The COVID-19 crisis has cancelled Jersey City’s annual 4th of July, with sponsors asked to help the city’s local relief fund, Mayor Steven Fulop announced.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“We’ve directed all of our 4th of July Sponsors that instead of supporting our #July4th Festival which we’ve grown to be the largest firework show in NJ w/world class talent + 150k attendees – we asked sponsors to give to #JerseyCity Covid Relief Fund to help residents recover,” Fulop tweeted minutes ago.
“We will find a way to appropriately celebrate the 4th of July in JC in a different way but today, the $ better used to help people. In this environment we are making choices on what is needed for our community. We will be back in 2021 with a bigger celebration though.”
The festival has drawn widespread appeal in recent years, with Kool and the Gang headlining in 2017, Snoop Dogg getting top billing in 2018, and Pitbull being the main attraction last year.
Two weeks ago, Jersey City announced they had started their own COVID-19 relief fund and were already halfway to their $3 million goal at that time.
As of yesterday, there are 4,340 coronavirus cases in Jersey City and 260 related deaths.
Based on data compiled by the New Jersey Department of Health, there are 12,645 confirmed COVID-19 patients in Hudson County and 606 deaths as of Thursday, the second and third most in the state by county, respectively.
