PENDLETON — Independence Day will be a lot quieter this year.

Pendleton’s Fourth of July fireworks show has followed the Fourth of July parade in canceling its 2020 event, another event forced to take a year off due to the fallout from COVID-19.

Jerry Imsland, who has helped organize the fireworks show for the Pendleton Rotary Club since 2018, said on Wednesday, May 27, that the fundraising effort was initially stalled while organizers tried to figure out if a fireworks show would comply with Gov. Kate Brown’s stay-at-home orders.

When organizers confirmed that they would be able to conduct the show as long as they observed social distancing guidelines, they began a belated fundraising campaign.

But with the pandemic setting in, Imsland said it was difficult to get ahold of potential donors, and those they were able to reach had just finished contributing to Pendleton’s other 2020 emergency.

“Everybody’s kind of been tapped out,” he said.

While Pendleton Whisky Fest was able to cover the entire cost of last year’s fireworks show, Imsland said the group behind the music festival wasn’t able to contribute this year. Whisky Fest announced earlier this month that there would be no 2020 concert and it was rescheduling all of its acts for 2021.

With the fireworks supplier’s ordering deadline looming and organizers far short of the $12,000 needed to put on an adequate show, Imsland said supporters decided to pull the plug on 2020.

Rotary added some consistency to the fireworks show when it took over organizing duties in 2018.

Prior to that, the fireworks show changed hands frequently from one nonprofit or community group to another. When the Fraternal Order of Eagles declined to fundraise for the event in 2017, the show was canceled, spurring a grassroots effort to revive the show.

Devan Driskell, a then-13-year-old newspaper carrier, and the Rotary Club teamed up to put on the 2018 show, and then followed it up with the Whisky Fest-sponsored 2019 show.

Pendleton isn’t the only Eastern Oregon community that’s seeing its Fourth of July display go dormant for the year: Imsland said the Shake the Lake fireworks show at Wallowa Lake has also been canceled.

Closer to home, Umatilla County Commissioner George Murdock announced this week that the Stanfield Fourth of July celebration had been canceled.

Other Independence Day events are modifying their formats. Hermiston still plans to hold a fireworks show, but it’s canceling the live entertainment and booths that usually accompany the event.

As for the future of Pendleton’s fireworks display, Imsland said he’s already starting the fundraising effort for 2021 to make sure next year’s event goes on as planned.