Roger Smith will have the best seat in the house at tomorrow's fireworks show. That's because Smith will be lighting them up.
Smith is among an industry of licensed individuals trained in pyrotechnics, the art of making or displaying fireworks.
Christy Wooten/The Daily Sentinel |
Roger Smith with one of the pyrotechnic displays that will light up the sky at Freedom Fest this July Fourth.
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Christy Wooten/The Daily Sentinel |
An up-close look at the mechanics behind the magic.
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The first major fireworks display in the U.S. was in July 4, 1777, when patriots took the line "And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air" in the "Star-Spangled Banner" and duplicated it artistically to celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
To commemorate the years since this festive display of patriotism, Smith has decided to use 232 shells in the final firework of tomorrow night's show.
Smith has been a fireworks enthusiast since childhood. He remembers first recognizing that there was an art to pyrotechnics as a young adult when he set up a display that was both aesthetically pleasing and well-synchronized.
Fireworks displays, while not the high-brow, gallery-gawking ordeal one would expect of art shows, do have artistic merit, Smith said.
"It's like painting a picture in the sky, but it only lasts a few seconds," he said.
The main things a pyrotechnician bears in mind when planning his or her artsy explosions are the timing of the show and the shell selection. Shells, the most common form of aerial firework, are fired from the ground inside a mortar and propelled into the air, where they burst and illuminate the sky.
Shells contain compartments called breaks, which direct the angle at which they explode to create an optical effect.
Smith, a licensed pyrotechnician from Lumberton, has done fireworks shows as a side job for eight years, having shot fireworks displays for the Houston Texans for four years.
He said the company he works for, Pyrotecnico, allows him to request the places in which he shoots. Smith, who shot last year's display here, requested to do this year's show after having a positive experience.
"I've shot all over," Smith said. "But when I turned in my paperwork last year, I said, 'If you have a show in Nacogdoches, I want in.'"
He said he requested it because of the friendly and helpful people that help coordinate the yearly fireworks show shot at Hoya Soccer Field, as well as the fire department personnel that stand guard during the display.
Smith prepared for tomorrow's show, as he does every show he shoots, by planning it out first on paper. He said the planning period typically takes him an hour, Smith's personal style emphasizes a suspenseful finale.
"I try to emphasize putting a finale together. The finale gets all the attention — that's what everyone loves."
And when you see tomorrow's eye-popping finale be sure to remember that day 232 years ago when fireworks ignited the old Independence Day tradition.
