Officials had to make the tough decision to cancel this year's July Fourth firework show at Jenkinson's Boardwalk at Point Pleasant Beach. 

The boardwalk made the announcement on Facebook early in the day, saying the decision was made based on state guidelines.

Many residents say they were frustrated with the decision.

"It's a huge disappointment but I understand it, it would have been nice to figure out a way to do it kind of in a drive-in style," says Alicia Mcfarlane-Gibson, of East Brunswick.

Point Pleasant officials implemented social distancing rules on the boardwalk to ensure residents could still enjoy their holiday weekend safely. Jenkinson's itself was in charge of setting its ride capacity at 50% and arcades and aquarium capacity down to 25%.

McFarlane-Gibon says her family was sure to wear gloves and stay clean.

"We're sanitizing whenever we can and we changed our gloves a couple times between rides," she says.

Alex Taylor, a marketing strategist for Jenkinson's, says cancelling the show was a tough decision, one of many he says had to be made at a moment's notice.

"It's been different, but it's been different for everybody so we're just trying our best to make sure that that everybody is well informed of all the rules and have a good time," he says.

Taylor says the boardwalk's tradition of Thursday night fireworks all summer long might still be a possibility, but that decision won't be made or publicized until sometime in the coming week.