For a local government to spend an unbudgeted $100,000 during an economic downturn on something that is essentially entertainment and not hear a peep about it says something about the event's value to the community.

When the local Kiwanis Club announced earlier this year that it no longer had the manpower to produce Columbia's annual Independence Day festivities, County Executive Kenneth Ulman stepped in, saying the government would keep the celebration afloat.

So the county's Department of Recreation and Parks is now running the show at an estimated cost of $100,000.

The Columbia Association and other groups have offered to kick in some money for the celebration, which in addition to fireworks includes other live entertainment. But the county will foot most of the bill.

In the grand scheme of a budget that exceeds $1 billion, the costs won't break the county's financial back. But with revenues sagging amid the economic slowdown, it was still a significant commitment.

Picking up the slack, however, was the right thing for the county to do. Traditions that bring people together are important to a community.

After this year's observance has passed, county officials will assess the situation and determine how to proceed next year and beyond.

Not that they asked us, but the approach they ought to put at the top of the list is to establish an independent nonprofit organization whose sole function is to produce the Independence Day festival. Such organizations in Catonsville, Laurel and other towns in the region have kept their celebrations going for decades.

The county government has come through for citizens in the interim, but now it's time for a new generation of community activists to pick up the torch.

Meanwhile, hats off to the Kiwanis, who continued making the fireworks happen here for years beyond what, in retrospect, seems possible.

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