When people get all excited about celebrating America’s birthday and wait a long time, expecting local fireworks, only to see those fireworks get canceled, it follows some of them are going to get upset.

In Franklin Monday’s cancelation wasn’t taken with a grain of salt by all.

The organization that plans the city’s 4^th of July party posted a statement on Facebook:

The Franklin Civic Celebration Committee is a volunteer group. We do this for the city to celebrate the July 4th holiday. We take vacations to do this. We don’t deserve rude comments and threatening phone calls over the cancelation of fireworks. I want to invite all to our meeting in August so you can take over the festival since we not smart enough to handle. Very disappointing  Franklin. Shame on you!

The statement was taken down and with good reason. It sounded awful and came off terribly.

Some observations:

Unfortunately in this day and age dominated by social media where people will argue about anything and everything rude comments are a certainty. Right or wrong people can and will issue points of view.

Threatening phone calls are a different story. They are NEVER acceptable. Yes, shame on those callers.

The recipient(s) of threats naturally was/were angered. Still the above statement, no doubt hastily written, was a poor public relations move. Something like this may have been better:

The Franklin Civic Celebration Committee believes its decision to cancel Monday night’s fireworks was necessary due to severe weather  and in the interest of public safety. All of our volunteers take great pride in working all year to plan this festive event. We are just as disappointed as everyone else that conditions beyond our control forced us to cancel. It is our sincere goal to stage a great fireworks show on July 4, 2023. If you’d like to volunteer we’d graciously welcome your help. Our next meeting is scheduled in August.

Now here’s a winning approach…NOT.

“I want to invite all to our meeting in August so you can take over the festival since we not smart enough to handle.”

Ah. The old ‘You think you’re so smart, you think you can do better, well then you run the show’ argument. God I hate that.  You wanted the responsibility. Don’t whine and insult when complaints are inevitable.

It doesn’t help your cause when other communities cancel, and subsequently re-schedule and you don’t. It appears they worked out agreements for such a contingency and Franklin did not. Did not a single volunteer pose the question, “So if go with this company and for whatever reason have to cancel does that mean we’re left with nothing?”

It doesn’t help your cause when some other communities shoot off their fireworks despite bad weather.

It doesn’t help your cause when a local businessman performs a popular public service by pulling off at nearly the 11^th hour his own show to the delight of many. This will leave a fair number of folks scratching their heads.

To the volunteers, we know you work hard and the annual celebration wouldn’t be possible without you. The vast majority of residents understand.

Look, fireworks were dumped. We survived. Not the end of the world.

But we can be respectfully disappointed.