COVINGTON, Ga. – Just over a month removed from the controversial July 4 celebration, council members with the city of Covington discussed the event’s future at a work session on Monday.

Several thousand citizens filled the downtown Square last month as the city held its annual July 4 celebration. It did not come without controversy, however, as many incidents were reported during the event, with several arrests made.

The main decision council members weighed was if the event should move off of the downtown Square.

Mayor Fleeta Baggett was one of those in favor of moving the event away from the Square. 

Baggett suggested that the event should be spread out across many different locations including Legion Field. She said she came to this conclusion after speaking with a number of residents.

“I can do all the talking I want to, but the one thing that kept being reiterated about that was, ‘We don’t wanna come back,’” Baggett said. “‘We’re not coming back. We’re not bringing our children back. We’re not bringing our grandparents back. It’s no longer for us.’ I think if it’s spread out, I think people will feel more… not so pinned in.”

Agreeing with the mayor’s sentiment were council members Jared Rutberg and Charika Davis.

Rutberg suggested the event be spread out to several different places including the City Pond complex. When looking at the event’s future, he wanted the event to be geared more towards the citizens of Covington.

“We have these events for our citizens. These are the citizens of Covington,” Rutberg said. “ I don’t care about entertaining Newton County, because our taxpayers for the city are the ones that are paying for it. The taxpayers from the county are not contributing more than the $10,000 [the county donated] and some deputies that were only there for part of the day. So our citizens are the ones that are paying for it.”

Mayor pro-tem Susie Keck also wanted to look at sizing for the event, if possible.

“I’m back to saying control the size,” Keck said. “If we can’t control the size and we can’t control the safety, then yeah divide it up and… spread it out around the city.”

Council member Travis Moore shared a different opinion. Moore said that the event should remain on the Square but with a number of changes.

One of those changes included looking at social media trends, citing one of the incidents occurred because of a TikTok trend. Moore cited the theme park Six Flags as an example of taking action due to potentially dangerous social media trends.

“Six Flags just recently had this TikTok challenge and had a big problem. So now they’ve put out a policy where no unsupervised teenagers are allowed at their facility,” Moore said. “Because the bottom line is we’re allowing them to limit the enjoyment of our events.”

Moore also suggested barricading the four corners of the Square with wristband checkpoints as well as other measures banning hoodies and ski masks from the event.

The council also heard from various department heads in the city, including chief of police Phillip Bradford.

Bradford said that all officers working with the Covington Police Department (CPD) are required to work on the fourth of July. In total, 57 officers worked that day, with 26 of them on the Square. A total of 8 deputies were sent in by the Newton County Sheriff’s Office during part of the event, too.

The main concern cited by Bradford was the lack of officers available in the event of a major emergency.

“Our thing on a safety standpoint is, ‘What if something really bad goes on?,” Bradford said. “What if we have an active shooter, or someone drives through there with a car and we got multiple injuries. Those are things we think about and we just don’t have the staff to cover that, to provide the safety for that many number of people.”

Assistant police chief Brent Fuesting also cited fire and EMS concerns, stating that it took over 30 minutes to give medical attention to someone suffering from a seizure.

Council members first heard from downtown coordinator Allen Martin who released data from some of the downtown merchants. In total, 33 merchants responded to Martin’s survey with 13 voting that they wanted no change for the event. Twelve voters voted “Other” with comments ranging from traffic control, less advertising and more police presence.

Around 100 citizens filled the room during the conversation, with many sharing their opinion during public comments.

Local business owner Julie Freeman pushed for the event to stay on the Square, acknowledging the amount of revenue the event brings for local business. Freeman also said that the city should do a better job with marketing the safety of the event.

“It’s all about how you guys project it and you are getting on social media… and let people know that it’s going to be safe and you’re gonna do your best,” Freeman said. “Because you can’t continue to ask the businesses on the Square to give it their all and take away from them.”

Sandy Spears said that regardless of the decision, the city needs to look at the ramifications of the event.

“We need to look at cost and value,” Spears said. “Not just the financial cost, but the emotional cost for the folks that basically went through the trauma of being almost trampled downtown.”

Robert Foxworth – who owns the nonprofit behind the July 4 firework show – said he was angered by the conversation of moving fireworks away from the Square. Foxworth said if the city were to move the event, he would not sign another contract for the show.

“I’m very upset about this,” Foxworth said. “If y’all move this, if y’all do this to me, if y’all cancel next year, [then] 2026 is my last show and I’m doing where we’ve been doing it.”

The discussion is not over yet about this topic. Council members will hold another work session before the Aug. 19 meeting for more public input regarding future major events in the city.