Mayor Explains Decision to Cancel Smyrna Birthday

Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon shed some light on at Monday’s Smyrna City Council meeting.

The event was scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 4, but city officials made the decision to cancel the event earlier that same day because of the threat of thunderstorms.

“We’re sorry we had to do that, but we had a very short window to make a decision based on the fireworks,” Bacon said. “I want to say that if we had not canceled it, it would have cost $30,000 to cancel things later so we didn’t spend that much money to cancel. So that’s great.”

Smyrna's City Administrator Eric Taylor explained further after the meeting.

"There are a lot of costs that figured in that can be foregone," he said. "If we cancel things early enough we don’t have to set up. For instance had the fireworks team shown up and set up and then we canceled, we would have incurred some additional charges. Whereas catching it earlier enough and postponing it before they had a chance to set up we wouldn’t get charged. In other words they haven’t put in any work for the day."

Taylor said this same reasoning was applied to the bands and city staff who would have been paid to set up the event and collect trash.

There were reports of would-be partygoers gathering in Smyrna’s Village Green waiting for the birthday to begin. One Smyrna-Vinings Patch reader commented that she would have liked the city to place signs at key intersections notifying residents that the event was canceled. The fireworks show has been rescheduled for the city’s Taste of Smyrna event, Saturday, Sept. 15.

Those who paid to reserve tables at the Smyrna birthday will be reimbursed, said Ward 5 Council Representative Susan Wilkinson. Those who paid by credit card will be reimbursed electronically while those who paid with cash or check will receive a check in the mail from the city.

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