Long Beach is saving up for a big fireworks display to mark the town’s official centennial in 2022.

LONG BEACH — City of Long Beach officials agreed to cancel the planned New Year’s Eve fireworks show at last week’s city council meeting, and set in motion a plan to hold a fireworks extravaganza in 2022 to celebrate the 100th birthday of the town’s formal incorporation.

The city declined to hold a fireworks show to ring in 2021 after councilors and city officials agreed that they did not want to pay the $5,000 necessary to hold the show — an increase over the $1,500 that the city has typically paid for its New Year’s Eve show — as well as voicing concerns about the recent spike of coronavirus cases in the community.

“I just think with all of the [covid-19] issues going on right now, and waiting to see what comes out of Thanksgiving and Christmas and where we’re at with the city and county, I just don’t think it would be a good move to do it at this point in time,” said Long Beach Mayor Jerry Phillips.

The councilors agreed with Phillips’ sentiments about holding the show due to recent spread of the virus in the community, as well as spending more money than originally planned out of the budget that has also been hampered by the pandemic. The city’s 2021 budget has no money set aside for fireworks shows next year.

The city canceled the Fourth of July fireworks show earlier this year due to concerns about covid-19, but are still on the hook for a $5,000 down payment to Western Display Fireworks, the pyrotechnic company that has produced shows for the city for many years. Long Beach’s contract with the company states that the $5,000 payment meant originally for this year’s Fourth of July can be deferred to another show held within the next year or so.

David Glasson, Long Beach city administrator, said he originally asked Western Display Fireworks if the down payment could cover a show planned for this New Year’s Eve, but the company said it wouldn’t be able to make it work at the amount the city wanted and has previously spent on the show.

“That $1,500 show they used to do for us was kind of a loss to them; we’ve been such good partners over the years, they took that little loss for us,” said Glasson. “If we do a New Year’s Eve show, we really need to spend about $5,000 or more.”

However, the company told Glasson that the down payment could be used to cover the fireworks show that the city intends to hold on Jan. 1, 2022, celebrating Long Beach’s centennial. Phillips and the council agreed to have the down payment go toward that show, rather than going toward another show in 2021 or losing the down payment altogether.