The Making Of An Oskaloosa Fireworks Show
These fireworks mortars are ready to 'shoot' shells into the air for Oskaloosa residents to enjoy at the annual 4th of July fireworks display
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Ted Anderson of Premier Pyrotechnics knows a thing or two about the 4th of July. He helps to set up and do about 10 shows a year for Premier. He and 2 others got into Oskaloosa around 11:30 this morning. It then took them 8 hours to prep the show.
I asked Anderson if this was his full time job, “No, this is just a hobby” he replied. He started looking into what it took to “shoot the big ones like the pros” and he went and got his license. He then got to know some of the employees of Premier Pyrotechnics and after a while they brought him on. Anderson has been working for Premier for around 6 years now by helping them put on shows.
“It’s definitely a thrill being down here, what I call ground zero” Anderson said of being able to set the fireworks off, “It’s a totally different look when your right here.”
Nearly 1,200 pounds of fireworks made their way to the North side of the speedway, at the Southern Iowa Speedway, during the afternoon of the 4th. The actual explosive composition was 400 to 500 pounds. The rest of the weight is packing material around the aerial mortars.
There were 300 shells and 32 ‘cakes’ in the show. Cakes are multiple shot, low level aerials that often make up the finale.
The show was scheduled to take about 17 minutes. Anderson was able to shoot off the show within 20 seconds of the 17 minutes. “It will be a good show, there’s a lot of nice shells in here.” Anderson said of the fireworks that were purchased. Since Anderson isn’t involved with the actual bidding and selling of the show, he estimates that last night’s show would have cost somewhere between ten and twelve thousand dollars.
“It’s a pretty sizable show honestly, most towns are in the five to six [range], and there aren’t very many that get ten or over.” Anderson commented about the show they were about to shoot.
Oskaloosa Fire Department pulled up at about 9:30 to help in case something went wrong. Thankfully, they were able to enjoy the show with the rest of us without incident.
