In Monday’s (5/2) Herald-Mail (Hagerstown, Maryland), Dan Dearth reports, “Donors have stepped forward to erase a $50,000 shortfall that threatened to cancel this year’s Salute to Independence Concert at Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland Symphony Orchestra officials announced Monday. MSO Interim Executive Director April Dowler told about 25 people during a press conference at the battlefield that she was pleased the 26th annual concert and fireworks display would go on as planned. Organizers announced six weeks ago that funding for the event was $50,000 short. Dowler said the annual show that celebrates July 4 costs about $229,000 to stage. … Dowler said officials needed to raise the money by Monday to give vendors enough time to commit. The MSO said March 23 that it had lost some of its corporate financial support and that the cash commitment from the National Park Service was in jeopardy. … Organizers said the event, which is estimated to draw about 35,000 people from the mid-Atlantic region, pumps roughly $800,000 into the local economy.”
Posted May 3, 2011
