. \u201cWe donate every year, and it\u2019s a great show, good cause.\u201d<\/p>\n Another resident, Lynn Ann Snellman, said the event reflects the close-knit nature of the community.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re very community-oriented people,\u201d Snellman said. \u201cI thought that was really heartwarming.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Canopy Kaboom is canceled for now, there are still other ways to celebrate Independence Day. The City of Punta Gorda says its professionally permitted Fourth of July fireworks show is still scheduled to take place, while Babcock Ranch will celebrate with live entertainment, family activities and a drone show honoring America\u2019s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n Charlotte County commissioners have scheduled a special meeting for Thursday morning to consider lifting the county\u2019s burn ban. Smutney told WINK News he plans to monitor the meeting closely and said that if the ban is lifted, organizers may explore whether a much smaller-scale celebration is still possible.<\/p>\n As of Tuesday evening, however, Canopy Kaboom remains canceled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BABCOCK RANCH, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 A beloved Fourth of July tradition in Babcock Ranch is on hold this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,4250,115],"class_list":["post-325607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-charlotte","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}