No July 4 Fireworks in Seattle This Year

SEATTLE (AP) -- The slumping economy and the collapse of Washington Mutual have brought an end to the only remaining major July 4 fireworks show in Seattle.
On Wednesday, One Reel, the nonprofit that organizes the show, announced that it was not able to secure a corporate sponsor for the annual fireworks show, which attracts tens of thousands of people each summer to the shores of Lake Union.
In a letter posted on the show's Web site, One Reel board member Tomoko Moriguchi Matsuno says the nonprofit looked for 15 months for a new sponsor. Seattle-based bank Washington Mutual had been the sponsor of the show for eight years before it collapsed in 2008. Chase, which absorbed Washington Mutual, agreed to sponsor the show for one year.
Matsuno says One Reel will continue to look for a sponsor for 2011.
Seattle's other major fireworks show -- one sponsored by the restaurant chain Ivar's -- folded in 2009 due to costs.