The town says thanks

Why only 11 minutes of fireworks?

(This was provided by Bill Crabtree, the communications and public affairs director for the Town of Wake Forest.)

Thanks to everyone who turned out for Wednesday’s Fireworks Spectacular at Heritage High School. Attendance estimates are difficult, but our best guess is that well over 20,000 area residents watched the show either inside Husky stadium or from one of the other viewing areas on the school campus. That number doesn’t include the hundreds and possibly thousands of others who observed the fireworks display from vantage points throughout the surrounding area.

A sincere and special thanks to our numerous sponsors for their wonderful generosity. Wednesday’s festivities, including the entertainment and fireworks show, were supported by the generous financial and in-kind donations of PowerSecure, Gladwell Orthodontics, Capital PowerSports, Capital Chevrolet, Mitchell Heating & Cooling, O2 Fitness Clubs, Foxy 107/104, The College at Southeastern, McPherson Family Eye Care, Kerr Family YMCA, Sam’s Club, Mosquito Joe of Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, British Swim School, Vision Martial Arts, Thomas Walters Allstate, Code Ninjas, Candlewood Suites, Hope Lutheran, Wild Birds Unlimited, Champion Windows and Wake Forest Woman’s Club.

A special thanks also to Sleeping Booty for its incredible, high-energy performance, which had folks on their feet and dancing throughout the evening. If you’ve seen Sleeping Booty perform, then you know this claim on their website – “Restoring Movement to the Idle Backside” is – though true – a remarkable understatement.

This was the Town’s second year coordinating and producing the Fireworks Spectacular, which continues to grow in popularity. For over 40 years, the event was organized by the Fourth of July Planning Committee, an all-volunteer organization comprised of a dedicated group of area residents. When the committee began offering the fireworks show in the early 1970s, Wake Forest’s population stood at just over 3,000 people. Thus, the event was offered on July 3, instead of July 4, to avoid conflicting with larger fireworks shows in neighboring communities.

For nearly 50 years the event scheduling has served our community quite well. Besides giving area residents the opportunity to enjoy fireworks in Wake Forest on July 3 and again somewhere else the following day, the planning of the beloved July 4 Children’s Parade and Art & Games in the Park paved the way for Wake Forest to emerge as one of only a handful of communities to offer a two-day Independence Day Celebration – a tradition that continues to this day.

Fast forward to 2017 – Wake Forest had grown to over 40,000 people, the Fireworks Spectacular was drawing thousands of spectators and the Fourth of July Planning Committee – by its own admission – was having trouble recruiting enough volunteers to keep up. In the interest of preserving the community’s most popular summertime happening and an event truly reflective of Wake Forest’s charm and character, the committee voted to turn the fireworks show over to the Town. You read that right: the committee voted to ask the Town of Wake Forest to produce the Fireworks Spectacular. To make it official, in August 2017, the Chair of the Fourth of July Planning Committee appeared before the Board of Commissioners to formally petition the Town to assume the responsibility for producing the fireworks show. The Board voted to approve, and the Fireworks Spectacular joined a long list of other Town-sponsored events, including Friday Night on White, Good Neighbor Day and the Halloween Spooktacular – just to name a few.

Once we started planning for the Fireworks Spectacular, we quickly learned what the Fourth of July Planning Committee already knew – it takes a massive effort and a ton of preparation to put on a professional pyrotechnic fireworks show that will be viewed by thousands of people. It is a tribute to the all-volunteer planning committee’s dedication and commitment that it managed the fireworks show as well as it did for as long as it did. No one recognizes or appreciates their efforts more than we do.

This year, over 50 Town staff lent their efforts to the event – before, during and after, while nearly 50 police officers assisted with traffic and crowd control. Many Town staff arrived on the Heritage High School campus shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday and worked in the stifling heat until just before midnight. Kudos to all these folks for their hard work.

As for the fireworks show, the run time was advertised and intended to be 20 minutes. Unfortunately, for reasons known only to the pyrotechnics company, the show lasted approximately 11 minutes. If you were in attendance and surprised at its brevity, you’re not alone. We were surprised too. Seizing the moment, Town officials contacted the pyrotechnics company immediately after the show to voice our displeasure. We are awaiting an explanation as to what happened but have been promised they are investigating the cause of the abbreviated program and will notify us of their findings. Rest assured, we are taking the steps necessary to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

On the bright side, even though it was shorter than expected, the show itself was an impressive and colorful display that received a roaring ovation from those in attendance.

As much as we have tried to honor and sustain the wonderful tradition established by the original planning committee, we have made a few adjustments to the event we believe are in the community’s best interest. Change isn’t always easy and seldom is it met with universal approval. Still, it is sometimes called for when conditions change – and when it comes to the Fireworks Spectacular, conditions have certainly changed.

Without question, the biggest changes involved relocating the show to Heritage High School and making it a free event. Both were adopted to make the show as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.

For most of the 40-plus years it was offered prior to 2018, the viewing of the fireworks show was limited to Trentini Stadium on the campus of Wake Forest High School. The school’s historical significance and location near the heart of downtown made it the perfect venue.

But Wake Forest grew – from just over 3,000 people in the early 1970s to approximately 45,000 people today. Such phenomenal growth, while impressive, doesn’t begin to tell the whole story when you consider that over twice that many (nearly 100,000) live within a five-mile radius of downtown and close to 160,000 live within a seven-mile radius. Thus, just as we have witnessed with the huge crowds that turn out for Friday Night on White, the Wake Forest Christmas Parade, Six Sundays in Spring and many other popular town-sponsored events, the appeal of our events and activities extends well beyond our town limits.

So, as the community grew, it became increasingly difficult to accommodate the ever-growing numbers of people who wanted to watch the fireworks. Relocating to Heritage High School afforded us the opportunity to accommodate the larger crowds both inside the stadium – in the stands and on the football field – and in the other designated viewing areas on the school campus.

As an added bonus, the move also allowed us to use larger shells to shoot higher fireworks which made viewing possible in areas beyond the school campus, including nearby neighborhoods, subdivisions, parking lots and other locations.

But – the larger shells and higher fireworks require a larger “fall zone.” For example, our five-inch shells require a “fall zone” of 500 feet. Whereas we can meet that requirement at our Heritage High School location, the proximity of neighborhoods and houses to Trentini Stadium doesn’t provide a fall zone large enough to allow us to shoot off fireworks at heights that can be seen beyond the stadium.

Finally, a word about traffic. Just as it is for most large events, traffic is a challenge, especially after the show. We are constantly exploring new and better ways of addressing the issue and will continue to explore solutions that help reduce wait times.

This year’s improved shuttle service and additional food trucks are useful examples of our willingness to make improvements. Whereas, last year, the shuttles got bogged down in traffic, this year, the police department designed a more effective system that identified and established dedicated travel lanes for the buses. Based on the feedback we’ve received, the shuttle system worked much better this year. Similarly, after last year’s event we heard from many of you who said additional food trucks were needed to accommodate the huge crowd. In response, we added several food and dessert trucks this year resulting in significantly shorter wait times.

We are delighted so many people turned out for this year’s Fireworks Spectacular and are especially pleased to have heard from so many who enjoyed the festivities – even the abbreviated fireworks show.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.” For those who didn’t like the event, for whatever reason, we welcome your constructive comments and suggestions as these are invaluable in our efforts to continuously improve. To that end, we also extend to you and everyone else an invitation to volunteer to help with next year’s event.

To share your constructive comments and feedback about this year’s Fireworks Spectacular, please visit the Town’s website and complete the online Contact Us form.

Thank you!