HOW TO GO
WHAT: Fairfield's Red, White & Kaboom
WHEN: Fireworks begin at 10 p.m. Friday, July 3
WHERE: Three viewing locations – Harbin Park, Village Green Park and the Fairfield Aquatic Center.
OTHER EVENTS: At Harbin Park and Village Green Park, live music will begin at 7:30 p.m. Systems Go will be the featured band at Village Green Park, while Harbin Park will feature Gee, Your Band Smells Terrific. At Fairfield Aquatic Center, attendees can relax by the pool, enjoy food specials, play games, and listen to music by DJ John. Admission to the pool event is $5 and free to season-pass holders.
MORE INFO: www.fairfield-city.org/kaboom
For Rozzi's Famous Fireworks, Fairfield's Red, White & Kaboom isn't just another fireworks show. It's one of the more unique ones the nationally known company creates, according to one of its technicians.
About a half-dozen workers for the Loveland-based company were setting up Thursday for Fairfield’s show at the summit of Harbin Park, the city’s largest park. Working near the gazebo at the top of the park, the technicians were staging a large bank of shells on one side, with a gap separating another bank of shells on the opposite side. One bank was for the main fireworks show, and the other bank was for the explosive finale.
The main show fires about 400 shells, with the finale firing off about 600 in a much shorter time span, said Andy Noller, the lead technician working Red, White & Kaboom. Unlike other fireworks shows, Fairfield’s has multiple vantage points, with people watching from Harbin Park, Village Green park and the Fairfield Aquatic Center. The overall event, featuring multiple music groups, starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday, with the fireworks going off at 10 p.m.
“The nice thing about this show is that we’re up on a hill. It’s all aerial shells. Some shows where the crowd is at one site, you get candles and we have what’s called repeater cakes. Kind of like what you do in your backyard, but ours are much bigger. What’s neat about this show is since we have the distance, we can use (bigger) shells,” Noller said.
The National Weather Service forecast calls for a 40 percent chance of storms, but the Rozzi’s technicians were confident the show would still go on. Rain alone typically doesn’t cancel a show, said Noller.
“It’s more wind or lightning that would stop the show. If there’s not a chance of wind blowing stuff into the crowd, we’ll shoot right through the plastic,” he said, referring to the material covering the fireworks.
The cost for the fireworks show is $45,000, and that has been the cost for the event since 2013, according to the city’s finance director, Mary Hopton.
Ben Strickler, the community events coordinator for the parks and recreation department, estimates that 10,000 people total come to the three vantage points to view the show.
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