It’s lights out for Tigard’s Fourth of July Drone Show.
At their meeting on Jan. 6, the Tigard City Council gave direction to cut the Fourth of July drone show from this year’s celebration, opting for a return to fireworks.
The council reviewed the steadily skyrocketing costs of city events at a meeting last October (tigardlife.com/go/TigEventCost), analyzing the $142,933 price tag of Tigard’s 2025 Fourth of July event, which featured a drone show. At their Jan. 6 meeting, City Analyst Alex Richardson told the council that a return to fireworks could save the city around $50,000.
“We know that it’s a very big cost savings,” Richardson told the council. “That’s gonna be the biggest savings of anything we can do.”
City councilors and city management staff concluded that returning to fireworks would not only save money, but also appease a percentage of unhappy attendees from past events.
A survey, released by the City of Tigard in August of 2025, highlighted dissatisfaction with the city’s second drone show, with nearly 50% of the 61 respondents saying the drone show was “much worse” than the traditional firework display.
Although survey responses were staunchly negative, the 61 individuals who provided feedback only represented a small fraction of the estimated 8,000 individuals who came to the event.
“I think it was pretty clear from folks, the people that took the survey anyway, that people prefer fireworks to drones,” Richardson said at the meeting.
The majority of Tigard City Councilors supported the switch back to the fireworks display, citing cost-effectiveness and community preference in their rationale. Councilor Heather Robbins pointed to the city survey, saying it highlighted an unhappiness with the recent years’ drone show.
“We did the survey for a reason,” Robbins said, “We should listen to those people.”
Other councilors agreed, with Council President Maureen Wolf saying that while it was important for the city to try out the drone option, she would support going back to traditional fireworks.
“I love the idea, and we tried it, and I think that it was an important thing to do, but I am leaning towards fireworks,” Wolf said.
Tigard Mayor Ki-Kang Hu echoed other councilors’ pro-firework sentiment, saying the drone show was a city experiment that had ultimately failed.
Richardson told the council she would likely work with Western Display Fireworks on orchestrating fireworks for this July and said that city management could also pursue possibly modifying other aspects of the event to decrease its budget.
Former ceremony coordinator and firework operator for over 36 years, Ron Royse (tigardlife.com/go/royse) told Tigard Life that the switch back to fireworks was “a good idea” and that he was “glad they’re doing it.”
“I think the city has the capabilities to do it as well as anybody else does,” Royse said. “But if they keep it at Cook Park, I don’t think it’s going to last.”
Royse said that the venue for the show was “very important” and said he thought Cook Family Park, previously used by the city for the 2025 drone show, was the wrong venue. Royse suggested returning to Tigard High School, which was last used in 2024.
Tigard Life was told by Richardson that city management was not yet sure which venue they would be going with for the 2026 fireworks show, but would in “the next couple of months.”
While the council was, for the most part, in support of the transition to fireworks, another concern was raised about the state’s lack of snowpack this year and a possible dry summer fire hazard.
“We have to note that we aren’t getting anymore rain or snow…I think we should choose drones because of the fires,” Councilor Jeanette Shaw said.
While still early to forecast fires, statistics from the National Interagency Fire Agency reported on Oregon’s low snowpack, saying, “Snowpack remains near record lows despite abundant moisture, as warm storms delivered rain at elevations that typically accumulate early-season snow.”
Shaw also added that, while she supported drones, she thought the entire event could be bolstered this season, in lieu of the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
“I think we should double down on this event. It’s the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,” Shaw said. “I think we could make this a really big deal, and I would put most of the money towards this event.”
Other councilors agreed that a possible reallocation of funds from other city events like El Tigre and Juneteenth to the Fourth of July fund would make sense because of the event’s popularity.
“I think Councilor Shaw brings up a good point about this being such an important anniversary year for Fourth of July,” Councilor Jake Schlack reasoned. “Looking at El Tigre versus Fourth of July and the number of attendees involved…could we shift more money to Fourth of July across the events in order to be a bit more proportionate in the number of people that are actually attending?”
Hu agreed, speaking for the council at the end of the meeting and saying, “I don’t think the council would mind spending more money on Fourth of July in proportion to El Tigre.”
The council also went over ways to cut costs at other city events like El Tigre, Juneteenth, and Pride. Ideas that were discussed included spending less on live talent, cheaper t-shirts, changing event locations, and even combining multifaceted events like the Pride Parade and the Pride Festival.
Price saving estimations presented at the Jan. 6 meeting varied for each event, but changes to Juneteenth were estimated to save $7,000, the Pride Festival/Parade was estimated to save $3,500, and El Tigre was estimated to save $10,000.
Richardson told Tigard Life on Jan. 11 that although price-reducing modifications would be made, the events would look similar to past years.
“I don’t think the events will look totally different,” Richardson said to Tigard Life. “There won’t be a big difference for most goers.”
For more information about City of Tigard events, visit tigard-or.gov/explore-tigard/community-events.
