COVINGTON, Ga. — This Independence Day, Covington residents will have to travel beyond the Square to catch a fireworks display.

Mayor Fleeta Baggett cast the tiebreaking vote after the council members split on Monday night. The final 4-3 decision changes the future of Covington’s Independence Day celebrations by discontinuing the annual fireworks display.

“I don’t think that we need to do this until somebody actually gets hurt, and that’s where we’re headed,” Baggett said during Monday’s city council meeting. “Someone is going to get hurt.”

But the city will not go without any celebration of the United States’ 250th birthday—it just will not mirror years prior.

Independence at the Park 2025

The longstanding Covington tradition has been the subject of significant scrutiny in recent years as the summer event grew into a hotspot of juvenile activity and ever-growing crowds. The city made changes to its 2025 celebration in an effort to dispel potentially dangerous activity.

The 2025 iteration of Independence at the Park was held on July 3, a Thursday, allowing the city to enforce an earlier curfew for youth. Another goal was lowering attendance, in the hope of keeping the Square less packed with attendees.

Data the city collected from Placer.ai —which counts cell phone users who have opted in to location permissions—recorded 19,000 people passing through the Square throughout the entirety of July 3, 2025. On July 4, 2024, records indicate 22,800 people were present.

Covington Police Chief Brent Fuesting told the council that hundreds of juveniles were among these attendees, and they made up the bulk of the unruly activity. Fuesting said that around 10 people were arrested, with charges ranging from weapons offenses, obstruction charges, disorderly conduct and more. He added that the youngest detainee was just 13 years old.

“Then after the fireworks were over and everything like that, there was a bunch of juveniles that we had to deal with, and we dealt with them until about one, two o'clock in the morning,” Fuesting said. “...There was hundreds. There was crowds that were moving all around. They went down Washington Street to Emory Street. They were on Pace Street.”

Council member opinions

The council conversation focused on what can be done to preserve July 4 celebrations without sacrificing the safety of attendees. 

Council member Jared Rutberg made the motion for no fireworks on July 4, and Council members Kim Johnson and Travis Moore voted alongside him. Council members Anthony Henderson, Charika Davis and Dwayne Turner voted in opposition to Rutberg’s motion, favoring keeping fireworks on the table. 

The mayor broke the 3-3 tie when she aligned with Rutberg, Johnson and Moore.

City Manager Tres Thomas shared that other avenues, such as a different location than the Square or the possibility of a drone show, created the same crowd concerns. The events require people to bottleneck into a condensed space, with geographic placement only varying this slightly.

Additionally, Friends of Fireworks, which has partnered with the city and contributed significant funding to the display in recent years, has reportedly indicated to the city that they do not want to continue the same partnership. That would result in the city having to shell out nearly $40,000 more to fund the display, Thomas said.

Turner said he was not in favor of punishing the majority of the attendees by canceling the fireworks because of the unruly individuals.

“If Jack and Jane been going for the fireworks for years, and now we're saying, ‘Hey, no, we're not doing it no more because juveniles are coming out at a certain time and start fighting every year,’ it, it kind of punishes that crowd of them not receiving the normal stuff that they've been doing since they were a kid,” Turner said.

Rutberg identified himself as a past proponent for continuing the Square celebrations and fireworks, but said that his own experiences at the most recent event have caused him to change his tune.

The councilman said that after the 2025 fireworks show, he remained on-site with a police lieutenant and witnessed firsthand how the juveniles congregated throughout the night.

“...we round the corner and there was over 60 youth that were out there that had stormed into [a gas station] cause they were trying to get into the air conditioning,” Rutberg said. “There was officers all around trying to break this up and everything and find out what the deal was.

“Well, they were using that spot as their Uber pickup, but when we got there, there was at least 60. There was over like 200 there if I'd gotten there 10 minutes earlier. It was crazy.”

Rutberg added that he sees Turner’s point that it’s unfair to punish the regular attendees because of the actions of some, but he feels that the risk is too great.

“These parents letting their kids just go out there until 2 a.m. around the Square has just been—they've ruined it,” Rutberg said.

2026 celebration components

Despite a lack of fireworks, the city is looking for other ways to celebrate Independence Day with the community.

While official, cemented plans have not been released, Baggett said that they are looking into participating and promoting the City of Oxford’s Independence Day Parade.

Additionally, the mayor said that hosting a daytime, family-oriented event at Legion Field that includes music and games could attract a different crowd, resulting in a safer celebration.

“If we have everything done and finished by say four o'clock in the afternoon, then I don't think we're gonna have any problems that night,” Baggett said. “Because anybody that comes to the Square, they're gonna be out there to tell them to leave.”

Allen Martin, the city’s downtown coordinator, said that the city has a concert planned for July 3 at Legion Field. Specifics about what the city’s weekend celebrations will include remain unfinalized.

Ultimately, all of the council members who voted to strike the fireworks noted that they did so reluctantly, but felt that the safety risks had grown too high.

“I know I pushed hard to go and take another shot at it last year,” Rutberg said. “But after standing there…It’s too much. And it’s unfortunate.”