Tempe, like many cities across Arizona, is gearing up for a massive 4th of July celebration. Tens of thousands of people will crowd into Tempe Town Lake to watch thousands of fireworks shoot into the sky.
Event organizers have been hard at work over the last year planning the event. Fireworks are ordered by Fireworks Production of Arizona at least a year in advance, but the actual program and synchronization to music takes about a month to get done.
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Twelve-thousand fireworks will take off from Mill Avenue Bridge on Tuesday night. The entire display stretches about 750 feet across the bridge. Twelve pyrotechnical professionals with the assist of a computer will set off the fireworks that thousands of Arizonans will get to enjoy for approximately 35 minutes.
"We don't get a dress rehearsal, we don't get to practice, you get to see it when we do and this year. I think we have 10 new very big visual effects we've not seen," said Steve Barnes, head pyrotechnician of the show.
The entire show is designed around the music, and crews will use a combination of pop, rock, country, and patriotic songs to keep the audience entertained.
"We try to take the crowd through a story that makes them feel good of our Independence Day," said Barnes.
Professionals will light off about 1,000 fireworks. The rest will be set off by a computer which will shoot them off in seconds to the beat of the music.
"We have over 500 of those electrical cues that then in turn light off additional cues that we fuse them together. They're fused in the boxes, so one computer signal will set off a chain reaction of hundreds of fireworks," said Barnes.
But even with thousands of fireworks going off in minutes, organizers say they're not concerned. As we saw this weekend in north Phoenix, even a show put on by professionals can take a turn for the worst and cause a fire.
The show in Tempe is strategically planned to minimize those sort of risks. The fireworks will be set off from a concrete bridge and rain down over water.
The true joy in the event, Barnes said, is the anticipation of a show that not even those putting it on have yet to see.
