Groton — The town’s Parks and Recreation Department on Thursday announced that budget cuts have forced the cancellation of a pre-fireworks celebration at Fort Griswold.

The Fort Griswold Celebration on the Thames, which boasted live entertainment, had coincided with the July 9 fireworks display held as part of New London’s Sailfest and attracted about 10,000 people each year at the state park.

Parks and Recreation Manager Mark Berry said the cancellation of the event would not affect residents’ ability to view the fireworks from the fort, according to a June 7 memo to the town manager.

A state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection spokesman, however, was not immediately available to comment on whether the state park would enact any restrictions. The town’s recreation department had rented the park from DEEP for the event and funded the portable bathrooms and cleanup the day after, said Jerry Lokken, the Parks and Recreation Department’s recreation manager.

“Without us there, the state is going to have to make a determination about what they are going to allow in the park,” Lokken said. “I don’t know what they are going to come up with.”

Other events taking place in Groton on the same weekend are not affected.

The move by the parks and recreation department was caused by a major drop in revenues to the town. Deep cuts had trickled down to the fiscal year 2016-17 operating budgets of many town departments. The Parks and Recreation Department was among the hardest hit, with an 8.4 percent drop in funding, from $1.8 million to about $1.6 million.

Sailfest Committee Executive Director Barbara Neff said the move should not affect New London, which attracts 300,000 people on a good Sailfest weekend.

She did say, however, that she would be disappointed if people were not allowed to watch from Fort Griswold.

People have their traditions for Sailfest each year and their favorite fireworks viewing spots, she said.

“Whether it’s on the waterfront or at the fort, they’ve been going to the same spot for years,” Neff said.

Groton’s Parks and Recreation Department will save approximately $8,300 by canceling the event. The state had declined the recreation department’s request to waive the rental fees and requests for funding to the Groton Business Association were apparently unsuccessful.

Budget cuts have also led to the loss of full-time and part-time positions in the parks maintenance division and a reduction in transportation for seniors to the Groton Senior Center. The department also has increased program fees.

In total, the department’s budget required a total of $33,028 in cuts.

“I regret that the department has been put in the position where we need to make these cuts,” Berry said in a prepared statement. “We know it is a favorite event for many families in Groton and in the surrounding communities. Unfortunately, faced with the budget situation as we are now, some difficult choices have to be made.”

Parks and recreation is not the only department hit by cuts. Lokken said the annual Fourth of July parade in Groton has been shortened to save on the costs of police officers being paid for traffic control along the route.

The parade will start at South Road and end at Drozdyk Drive.

g.smith@theday.com