Laura Glesby Photo
Shhhh! Last July 4’s fireworks atop East Rock.
“Quiet” fireworks for this July 4th?
They would certainly make the birds stay in their nests and please other animals and small children. But would it add up to a good ole Independence Day bash?
That issue was engaged Monday night at the regular meeting of the East Rock Community Management Team, which drew about 40 neighbors to the community room of the mActvity gym on Nicoll Street.
Longtime Livingston Street resident Jay Bright — appropriately named for the topic he was to bring up — said he enjoys the traditional fireworks display from atop East Rock every year. But he recently learned of a “quiet” display that has been implemented in Banff, in Canada, as well as other places. And it sounded worth discussing.
According to this New York Times article, which Bright discussed with the neighbors, fireworks shows that “please the eyes without pummeling the ears” are increasingly common in Europe.
The advantages, he said, include not scaring children with the booming blasts that typically culminate a show. Birds, blasted out of their nests by traditional loud displays, may actually decide to stick around our urban forests. And the costs could be lower, although Bright said he has not done any due diligence on the financial side.
“I’d just like this group to consider this. These low noise shows are common in Europe,” Bright added.
The basic idea, he said, is that you do without the rockets that go up 500 to 1,000 feet, and instead focus on the Roman candle-type crackers that explode at the one hundred to two hundred foot elevation.
The East Rockers received the suggestion politely and with some questions.
“Do they go up high enough” to be visible? asked Deborah Rossi, the team’s recording secretary.
“You’d also have to change the location from where they go off,” added David Budries, the team’s president.
“Of course you’d have to run some tests,” replied Bright. “I just don’t know how to proceed.”
Allan Appel Photo
Bright makes his fireworks point
Bright asked the group, which included Alders Anna Festa, Charles Decker, Kim Edwards, and Steve Winter, whom in the city departments he might contact to take things to the next level.
Festa said she’d mention the idea to a staffer at the parks department. “The Parks Commission also has a say,” added local developer Bob Frew, a former alder. “Maybe they can go off from a building.”
Then he added, with a wink, not his buildings.
Budries suggested Bright might want to start a petition drive.
Bright said his interest in making the proposal derived from conversations with city park rangers who explained in detail what happened to the animals.
Bright said his next steps will include delivering a copy of his proposal — in the form of a one-pager that he distributed to the management team members — to parks staff, to the commissioners, and to Mayor Justin Elicker.