MERIDEN -- A fun-filled day of music, fireworks and food almost never happened.
Meriden mayor Kevin Scarpati says the city didn't budget for a 4th of July celebration this year due to budget issues. The festivities are usually funded by private donors however, this year one major sponsor pulled out.
"We didn't have all the money secured that was necessary to make this event possible," says Mayor Scarpati.
He decided to go to city council for assistance. The members voted to give $10,000 towards the celebration.
"If we didn't have the $10,000 contributed from the city at this point I don't know where we would have gotten it from. I would have been going out knocking on doors and trying to get people to donate," says Mayor Scarpati.
He says he'll work on securing donors for next year in order to make sure a scare like this doesn't happen again.