get a formal permit for the annual Big Bay Boom<\/a> that included a number of conditions, including banning the use of perchlorate and adding more heightened monitoring to assess impacts on marine wildlife, birds and water quality. In addition, the port is required to undertake a study exploring the possibility of replacing fireworks with an aerial light show or using drones to complement a scaled-down fireworks event, beginning with the Fourth of July celebration in 2027.<\/p>\nThere wasn\u2019t enough time last year to make the Big Bay Boom entirely perchlorate-free because of the challenge of sourcing manufacturers who produce more eco-friendly shells, Bruggema said. This year, Pyro Spectaculars found two manufacturers, one domestic and one in Spain, but the cost was nearly three times that of comparable shells using perchlorate, Bruggema said.<\/p>\n
Port officials estimate that this year\u2019s total cost for the July 4 event will be just under $1 million. That compares to $813,000 last year, said spokesperson Gabriella Rodriguez . She noted that the port and its nonprofit fundraising partner, San Diego Fleet Week Foundation, are working to cover roughly half or more of the expenses through fundraising and grants, with the port making up the difference.<\/p>\n
While the focus of this year\u2019s Big Bay Boom \u2014 starting at 9:15 p.m. \u2014 will be on the 250th anniversary of the U.S., the theming will be more noticeable in the audio simulcast than in the visuals, Bruggema said. He pointed out that it\u2019s difficult to display numbers, even with perchlorate fireworks. He added that there will be no shapes, like hearts or smiley faces this year, as there have been in the past.<\/p>\n
The radio simulcast, on 91X FM, will highlight the nation\u2019s accomplishments over the decades, dating back to 1776. In between musical selections, there will be some voice-overs from notable figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and former President Ronald Reagan, Bruggema said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last song, for the finale, will be a mix of \u2018The Star Spangled Banner\u2019 with many of the celebrities who have performed it, from Whitney Houston to Mariah Carey, and all the more well-known singers of the last 25 or so years,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The Big Bay Boom\u2019s longtime executive producer, Sandy Purdon, is not so sure he and others viewing the fireworks will notice much of a difference in the pyrotechnics compared to previous years. He\u2019s hoping not.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a pyro engineer, but I\u2019m kind of interested in seeing what the look is without perchlorate because I don\u2019t really know,\u201d he said. \u201cI haven\u2019t had the advantage of seeing one against the other. The water quality chemists that have been doing water quality tests on our show for many years have said that the perchlorate that they test for apparently dissipates and is eliminated in salt water within 30 seconds or a minute once it hits the water. So, I\u2019m a little confused about what all the negativity is about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Almost immediately after the show, as has been the case in the past, he said, the owners of recreational boats will traverse the waters around the four barges where the fireworks are launched to locate any debris that has landed in the water.<\/p>\n
But the Coastal Commission\u2019s monitoring program is even more rigorous, requiring, for example, the use of qualified biologists to measure the impact, if any, on the environment and wildlife. As for the potential transition away from fireworks, the port\u2019s study is expected to be completed by late summer or fall, according to the port.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are still going to see a spectacular show,\u201d Bruggema said. \u201cFireworks aficionados will notice some stuff, but this is about celebrating our independence and 250 years of our accomplishments. So I believe everybody will take that into account, that\u2019s why we\u2019re doing this, and the music is going to make everybody feel good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When San Diego\u2019s bayfront fireworks show launches Saturday evening, hundreds of thousands of spectators will be prepared to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[387,181,74,76,75,1696,5277],"class_list":["post-384396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-business","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}