Chase says they won't sponsor Lake Union fireworks

UPDATE ADDED on the jump.

The Seattle Times is reporting that JP Morgan Chase has decided to cancel its sponsorship of the Lake Union fireworks. 

Washington Mutual had sponsored the show, which is produced by One Reel, for years. The Times quotes a Chase spokesperson as saying that after Chase acquired WaMu, they decided to continue the sponsorship for this year because One Reel wouldn't have enough time to find a new sponsor.

Ivar's, which had sponsored the Elliott Bay fireworks for years, discontinued their support of that event in April, leaving the Lake Union show as the only fireworks display in Seattle.

And next year? Maybe there won't be any fireworks at all. Anyone want to pick up the tab for this event?

UPDATE: Seattlepi.com's Big Blog interviews One Reel's spokesperson, Michele Scoleri. Cost to sponsor the Lake Union event: $500,000. Scoleri tells the Big Blog's Monica Guzman that attendance was actually down at Gas Works, despite fears of huge crowds. One Reel estimated only 40,000 people attended at Gas Works this July 4 instead of the usual 50,000.

Did stories about the crowds scare people away? Maybe.