BANGOR – Despite decreasing appropriations from local governments, the Greater Bangor Kiwanis Clubs’ annual Fourth of July festivities are very much a go for next week.

“We again have raised over $23,000, so we’re definitely having a parade and fireworks,” Bangor Breakfast Kiwanis Club member Michael Hardy said Tuesday. Hardy this year is the president of the Fourth of July Corp., the nonprofit organization the club formed to put on the annual Bangor-Brewer bash.

The celebration starts at 6 a.m. with a pancake breakfast at the Brewer Auditorium, a 3K run that begins at 10:45 p.m., a parade at 11 a.m. and a fireworks show at sundown. Each year, tens of thousands come to Bangor and Brewer to take part in the events.

Members of the Bangor Noon Kiwanis and the Kiwanis Club in Brewer also pitch in, Hardy said.

“That was the hardest challenge, to raise the funding,” he said. “I can’t thank everyone enough who participated” in organizing the daylong celebration.

According to Hardy, the Independence Day celebration’s budget represents a mix of municipal, corporate and individual funding.

Though the amount of money available from municipalities dealing with spending limits imposed by the state isn’t likely to increase, Hardy said this week that local businesses are rising to the challenge and are helping to make up the difference.

This year, Bangor city councilors cut the amount they contribute to most outside agencies by 15 percent. It was the second year in a row that they have done so, and the trend is expected to continue in future years.

Two years ago, the city donated $7,500 toward the event. Last year, the Fourth of July appropriation was reduced to $6,375. This year, councilors trimmed another 15 percent, resulting in a reduction of about $900 from the previous year.

The amount of money Brewer contributes remains flat, at $2,000 last year and $2,000 this year.

Kiwanian Doug Damon, who for the last several years has been the parade’s lead organizer, estimated that 2,000 people – including four bands – will be in this year’s parade, which has a budget of about $6,000.

“There’s more interest in the parade this year than last year,” Damon said Wednesday. Last year, about 1,850 took part, he said.

Because this was an Olympics year, more than a dozen area Special Olympians will serve as grand marshals, Damon said. They will be riding on a firetruck and will bear the Special Olympics torch being brought up from Portland. The Maine Air National Guard’s color guard also will have a position of prominence.

To raise money for next year’s event, the Kiwanians will charge those who want to watch the fireworks from the Joshua Chamberlain Bridge a $1 admission fee.

This year, a new venue has been added for spectators. Hardy said local businessman Bruce Blackmer, owner of the two historic brick buildings near the Joshua Chamberlain Bridge that once constituted a box factory, has agreed to allow people to watch the fireworks from the riverbank behind his building. The $1 per person admission also will go to the Fourth of July observances.