A combination of searing heat and recent severe storms has knocked out a large portion of Groveport's planned July 4 festivities.

The festival was originally planned to be an all-day affair, but after consulting with city officials, festival organizer Bob Garvin said the decision was made to pull the plug on almost every event except the major draws.

Events that will go on as scheduled include the children's parade at 1:30 p.m., the main parade at 1:30 p.m. and the headlining musical act, Phil Dirt and the Dozers, performing from 7:30 to 9 p.m. on the stage next to Kidspace on Wirt Road. The fireworks will also go off at dusk as planned.

All of the other scheduled events have been cancelled, including the Groveport-Madison Township Food Competition, a kiddie tractor pull, a cornhole tournament, pony rides and every other musical act.

In addition, Garvin said there will be no food vendors this year.

He said the events that won’t go on as planned July 4 will be rescheduled as part of Groveport’s Hometown Car Show on Sept. 22.

Garvin said the decision to cancel most of the events for July 4 was "basically, because of the weather." He said most of Groveport was without power from the storm that barreled through central Ohio June 29 and again on the evening of July 1.

Another power outage and possible storm during the festivities would be catastrophic in that there would be "no shelter for 5,000 to 10,000 people and no safe place for them to go."

While most of Groveport has power today, July 3, there is still no phone service at the city's municipal offices.