4th activities

Well, I got to work on the 4th of July until 7pm. Then I drove like the hammers of hell to get to my fathers place about 35 miles NE of my work. Arrived just in time to wolf down a semi warm plate of food and commence preparing for my annual fireworks show. When I shoot my fireworks, it is not a haphazard event. I prepare a pictogram with all shots sequencenced and walk it through with my helpers. This year I used the last of the fireworks I had left over from our efforts at selling retail fireworks for 3 years. We had a great show with a splendid finale shot. The crowd loved it as well as the neighbors. And my elected Representative was in attendance. For the finale we had about 111 shots in the air over the course of 45 seconds. There are a few different classifications of fireworks, the most common being 1.3g and 1.4g. I have shot professional pyro in the past for about 3 years but I do get a kick out of doing these small 1.4g type of shows. As a matter of fact I would enjoy doing these for extra dough but folks don't usually know what kind of entertainment is possible from the retail type of fireworks. Then, when you add up the dollars for the material and the cost of the labor it is higher than you would think. If I had to pay retail for the things we shot last night it would have totaled over a grand. So if that was a paying gig I would have had to charge in the area of 1200 or so dollars. For a 10-15 minute production. If I cared to get the official BATFE Pyro Techs permit with fingerprint and backgrounds check I could do a small 1.3g show for the same money with a much bigger bang. But, I would need a much larger area to shoot from. And a firemarshall inspections and all the other bureaucratic crap that goes along with it. Now get this, If I could get someone to purchase a retail type of show using fireworks that anyone can buy and shoot I would have to get a license to do so. A license to add organization to what everyone does every year on the 4th. What a wonderful place this has become.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy evening to celebrate our nations independence.