They are spectacular, though short lived. Fireworks displays draw hundreds, but once the shells have all exploded the crowds disperse. There is a lot of work that goes into the shows.
This is definitely the season for fireworks shows in the metro. Friday night it was Celebrate America at Memorial Park and on Saturday the focus switched to Midtown Crossing.
The shows themselves are fantastic, but they never seem to last long enough. Channel 6 News got a look at the work that goes into a show and how everything has been timed out and set up for the enjoyment of the crowd.
The swinging sounds of The Omaha Big Band filled the park at Midtown Crossing. It's a high energy show that kept the audience on their toes.
Earlier, Matt Darling and John Riha from J & M Displays were preparing for their portion of the evening's entertainment. "We're going to have huge fan cakes, you'll have one that goes all the way over here and one over there and of course the ones that go straight up, a lot of traditional effects and a lot of big booms," said Riha.
As J & M shows go, this was one of the smaller ones. The show consists of Class C fireworks, the same any of us can buy at a local stand.
But this show was packed with fireworks, some 3,000 will be sent up into the sky over Midtown Crossing, but because of the urban setting it will sound like a much bigger show.
"Probably the neatest thing about doing a show such as this in the urban setting is that you get the echo off the buildings and with the curvature of these buildings and the towers over there it sounds like we're shooting shells that are a lot larger then they actually are," said Darling.
The people who turned out for Midtown Crossing's November fireworks show will be very familiar with the acoustics. This show will be a little different. "We're just going to shoot a ton of them," said Darling. We'll have about 3,000 or so shots that will go up in about eight minutes."
And replace the swing sounds with a little rock and roll.
