Fourth forges ahead

A thunderstorm thins crowds in downtown Tampa, but holiday fun prevails.

[Times photo: Fraser Hale] People watching the downtown Tampa Fourth of July fireworks Tuesday evening needed their umbrellas to shield them from the rain. These people preferred the view from the roof of the Poe parking garage.

By BILL COATS and DAVID KARP

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 5, 2000

TAMPA -- Money didn't stop the city of Tampa from hosting free fireworks on the Fourth of July this year, but Mother Nature nearly did.

A roiling thunderstorm that pounded Tampa on Tuesday night scared off hundreds of people who had come to downtown's Curtis Hixon Park to see fireworks set off over the Hillsborough River.

The fireworks finally went off about 9:30 p.m. when the weather let up, but hundreds of people already had gone home. There was only a scarce crowd of families left in the park when the booming began, though more watched from the roof of a nearby parking garage.

Before the bad weather rolled in, the fireworks display was nearly scratched last month when the event's corporate sponsors dropped out. At the last moment, Living Water Church in Tampa stepped in to pay for the 25-minute display at Mayor Dick Greco's request. Without the church's help, Tampa would have gone without free fireworks for the first time in at least 15 years.

But instead of seeing man-made fireworks, a crowd clinging to umbrellas mostly witnessed an awesome display of lightning from the sky.

"That was too close," said Lisa Bishop, as a lightning bolt hit the ground a few hundred yards from her. "This weather is scary."

At Raymond James Stadium, rain and lightning delayed a Tampa Bay Mutiny soccer game for nearly 90 minutes and at one point, a lightning strike inadvertently deployed some of the fireworks in the south end zone planned for after the game.

Those who celebrated Independence Day before dark fared much better.

Though organizers of the annual Lutz Fourth of July parade feared that predictions of rain would keep crowds slim, they were pleased with the turnout.

"It's the biggest one yet," crowed Auralee Buckingham, longtime chairwoman of the tradition-laden event that brought several thousand people to Lutz's quiet old downtown. "And let me tell you: God smiled on us. It isn't raining."

[Times photo: Mike Pease] Earl Smith drives an old Lutz volunteer firetruck on Lutz-Lake Fern Road during the town's Independence Day parade. The event, spared rain showers, was teeming with political campaigning.

That was good news for one group looking forward to the Lutz parade: politicians. If surburbanites were wondering when they would see the first buds of this year's electioneering, it burst into full bloom on the nation's most patriotic holiday.

At least 100 people either wore or distributed campaign materials in Lutz's festivities. Campaign vehicles helped swell the parade to some 90 units, the community's biggest ever.

Faye Culp, a Republican running for the state Senate, rode in an open, white, Celica convertible as the sun beat down on the 11 a.m. parade.

"Hey," yelled a bystander, "turn up the A/C on that thing!"

Culp's husband Jim, who was driving, admitted he had it three-fourths capacity already.

Elsewhere at the Lutz parade, the Hillsborough County State Attorney's race went to Bill Jennings by a single T-shirt.

Jennings' parade platoon included 15 supporters in his navy blue campaign T-shirts, compared to 14 wearing rival Mark Ober's red, white and blue shirts. On the other hand, Ober was the only state attorney candidate who got to judge the cake-baking contest.

Keven Woodard, a Republican running for an open seat in the Florida House, upstaged all political paraders. Besides nearly 20 T-shirted supporters, Woodard's entourage included his cousin, Carmen Kirbyson of Tampa, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, and another supporter, Vinny Medero, overdressed head-to-toe as Uncle Sam.

"Sweat's good for you," Medero noted.

Woodard's group also had refashioned a maroon Ford Explorer into an antique locomotive, with a smokestack on the hood, a cow-catcher over the grill and train wheels over the doors.

In Lutz, a key community in the House district, that was a tribute to the newest landmark, a replica of the original train depot that got Lutz started in 1907. Volunteers built the depot in the past 52 days, and it was dedicated Tuesday with a Civil War cannon blast. Its open platform served as a stage for speeches and brass-band music.

Later, in downtown Tampa, there was almost no political presence at the fireworks display, just a bunch of people trying to stay dry.

Lightning caused car alarms to go off inside the parking garage, and warning lights on nearby railroad tracks were set off, too.

Tom Howell, 43, planned to wait out the bad weather with his wife, Tammy, and their dog, Nikita, a Yorkshire terrier. "I came out to see fireworks," he said, as the thunders crashed all around him, "and we are seeing them early."

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