Chase won't pay for Seattle's Lake Union fireworks next year

Seattle could be without a Fourth of July fireworks show next year if no one steps forward to sponsor it, the show's organizer said Thursday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., which acquired Washington Mutual last fall, paid for the bulk of last weekend's show but said it won't commit to sponsoring the event again.

One Reel, a nonprofit that has produced the event at Lake Union for 21 years, said it doesn't have the financial resources to put on the $500,000 fireworks display and celebration.

The event, which typically begins at noon and culminates in a 20-minute pyrotechnics show, is free to the public because a title sponsor covers the majority of the cost. Tens of thousands of people from neighborhoods surrounding the lake — downtown, Queen Anne, Capitol Hill and Wallingford, among others — watch the pyrotechnics show.

"It takes a special kind of company to do that, and I hope we find them," said Norman Langill, One Reel's president. "Otherwise we can't do the event. Otherwise, the bombs may not burst in the air."

The event at Gas Works Park was the only July Fourth fireworks show in Seattle this year after Ivar's Seafood canceled its Elliott Bay show. With a deep recession affecting municipal and corporate budgets, some cities across the country canceled their fireworks shows.

Chase had the right to break all of WaMu's lease agreements and sponsorships but decided that pulling out of this year's show wouldn't give One Reel enough time to find a new title sponsor, said Chase spokeswoman Darcy Donahoe-Wilmot.

"It was never a sponsorship Chase took on in the first place. It was a one-year sponsorship," Donahoe-Wilmot said.

The show began 21 years ago when the Fratelli brothers, who built a successful ice-cream business, approached One Reel to produce the show as a way to thank the city, said Langill.

"It's really a gift. There's no two ways around it," Langill said. "We're not out selling products. We're out selling life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and what makes this country great."

One Reel is pitching it to companies as a way to brand themselves. After Fratelli's Ice Cream, Cellular One was a sponsor. AT&T became the title sponsor in 1995 and continued to support it until 2001, said Michele Scoleri, director of One Reel's festivals division.

WaMu sponsored the event from 2002 to 2008 before it was bought out by Chase, which is based in New York City.

"The show that we've been producing is one of the top fireworks shows in the country," Scoleri said. "It's won awards."

One Reel hopes to sign a multiyear contract with a title sponsor before the end of the year, she said, and expects a company with local roots will step up.

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com