GB prepping for July 4 celebration

GREEN BAY - Each year thousands visit downtown Green Bay to see the annual 4th of July fireworks display light up the sky.

"We have a couple of things in store that are surprises," Nick Arlt, of Festival Foods, said.  Festival Foods sponors the event, known as Fire Over the Fox.

"We have a theme to the music that's a secret until it's out on Saturday night and we have increased the budget for the fireworks so it should be a little bit bigger show this year," Arlt added.

Crews were already busy preparing for the show Thursday morning.  Arlt believes this year could be the biggest yet.

"With the economy and people staying around, it being a weekend, there could be 140,000 people here this weekend," Arlt said.

Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt said the event is an opportunity to showcase the city -- and show people that plans for a redeveloped downtown are moving forward.  He points to the on-going construction of the City Deck, a multi-use boardwalk on the Fox River that is scheduled to be complete by October.

"We hope it prompts more question, more interest and more people to come and enjoy the downtown," Schmitt said.

But while construction of the City Deck moves forward, work on another high profile development project is still yet to get off the ground.  Groundbreaking has been delayed again for a proposed development in the old Younkers building.

"We hoped that would have been done a month ago but we're still making efforts," Schmitt said.

In the meantime, city leaders are hoping for a successful holiday weekend.  But they want to remind people that there are many other events planned for the downtown throughout the summer.

"All the events have an opportunity to bring people in from the community, folks that might not spend much time in the downtown area," Jeff Mirkes, with Downtown Green Bay Inc., said.

"Every year, people are going to come down here and say the city is growing, the downtown is vibrant, and next year will be a significant change from this year," Schmitt said.

Fire Over the Fox kicks off at 1 p.m. Saturday.  There is food, music and games during the day.  The fireworks are scheduled to start at about 9:45 p.m.