Red, White and BOOM: Behind the BOOM!
“They call it ‘Red, White and Boom’…and there’s an awful lot of firepower in that BOOM.” Those words come from Earl Burke and he should know. Earl has been an integral part of BOOM for more than 30 years.
2015 marks the 35th year of Red, White and Boom and, like the city itself, the show has seen amazing growth in the years gone by. The first Boom was in 1981 and saw 30,000 people gather at Bicentennial Park to watch a much smaller spectacle in honor of Independence Day. This year, more than 400,000 people are expected to gather downtown to watch what has become the largest, most impressive fireworks show in the midwest.
Earl says that the challenge is to impress and that is a tall order. To top yourself year after year on such a large scale is a task that requires the BOOM team to get to work on the next year’s show just hours after this year’s show is complete. It’s a 25-minute show, but it takes a full year to put together. After the final shell has been fired and the last spectator has gone home, the work begins again. They’ll evaluate this year’s show. What worked best? Which fireworks impressed more? What explosions got the most ooooos and ahhhhhs? In the days, weeks and months that follow, the team will keep its eye out for new things to thrill us in the next show. By year’s end, they’ll have begun work with WNCI for the next year’s soundtrack. If things stay according to schedule, the music will be locked in by mid-March…almost four months before the show. But every bit of that time will be needed for synchronizing the fireworks with the soundtrack. The team lines up and choreographs the firing of each shell with the music. The fireworks are time-coded to make that possible. And if you’re wondering, there actually is a Red, White and Boom rehearsal. It takes place in a typical office where producers and others involved with the program can watch a pseudo-BOOM on a computer monitor, lined up with the soundtrack, so that everyone can get the realest sense possible of what the show will look like. You have all of this work with all of these people and still that’s only part of what goes into the event.
There are also new additions to the fun this year. Brews on Main near Bicentennial Park will highlight many of the city’s favorite craft beers. This year also features performances on the revamped Bicentennial Park stage including ‘The Voice’ finalist Chris Jamison. (Just a tip…that will be Chris’ voice performing the National Anthem during the fireworks.)
So you have the day’s entertainment, the parade, the concessions, the performers…plus you and 400,000 of your closest friends and neighbors all gathered together to watch a celebration in the sky so impressive as to make Columbus the envy of most of the nation. It’s Red, White and Boom 2015…and there’s an awful lot of firepower in that BOOM. (jj)
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
