Fireworks a big production

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Spectators gather on West End Beach to watch the Fourth of July fireworks display over West Grand Traverse Bay Wednesday. Record-Eagle/Keith King
Spectators gather on West End Beach to watch the Fourth of July fireworks display over West Grand Traverse Bay Wednesday. Record-Eagle/Keith King
A firework explodes prior to the start of the Fourth of July fireworks by Great Lakes Fireworks over West Grand Traverse Bay Wednesday night. Record-Eagle/Keith King
A firework explodes prior to the start of the Fourth of July fireworks by Great Lakes Fireworks over West Grand Traverse Bay Wednesday night. Record-Eagle/Keith King
Paul Keyser, along with fellow pyrotechnicians with Great Lakes Fireworks, sets up Traverse City's July 4th fireworks on Tuesday on barges in West Grand Traverse Bay. Record-Eagle/Keith King

July 5, 2012

Fireworks a big production

BY BRIAN McGILLIVARY bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Thu Jul 05, 2012, 07:14 AM EDT

TRAVERSE CITY — The small band of workers meets for a quick prayer before Bruce Tyree throws a switch and launches the first of hundreds of exploding shells into the night sky.

It's how they do it every time, every show throughout a busy summer fireworks season. The prayer is an old and valued tradition for the members of Great Lakes Fireworks, who spent two and a half days preparing for a 30-minute, 637-shell July 4 show over West Grand Traverse Bay.

Some members may wish for a good show, but for others prayer is part of their safety routine.

"We always say a prayer before we start," said Ed Mende of Traverse City, who with his son Stan work on a couple of shows a year with Tyree. "Bruce is all about safety."

Tyree, of East Jordan, started his career in fireworks over 25 years ago with his brother-in-law, little impromptu shows in Roscommon County that featured back market fireworks. Today they run one of the larger pyrotechnic display and import companies in the state.

Tyree also teaches an American Pyrotechnic Association training and safety program. His employees must take the class.

"I'm all for preparedness; you don't want to chance anything when it comes to something like this," Tyree said.

His crew of seven on Monday prepped barges, loaded exploding shells into tubes, and wired electronic matches to a computer.

Shells are fired from fiberglass tubes. Smaller tubes are loaded in wooden crates, while larger, 12-inch shells are buried in sand inside a large steel dumpster.

Tyree also handles the National Cherry Festival fireworks program, when fuses will be lit by hand. The July 4 show featured fireworks ignited electronically from shore because the program was to be choreographed to music.

East Jordan resident Paul Keyser is part of the fireworks crew, and enjoys the job.

"I'm a school teacher and this is what I do in the summer," he said. "It's the thrill, the adrenaline, being the cause of things going boom."

Crew members wear protective clothing, but small burns occur on occasions. Keyser compares handling hundreds of pounds of explosives to being part of the pit crew for a NASCAR team. The risk is just part of the job.

"You think about it, but then you stop thinking about it," Keyser said.

Mende said the crew is well-trained. He and his son find it fun to work with the big rockets.

"This show should be pretty spectacular, and with the music will put it right over the top," he said.

Great Lakes Fireworks was slated to produce 12 shows around the state Wednesday night, some twice the size as Traverse City. But Tyree considers Traverse City his most important show in northern Michigan, and said it has great potential for growth now that the once-struggling July 4 event is being captained by ex-Cherry Festival director Tim Hinkley and the newly formed Boom Boom Club.

"Tim Hinkley, what he has put together in one year is amazing, and he has big ambitions going into the future," Tyree said. "He wants to make this a destination event."

Hinkley's group raised $45,000 for this year's program.

The July 4 fireworks program almost fizzled last year, and Tyree and others donated time and money to keep the event afloat. This year he donated the music choreography.

Choreographing music to the computer that fires shells takes about an hour for each minute of the show, he said. Two employees at his warehouse then spend about 60 hours marking materials to match a computer code.

The goal for next year is to use two barges that fire in tandem to choreographed music, Tyree said.

"You couldn't ask for a better venue than Traverse City; the potential is awesome," Tyree said.

Diana Krogel of East Bay Township said Traverse City shows aren't as strong as others downstate, but she counted on this year's program to top off a full day at the beach.

"We have eight kids and five adults and we're hoping it's good and the kids enjoy it," Krogel said.

Zak Elhage piled his family of 10 into two cars and drove four hours from Dearborn to spend the day in Traverse City. He didn't come for the fireworks, but planned to stick around to watch and cap off his evening.

Elhage said it was good to hear Traverse City is putting more effort and money into its July 4 show.

"It's supposed to be big. It's Independence Day," Elhage said. "What else do you need."