NORWICH, Conn. -- Greg Allard, who coordinates an annual fireworks display for Norwich, has been planning a fireworks extravaganza since last year, but, he said, it wasn't until last week that he knew the show would go on as planned.

The city of Norwich helps out with some of the costs, but Allard said he counts on corporate sponsors and private donations to cover a majority of his expenses. This year, he said, he lost one of his major donors: Foxwoods Casino.

“My personal response was, ‘How am I going to make this money up through other donations?’” he said. “It was quite a shock at first.”

He said this is the first time Foxwoods hasn't donated.

The show costs about $100,000, he said. He said he was short $22,000 until he obtained extra money from a fund distributed by the city.

“I think it's the economy overall,” he said. “I think everybody is looking to save money and spend it wisely and appropriately.

It's the largest event for Norwich, he said. He said he didn't want to scale back or cancel.

Residents had mixed opinions on what should have been done.

“It's good idea,” said resident Wayne Reay. “It gives people something to look forward to, to come down and to get together as a community under moonlight sky.”

“It's a great thing. I'm glad that we do that,” he said. “But we could do other things with that money."