WHITE LAKE — Good news followed by bad news.
So it goes with the coronavirus.
On the Monday after some of the nonresidents finally got back into and around White Lake, the town and the Elizabethtown-White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce announced there will be no fireworks here in conjunction with the Fourth of July.
The annual celebration has been a big part of Bladen County’s festivals and tourist draws for years. Terri Dennison, of the chamber, said the decision was made jointly by the chamber and the town in consideration of the coronavirus.
The chamber announced changes to membership dues collection, its annual banquet, and the Summer Jams series. In a release, there was no mention of the Pork & Beats Festival that was in the chamber’s original year-long schedule.
The chamber said its revised schedule includes:
• July 31: Sunset Jams, Legacy Motown Revue, Goldston’s Beach.
• Aug. 21, 22: 42nd annual White Lake Water Festival.
• Sept. 11: Sunset Jams, Rivermist, Cape Fear Farmer’s Market.
• Oct. 9: Sunset Jams, Eaglewing, Cape Fear Farmer’s Market.
The chamber’s annual banquet has been moved to January.
The chamber will also extend memberships to Dec. 31, and will in the future announce a restructuring of dues corresponding to event sponsorships.
Fireworks in 2019 on Fourth of July weekend brought out a large crowd. But this year, there’ll be no big celebration at Goldston’s Beach in White Lake.