Austin’s Fourth of July concert and fireworks canceled

The Austin Symphony Orchestra announced June 12 that the annual H-E-B Austin Symphony July 4th Concert & Fireworks event at Auditorium Shores has been canceled due to the coronavirus.

According to a media release from the ASO, the crowd at the event usually contains about 100,000 people in close proximity to one another, which is unsafe with the continued presence of the virus in the community.

“We have had to cancel only one other time in the 40-plus years we have produced this event for Central Texas. The health of our musicians and the community is of greater concern,” ASO Executive Director Anthony Corroa said.

The only previous cancelation of the event came in 2011, when there was a fireworks ban in most Texas cities due to a drought.

Austin and Travis County have reported more than 100 new cases of the coronavirus each day from June 8-11, including a record high 161 on June 9.

Dr. Mark Escott, the Austin-Travis County interim health authority, said these record-high numbers come as a result of spread in the community after the Memorial Day holiday and the reopening of Texas’ economy.