SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Plans for Fourth of July fireworks in Ocean Beach have fizzled out. The OB Main Street Association announced on Thursday morning that this year's holiday firework show is a no go.
"It prevents us from using the last half of the pier, the part that branches out and that's where we would normally shoot off the fireworks," said Denny Knox, Executive Director of the Ocean Beach Main Street Association. "We contacted the Mayor's office, and it was a hard no."
Due to the Ocean Beach Pier's instability, the City of San Diego was unable to issue a permit for the fireworks off the pier.
Knox said it costs about $33,000 to do a 20-minute firework show. This year's show would have been funded by a private donation.
A lot of other areas in OB are protected environments, so Knox said organizers were out of options.
"We would have loved to have done it," said Knox.
Ocean Beach Main Street Association hopes to have fireworks in 2022.
"I'm pretty bummed about it, especially with COVID going on and COVID almost coming to an end." Point Loma resident, Aaron Estrada said.
On Wednesday, La Jolla Cove also announced that they had to cancel their firework show. According to the city, a permit application for the event was received too late.
In May, the Animal Protection and Rescue League sued event organizers due to the alleged detrimental effects that such a show would have on sea lions and their pups gathered at the cove.
Visit our full list of all the Fourth of July firework shows in San Diego here.
WATCH RELATED: Animal rights groups file lawsuit to change location of La Jolla fireworks show (June 2021)