On Saturday, Michael, Kristin, Charlie and I went over to the site where they were setting up the professional display for later that night. Ken, one of the nicest guys ever(even if he denies it vehemently), let us look around and take pictures and he answered all my newbie questions. Afterwards, we went out to Sara Park and played around with more fireworks, and this time I even got pictures.
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This is the grouping of the 12 inch mortars, which were the biggest
fireworks shot during the display. The 12 inch shells when they burst
fill up a large portion of the sky.
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Another picture of the 12 inch mortars. These have already been loaded
with their shells, and there were signs warning not to touch.
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This is looking at the rest of the site. The mortars are pretty spread
apart, which makes it hard to get a picture of all of them. It's too bad,
as there were an amazing number. I believe the final count was ~2000
fireworks. On the lefthand side near the horizon, you can see the white
chairs where we got to sit.
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More mortars, with a number of them in the background. The site was out
on a small island, and Lake Havasu City can be seen across the water.
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These are some of the finale shots. ~800 fireworks were shot off in the
last 30 seconds of the show. Most of them were salutes, which are flashes
of light and a large boom. The ground literally shook.
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This is a picture showing the QuickMatch between the finale shots. QuickMatch
is what it sounds like, it's a fuse that burns extremely quickly, 60 feet
per second (which is approx 40mph). After we moved on, people came and
covered all of these with aluminum foil so a stray ash wouldn't set off
the finale early.
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This is the computer that handles the show. The choreography has been
programmed in, and it knows exactly when to shoot which shell. The system
is pretty darn nifty.
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Here is Ken, modelling a 6" shell for me. Like I said, he was very
patient with all my questions, and I think I made him hold that shell
at least 3 times while I made him explain everything to me. Thank you Ken!
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Now we're back in Sara Park, and it's time for some serious action. That's
right, it's time for the SNAKE-A-THON! Hundreds of snakes, lined up and
ready to go.
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Here's Kristin, lighting the snakes. Oh yeah, no one at Winterblast
uses pugs, they all carry around torches. They're serious about lighting
this stuff off.
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The flames grow, as Kristin finishes lighting.
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You can see the snakes starting to grow in a pleasing undulating fashion.
(I just wanted to say undulating.)
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Still growing.
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Growing...
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Growing...
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Gone.
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A firework is set off as the sun sets.
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And another firework in front of the setting sun. Okay, time to head on
out to eat and go catch the fireworks show!
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All photos copyright Anne Sullivan