A year after struggling to finance its annual Stay At Home Festival, the commander of the American Legion Post 304 in Jim Thorpe said Thursday fundraising is well on its way in 2018.

Keith McQuait updated Jim Thorpe Borough Council on the planning for this year’s event, scheduled for July 7 in Memorial Park.

“The fireworks are a go,” McQuait said. “We have Bixler Pyrotechnics, who did it last year, lined up. They did a really good job from what we had seen in previous years, and we got a lot of good feedback.”

The fireworks alone cost $10,000 with the entire festival running around $18,000. According to McQuait, the legion has raised around $7,500 up to this point.

A GoFundMe page was set up by David Steidle to assist in fundraising and can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/jimthorpestayathome. The page had raised just over $1,000 as of Friday afternoon.

“We’re well on our way,” McQuait said. “Our fireworks are set for 10 p.m. and we will shoot them off that day. Even if it rains, we may look at moving them up or back depending on the forecast, but they will take place that day.”

Funds raised by the Legion go to support permitting fees, outreach, the fireworks display, entertainment, children’s rides, food and drinks, restroom facilities, insurance, setup and cleanup.

Last year, council waived the $750 facility rental fee for the Legion to use Memorial Park for the festival. On Thursday, discussion turned to what council would decide this time around.

“It’s a slippery slope to slide,” Councilman Jay Miller said. “One thing to remember is the festival doesn’t just draw the residents of this town. People come from all over.”

Council President Greg Strubinger said the governing body would have a week to think about it before next week’s regular meeting.

Jim Thorpe does not charge the legion for police services, which totaled $1,200 last year.

The borough also pays for electrical costs and typically donates $200 to the Penn Forest Township fire police for help with traffic control.

“Unfortunately, much like everything these days, the costs to host and operate our festival continue to rise,” Steidle wrote on the festival’s GoFundMe page.

“Granted, this didn’t happen overnight. It’s been a gradual increase over a period of time that culminated in last year’s festival costing almost twice as much as it did just 10 years ago.

“At the end of last year’s festival, we had serious doubts about our ability to continue. Volunteerism was down, costs were rising and fundraising had not increased at the same rate over the last few years.”

This year, the committee restructured its approach and thought process, Steidle wrote, to keep the festival moving forward.

“This event serves as a homecoming of sorts, not only for our town, but also for our surrounding communities,” he said. “It’s the one occasion, every year, that individuals and families can count on enjoying tasty homemade food, fun children’s games and activities, talented local craft vendors, great live entertainment and of course, the fireworks.”

Aside from fireworks, other highlights of the festival include a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, amusement rides, mechanical bull, rock climbing and Euro Bungy, carnival games, face painting, balloon art, live bands, a blueberry pie eating contest, watermelon seed contest, potato sack races, water balloon toss, water relay and peanut scramble.

For more information on the festival including fundraising updates and how to volunteer, visit jtfestival.com.