CENTRAL PA 4TH FEST

Volunteers prep for fireworks show

By Anne Danahy

UNIVERSITY PARK — The spectacular light show that Central PA 4th Fest spectators have come to expect will last less than an hour.

CDT/Christopher Weddle

Andy Kissel lowers a shell into a tube in preparation for the Central PA 4th Fest near Beaver Stadium on Saturday, June 27, 2009. CDT/Christopher Weddle

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• 4th Fest deserves community support

But it’s been a year in the making for the hundreds of volunteers who arrange and execute every detail of what is known as one of the best fireworks shows in the country.

“Do you want the truth? July 5th or 6th” is when planning for the show began, Executive Director Bernie Keisling said with a laugh.

In fact, he and committees of volunteers meet throughout the year, and start by reviewing the past year’s show. The fireworks for this year’s show had to be ordered by December, so the pyrotechnics team began planning in September.

Matt Lindenberg, co-chairman of pyrotechnics, said the crew starts by selecting the music, then starts choosing the effects to go with each song. By Christmas, the entire show is choreographed.

The recent addition of software that simulates the fireworks lets volunteers get a sneak preview of what the show will look like.

The past few weeks Lindenberg and the team have been putting tubes that will hold the shells out in the field behind Beaver Stadium. On Friday, volunteers were in the field prepping the shells with what’s known as an electronic match.

“We put the electronic match in, so when we say ‘fire’ the match goes off,” Lindenberg explained.

With the shells ready, the next step is putting them in the correct tube — all of which volunteers have labeled — to make sure the red, white and blue 6-inch chrysanthemum or any other firework goes off on cue. When it gets that cue, the football-sized shell that’s now wrapped in brown paper will fly about 400 feet into the sky and explode to reach 80 to 90 feet across.

“When I say it’s a bookkeeping nightmare, it really is,” joked Phil Hallock.

Along with matching the shells and tubes, organizers get to deal with the hiccup of occasionally getting sent the wrong shells. Then there’s making sure the music and fireworks are coordinated and everything fires on time.

Lindenberg said the volunteer teams have been working together and running the show long enough that it is getting easier and smoother.

“I really love the people,” Lindenberg said. “We joke that the two weeks spent setting up is like a family reunion.”

The fireworks may get the most attention — or, as Keisling put it, be “the punctuation mark” at the end of the evening — but they follow an entire day of activities and entertainment.

Nancy Silvis, celebrations chairwoman, oversees the coordination of the 12 hours leading up to the 9:20 p.m. fireworks show.

She said the festivities are a way for families to have a good time and celebrate the Fourth without spending a lot of money.

“What’s so unique is all our entertainers are volunteers too,” Silvis said.

Silvis and the other celebrations committee volunteers plan the day down to the last detail, from the Firecracker 4K race in the morning to the street dance at the end of the night.

“I feel really relieved by the time the fireworks show,” Silvis said.

On Thursday, Silvis’ team will do a dry run of the day, going through five pages of items to make sure everything runs smoothly.

“They’ve been going through every detail for months,” Keisling said.

IF YOU GO

• Central PA 4th Fest events run all day Saturday, starting with the Firecracker 4K race at 9 a.m. at Curtin Road near Beaver Stadium. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. The fireworks are scheduled to begin at 9:20 p.m. Tune your radio to WBUS 93.7 FM. New at this year’s 4th Fest are a mini-carnival and a graphical waterfall.

• 4th Fest organizers are still looking for volunteers. To get information on helping out with the show, go to www.4thFest.org or call 404-8777.

Anne Danahy can be reached at 231-4648.