Behind the scenes: No match needed for fireworks at Busch Gardens

Oct 02, 2023

With computer simulators, electronic matches, 1,200 feet of fiber optic wiring, a metal suitcase control panel — shooting off professional-grade fireworks in 2014 has very little to do with striking an actual match.

And, yet, Mark Lane and Zachary Zimmerman, of Pennsylvania-based Pyrotecnico, still play with string, tin foil and sparks when setting up the large-scale show at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg.

More than 1,200 shells will be used to produce the extended Fourth of July fireworks show scheduled for Friday, July 3 through Sunday, July 5, weather-permitting. The "Star Spangled Nights" fireworks production will continue — with 750 shells a night — every evening through Aug. 10. It is the fifth year the park has offered nightly fireworks.

"We’re changing it up, this is a whole new show for our visitors," said Pete Dunklee, entertainment director of theatrical services at the park. "It really is amazing, we went through five or six versions before we got it perfected."

Dunklee orchestrated the seven-minute-show (which will be extended over the holiday weekend) by working with a music composer and fireworks display company Pyrotecnico, which can simulate the entire show on video.

Pyrotecnico also put together the "Stars in the Sky" show at Victory Landing Park in Newport News, planned for Saturday, July 5.

"We can sync the bursts with specific syllables. That is how precise we can be now," Dunklee said. "It takes 20 hours to complete one minute of the show. But it's worth spending the time on, when you’re running it every night for around 40 days."

Park spokesman Kevin Crossett declined to say how much the Busch Gardens fireworks show cost, but Ace Pyro, a Michigan-based fireworks design company, says large shows can cost about $30,000. That's for a one-night event.

Lane said he and his crew of men arrive at Busch Gardens several weeks in advance to build crates for the fiberglass tubes that house each shell. They also determine where they will launch the shells — in a field behind the Germany area, on the train tracks underneath the bridge between Germany and Italy and in a field behind Italy.

Once the computer simulator has created a finished product, the audio track — complete with timing marks — is sent to a central Pyrotecnico control board. Every shell and every tube is "addressed" to match the choreography in the simulator. Electronic matches — headphone-style wires that can be sparked with an electric current as small as the one given off by a watch battery — are attached to every shell and switch board.

"In the first days leading up to the show, we’re out here 24 hours a day, getting everything together," Lane said.

Building the tube crates — 100 racks for each of the three locations — and making sure every wire is mapped to the right shell in the right tube requires concentration and time.

In addition, crews soak each launch area with fire hoses to prevent falling embers from causing a fire. That process takes about two hours, Dunklee said.

To load the shells, crews us rubber-tipped golf clubs to prevent the possibility of any sparking. Even the smallest spark could set off a shell.

During the show, a Pyrotecnico crew member sits at the control panel about 250 feet away from the tube racks — everything is connected by fiber optic wires. Although the show is automated, the control panel operator must keep his fingers pressed to what is known as "the dead man," two red buttons that must be pressed down for the duration of the program.

That name is descriptive — should anything happen to the operator to cause him to release those buttons, the show will stop.

Once wired and loaded, crews return to each rack and cover them with tin foil secured by string for waterproofing.

"Williamsburg is terrible for having a thunderstorm pop up out of nowhere," Lane said. "This way, the shells are protected from all of the weather elements."

While what is known as "hand-lighting" a fireworks show — using matches to launch the shells — is still done, electronic automation is much more the norm, Lane said.

Even still, there is enough boom and pow to thrill the little boy inside every pyro technician.

"A shock wave comes out of the tubes, and you can feel it in your chest, even when we’re across the road (250 feet away)," Lane said.

Paitsel can be reached by phone at 757-247-4737.

Want to go?

What: "Star Spangled Nights" fireworks show

When: Nightly July 3 through Aug. 10

Where: Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Cost: Included in admission. Single-day tickets cost $72 for adults and $62 for children ages 3 to 9

Information: buschgardensva.com

See a complete list of Fourth of July fireworks shows at hrticket.com.

Sign up for email newsletters