Butte is an example of how people can come together for the best of the community

I was not even a full year in my career with this Butte group of radio stations when the panic button was firmly pressed in our GM's office.  It was 2003 and the group in charge of funding the annual 3rd of July Fireworks Show was out of money.  There were not funds to cover that summer's upcoming fireworks show on the 3rd of July.  It was that day, I believe, that we went on-air and started collecting donations from listeners.  Soon local businesses joined in and started challenges with other local businesses in their respective fields.  Donations and momentum continued to grow until the final day of the donation drive where we teamed up with our radio friends down the street from the Butte Broadcasting Group and did a citywide bucket drive on the corner of Harrison and Dewey live on all of Butte's local commercial radio stations and wound up getting enough donations to fund the fireworks show for not only that year but for the next three years.  After that, Brooks Hanna Ford picked up the bill for a few years.  And since then, Town Pump has been the sole sponsor of the annual 3rd of July Fireworks Show.

That was over 20 years ago, and Butte has not looked back.  In fact, in the time since Butte has seen major sponsors like Town Pump jump on board other events that have become big time draws here in the Mining City.  We just saw the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation and the success of their "matching funds" challenge for the Montana Folk Festival that was just knocked out of the park by local businesses.  We have seen the Butte America Foundation not only fire up a community radio station here in town but work relentlessly to bring quality musical acts that you might not normally see to the Covellite Theater and to stages and events all across Uptown Butte and the surrounding area this summer. Plus, we've got the An Ri Ra Festival on the way.  Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Butte's "Rhythm and Brews" Festival on August 17th and the Big Butte Brewfest the following weekend.   Shakespeare in the Park is coming.  Rock the Pit 4 will be taking place.  We've got stuff happening all over.  In addition to that, the Uptown Tourism Improvement District just started reviewing applications for funding for even more possible events.

What this shows is that Butte will come together for fun and worthy events and not only meet expectations and goals but exceed them.  We will see the Independence Day holiday kick off an exciting and fun midsummer here in Butte, America.  There really is no better place to be.