Loch Raven Seeking Funds for Fireworks

It may be getting a little too cold to think about your July 4 traditions, but one of Towson's celebrations is in danger of freezing up.

Loch Raven Village needs to raise about $5,000 for a down payment on its , held on the field of .

The decades-old tradition draws viewers from not just Loch Raven, but Stoneleigh, Anneslie, Fellowship Forest and other nearby communities, but the $10,000 bill is borne largely by the Associates of Loch Raven Village.

How close is the community association to the $5,000?

"We're not, at all," said Gretchen Sarkin, the community association president.

And if residents are unable to raise enough money, they lose their reservation for Loch Raven Academy, Sarkin said. It would be tough to ever get it back, she added.

Typically, the community association doesn't need to ask for fireworks money. It gets grants from other community groups, businesses, the and Baltimore County government.

But money is tight for the community association, and some question whether they should spend $10,000 on something other neighborhoods enjoy for free.

And though Loch Raven Village residents often send in contributions to the fireworks fund with their community membership dues, only about one-third of the neighborhood's 1,465 households pay dues, Sarkin said.

Donna Spicer, a Loch Raven Village community activist, said the community's fireworks display has been held for at least 30 years.

For most of that time, the fireworks were launched from the old Luskin's Hill, now home to The Big Screen Store and other shops. The Loch Raven Business Association and the Kiwanis Club took over funding the fireworks until the community association began supporting it in 2004, Spicer said.

Today the fireworks draw people from throughout Baltimore County who often park early for prime spots in the parking lot. Loch Raven Village residents break out the lawn furniture.

"Everybody within their neighborhood can just about sit on their front porches or their lawns and still watch them," Spicer said.

Though Baltimore County government has granted money in the past, Councilman David Marks said the county has notified previous grant recipients countywide not to get their hopes up for next year.

"I don't think the county will have very much money at all," Marks said.

However, Marks is trying to help find business sponsors for the fireworks in Fullerton and said he would be happy to do the same for Loch Raven. For 2011's fireworks, he helped secure funds from Kimco Realty, which owns the Ravenwood Shopping Center.

"There are some significant businesses in that area," he said.

David Kosak, president of the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations, notes that his organization contributes $500 every year to the fireworks, which are visible from many parts of Towson.

"We certainly encourage all of our member neighborhoods to make contributions as well," Kosak said, noting that the association rarely supports events in specific communities.

However, he said, the $500 contribution for next year's fireworks still needs to be put to a vote, likely to happen at the group's November meeting.

Loch Raven Village has set up a donation button for the fireworks fund on its website.

"We'd actually like to raise as much as we can," Sarkin said, to help pay for events and help keep from having to ask in the future.