Fireworks Go Off Without A Hitch

Adam Williamson was having a good night. It was not quite dark, and already he had walked the U.S. Coast Guard Band through several patriotic anthems, a cloudless, orange-streaked sky settling over East Rock as they played. Then he moved onto Charles Ives and American jazz standards, the sky morphing to a velvety indigo. Now, strains of La Marseillaise marched triumphantly from the horns and woodwinds, climaxing before they were overtaken by a stronger Russian theme.

On cue, a blister of red and gold exploded to the right of East Rock’s Soldiers and Sailors monument, drawing oohs and aahs from the crowd.

So began the annual New Haven Fireworks, a months-long, around $35,000 — that’s $25,000 for the display itself and an additional $10,000 for city health, police, and fire workers, transportation costs, entertainment, and trash removal — undertaking by the City of New Haven.

Christy Hass, deputy city parks director, called it ​“a show that runs itself” when everything is put into place correctly. For the first time in five years, the summit of East Rock was closed off for the display, a decision that came from the city after four years of near-collisions between pedestrians and buses, the en masse littering of the area, and a near-fatal lightning storm in 2012. There are no plans to move the display back to Long Wharf in coming years. 

“I had my heart in my throat every year, and I finally said, this year, if somebody else is willing to do it, go ahead — and nobody else is willing to take that risk,” she explained.

Down below that evening, that decision didn’t seem to be a hot-button issue. Close to 1,000 gathered on the bleachers and football field at Wilbur Cross High School. Hundreds more congregated on decks, front lawns, and porches in the East Rock neighborhood. Children were hoisted onto shoulders and settled on picnic blankets.

Folks prepared to eat their body weight in kettle corn …

… and couples of all ages canoodled, laughing as a blessedly cool July desk fell around them. 

The ease of the evening came thanks to some serious behind-the-scenes magic. For seasoned ​“5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Guy” David Gaetano and his team of ten workers at Atlas PyroVision, the day had begun at seven, when they loaded their trucks and headed from New Hampshire to New Haven. From 9:30 onward, they had been at the top of the Rock with city law enforcement officials, loading, electrically matching, and pinning 1,700 shots for a 25-minute display. 

“It takes a lot of brawn and a lot of brain to run a fireworks show … we want to end with a nice bang” said Gaetano in a mid-afternoon interview with the Independent. A sunburn had already set firmly into his cheeks, and there were five hours to go.

Hass (pictured), however, was the unspoken maven of the fireworks show. After months of planning and contracts with Atlas PyroVisions, she had spent the morning and afternoon shuttling between Wilbur Cross, downtown, and the summit of East Rock, checking in with law enforcement officials, coordinating the U.S. Coast Guard Band’s arrival from New London, and setting up for the entertainment below. She does it year after year, she said, for the impact the show leaves on New Haveners.

“It’s a beautiful park … entrance to the city in my book. The Coast Guard Band is absolutely phenomenal, the sun’s out, it’s going to be beautiful,” she said.

As night crept in, a dazzling display of fireworks aural and visual filled the air around the park, delighting the spellbound crowd below. At 8, the U.S. Coast Guard band took the grassy stage, kicking off its set with a moving tribute to veterans and ​“The Star-Spangled Banner” before moving on to pieces that had the crowd dancing from their seats and on their feet.

“I like to think of the 4th of July as a recommitment to the ideas of independence, freedom, and equal opportunity for all. If we think of the 4th of July every year in that manner, it will allow us not to forget and not to go backwards. We are in the process of moving forward in America, and we’re all excited about it,” said Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker.

The band launched into a narrated introduction of the Coast Guard’s Saturday accolades: nine lives saved, 48 search and rescue cases completed, 10 oil spills detected, and 450 kilos of cocaine taken off the streets. ​“The Coast Guard stops drug runners every day!” the narrator exclaimed gleefully.

Band members weren’t the only ones showing pride in the flag. ​“The Fourth is all about independence … there are a lot of ways we’ve got to do freedom from tyranny in our own country. We [are] a young democracy, we’ve got to keep moving ahead,” said ex-military member Reggie Farley (pictured above), who was visiting his family from Warner Robbins, Ga.

Roxy and Jose Vazquez agreed, adding that ​“It is about celebrating … we are so lucky to be here.”

Others said as much with their sartorial choices, and of course, their voices, wild exclamations flying from them as the sky exploded in light.

As the smoke cleared, the crowd cheered one final time in unison, and then dispersed as quickly as the fireworks had faded from the sky. A few stopped on the way for one last delight of the evening, lining the sidewalk outside Cross for a chance to try Gabriel Ruano’s soft, chocolate-and-nut dipped frozen confections. An immigrant from Guatemala who has recently become an American citizen and works for Mister Softee of Connecticut, he opened up to customers about his vision of the Fourth, his young daughter and wife smiling from inside the van.

“It means celebrating our independence to this wonderful country that we live in. It hasn’t been that long that I’ve become a citizen, and all my opportunities have opened up,” he said. ​“I’m going to try to live the American dream.”