Bob Hendrick brought with him to Monday's meeting Edie Swart, Yumie, Sally Kenrick, Maria, Bob White and Jim Swart - all of whom have been related to Rotary - they are all in Grand Haven to celebrate Bob's 80th birthday!
Gernot announced that our group voted on supporting the east end play structure for this year's cause.
Grand Haven Fireworks - Behind the Scenes: Roger "Boom Boom" Jonas and Brad "Geek My Tree" Boyink
Roger and Brad have been working together for over 10 years on fireworks including Independence Day and Coast Guard Festival. The first Coast Guard Festival with fireworks were in 1938 and launched by hand. The Independence Day fireworks started in 1980. Our unique venues include the river, the beach and the fountain level. We have a 2:1 safety factor and boats are parked further out and secured by the Coast Guard. The musical fountain is choreographed along with the fireworks, first choreographed in 1985. The committee selects the pyro company based on safety, experience and ease to work with. The playlist is picked based on suitable music for the event and reviewed for variety and sequence, creating a show.
Once Roger completes his work (above) Brad assembles the show including the greeting, fountain program and the pyrotecnic show. Brad uses time code to coordinate four different computer systems to coordinate the fireworks, musical fountain, anchor. There is a lot of coordination to time the music and fireworks at the same time. Each shell is wired and is programmed with an address to the computer and it takes an action of a volt to spark the fireworks. Roger shared photos of what the fireworks look like behind the scenes.
Ed Post provided photos of the fireworks for the presentation.
