POULSBO — The maestro of Little Norway’s Third of July sonata won’t be directing the community-supported orchestra when its 2007 performance hits the stage.
Instead, Fireworks on the Fjord organizer Mary Graves is confident that community groups and individuals will play the many different parts in the event’s planning and execution the way she has since 1994.
“It’s always been a community effort, and it still is one,†said Graves as she bid her farewells to Little Norway Thursday afternoon.
Even though many people believe organizing the event is an enormous challenge, Graves offered a different view.
“It will be easy,†she said. “The event has an energy of its own.â€
Many parts of the July celebration are scheduled three years in advance, so the challenge lies in raising the $20,000 necessary to make the event happen, Graves said.
“If you have 20 businesses who are corporate sponsors, you’ll have that amount,†she said, adding that having Courtesy Auto for the last four years has made that task more manageable.
Many community organizations have already been contacted about filling positions to make the 2007 event happen and Graves said she is confident they, too, will play their parts.
“I’m expecting the event to continue, and I will help whatever organization picks it up,†she said.
That organization will have “Mary’s Bible,†which details everything necessary to make the Third of July go off without a hitch, she said.
“The key people have my contact information, so they can reach me if they need to,†Graves said.
Graves has done an excellent job with the event, but Mayor Kathryn Quade said she is confident the pre-Independence Day festival will continue in her absence.
“She’s done a great job and filling her shoes won’t be easy,†Quade said. “I think the community wants it, and we can find a way to have it.â€
While stopping short of pledging the city’s oversight of organizing the event, Quade said she will do everything she can to help make the transition as smooth as possible.
“The event is one of the signature events for Poulsbo,†said Greater Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce executive director Stuart Leidner.
The fireworks and fun will continue on despite Graves’ departure and Leidner said he is confident that a group or groups will find a way to make it a success.
Graves has done an excellent job of laying the groundwork and showing how the event should be run, which will help the event’s future success, he said.
“It is a quality event that will continue,†Leidner said.
Speaking as the vice president of Greater Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, North Kitsap Herald publisher Donna Etchey echoed Quade’s assessment of Graves’ handling of the event.
“She’s done a great job, and we want to keep it going and moving forward,†Etchey said.
Etchey was one of the few who knew this year’s event was Graves’ last, but Graves said she wanted it that way.
“I wanted it to be about the event and not me,†she said. Graves said she had interested groups watching the event in preparation for the 2007 affair.
The highlight of the numerous fireworks displays, pizza, watermelon and ice cream eating contests, and watermelon seed spitting contests didn’t occur on the shores of Liberty Bay, but rather out in the water, she said.
The boat club that patrols the waters during the event finally convinced her to journey out on a boat to get a different perspective of the event, she said.
“It was the first time I had seen the crowds from the water and there must have been 400 boats,†she said. “Every year we get more and more.â€
As she said her last good-byes Graves said she will miss Poulsbo, the Third of July and all of the people who have made it happen.