(Update) July 4th Fireworks in Columbia Will Go On As Planned

Updated July 4th at 1:54 p.m.

Howard County officials announced Wednesday that fireworks at the Lakefront will go on as planned.

Original story

With thousands of Howard County residents still without power, Howard County officials said via their email notification system that they would inform residents if the planned is postponed.

Howard County officials announced Tuesday afternoon via the county’s email notification list: “In response to numerous inquiries, if a decision is made to postpone July 4 fireworks, we will alert residents first through the NotifyMeHoward notification system.”

Information on how to sign up for the Howard County government notification list can be found here.

Do you think the Columbia fireworks display should be postponed? Tell us in comments.  

Montgomery County displays and festivities.

“I made this very difficult decision based on the ongoing need to apply county police, fire and rescue, transportation, and other county resources to help our residents who continue to be severely impacted by this recent storm,” said County Executive Isiah Leggett.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 9,000 Howard County residents remain without power, on Day 4 of outages since Friday’s damaging storm.

Temperatures are expected to reach a high of 93 degrees on July 4, according to the National Weather Service. There is also a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms.

Kevin Enright, director of the office of public information, said County Executive Ken Ulman would not be attending , but that Ulman is expected to attend the fireworks.

Enright said Ulman did not want to attend the parades because, "He just doesn’t feel comfortable participating in these celebrations in the middle of a heat wave when we still have thousands of residents without power."

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With reporting from Andrew Metcalf, and