A past Marquette Fourth of July fireworks display is shown over the Lower Harbor. (Photo courtesy of J. McCarthy Photography)

MARQUETTE — The Marquette Area Fourth of July Celebration Committee is currently seeking donations to pay for this year’s upcoming fireworks display and to reserve a spot for next year’s annual celebration.

“We’re halfway to the goal for next year’s firework show, which we start paying for in October to make sure the date is held,” said Victoria Leonhardt, committee co-chair.

Leonhardt said $20,000 is the overall target that needs to be met by donations. That goal was set when Tom Baldini was co-chair of the committee, but that hasn’t changed since he passed away last winter.

“We definitely want this year’s fireworks to be awesome to honor Mr. Baldini,” Leonhardt said.

Her committee is one of the three groups setting up the Fourth of July celebration in Marquette and is overseeing donations. The other two groups are the Kiwanis Club of Marquette, which oversees the parade, and the Exchange Club of Marquette County, which oversees the International Food Festival that coincides with the Fourth of July celebration.

The parade will begin at 2 p.m. on July 4. It will start at the intersection of McClellan Avenue and Washington Street then proceed east along Washington to South Third Street. The fireworks display will follow the parade and start at dusk in Mattson Lower Harbor Park, where the food festival will also take place. This year’s theme is “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” which was decided by the Kiwanis Club.

“The idea behind the theme came from Greg Lindstrom from the Exchange Club of Marquette County,” said Christian Verardi, a member of the Kiwanis Club.

Verardi said Lindstrom has been participating in the National Exchange Club’s “Give a kid a flag to wave” initiative since 1985 and that is what inspired this year’s Fourth of July theme.

“We wanted to honor that,” Verardi added.

The Kiwanis Club was also responsible for selecting the grand marshal of the event. This year Robert E. Moore, a 97-year-old World War II veteran, was nominated. Moore has an extensive history in Marquette and served as an aircraft pilot in the Marines during the Southwest Pacific Conflict of 1945.

More information about the Fourth of July parade or how to donate can be found online at marquettefireworks.com. Donations can also be mailed directly to: Marquette Fourth of July Committee, P.O. Box 782, Marquette, MI 49855.

To get involved in the event or to join the committee, contact Nick Steffey at director@marquettechamber.org.

New for 2018, the committee is selling a keepsake 18-by-24-inch poster of the fireworks over Marquette’s Lower Harbor ore dock. The image was donated by J. McCarthy Photography. It can be ordered online or purchased in person at the Marquette Chamber of Commerce. Posters are $10 each with 100 percent of proceeds benefiting the celebration. To order online, visit marquettefireworks.com/#poster .

Von Lanier can be contacted at 906-228-2500, ext. 254.