Daytime Fireworks

Yesterday, I posted a “This Day in Rock Springs ParK History” blog about the grand re-opening of the park under new manager C.C. Macdonald in May of 1928. A story I also wrote about in April of last year, including the advertisement (above) from the Daily Times. But yesterday was the first time I noticed that the ad mentions daytime fireworks. I had never heard of daytime fireworks and wondered how they work. So, I did a little research and came up with a couple of examples.

It seems that daytime fireworks have louder explosions and more smoke than their nocturnal counterparts.

Just a couple of miles down the road from where I live today in Greensburg, PA, the small coal patch community of Crabtree features annual daytime fireworks as part of their summer festival at St Bartholomew Church. Their display consists of hanging fireworks from a crane and slowly burning them upward on strings, ending in a grand finale of huge explosions. See for yourself.

A quick Google search of “daytime fireworks” shows thousands of hits for a colorful display shown in the dessert at the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar. Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang put on a large "explosion event" utilizing microchip-controlled explosives to form incredible designs and patterns. According to the posting, “Each set of explosions was calculated to paint a different picture.”

This year George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens will celebrate Independence Day with daytime fireworks during its annual Independence Day event. For the first time ever, visitors will be treated to spectacular smoke fireworks in patriotic colors fired during the finale of the National Concert Band of America's performance.

Washington may be the most famous visitor to Rock Springs Park and may, assuming he did a little hunting in the spring grove, have been the first to set off a gunpowder charge there, thus created the first-ever daytime fireworks display. Hey, it’s possible.