As of right now, the weather for 10pm on July 4th is looking favorable for a safe and successful show. See you all tonight!
As of right now, the weather for 10pm on July 4th is looking favorable for a safe and successful show. See you all tonight!
Want to know the nitty-gritty, eh? You must be part pyro!
Our displays might only last 15-20 minutes, but they take several months to prepare. In the sections to come, we’ll show you how we light up your sky each year.
The Hood River Fireworks is 100% operated by volunteers, and there are a variety of tasks our volunteers need to accomplish every year.
The Hood River Fireworks display is 100% community funded. This means we do not receive any financial support from city, county, or state governments. Therefore, gathering donations is one of our largest tasks that has to begin well in advance.
Our fundraising efforts include:
As as 501c(3) non-profit, donors receive a fully tax deductible write-off when they donate to our display. If you donate by mail, you will be mailed a donation receipt. If you donate online, your receipt will be automatically sent to you.
Roughly 92% of all donations go directly into purchasing fireworks and day-of supplies. The rest goes to expenses such as website costs, accounting software, email marketing tools, and stamps!
In the past, when the Eye Opener Lions Club, 501c(4), managed the Hood River Fireworks, they owned their own equipment, designed their own displays, stored their own fireworks, and obtained their own permits (11 to be exact). It was a lot of work.
Today, under the new 501c(3) organization, this process has been outsourced to our firework supplier. This reduces work for our volunteers and reduces liability for everyone. For the small increase in cost we incurred, our volunteers have more time to focus on fundraising. Which more than makes up for the difference.
We simply confirm our show’s budget in advance and get back to fundraising. Our supplier will handle permits, the designing of our show, and delivering everything we need.
On the morning of the display, we arrive and unload mortar tubes and fireworks from our delivery truck. The first thing is to layout the mortar racks according to the design sheet.
Then, we we begin to load the shells (fireworks) into the mortar tubes according to the design sheet. As we load shells, we’re looking for any damage to the shell and noting if any are missing.
Simultaneously, while the mortars and shells are being loaded, we have another group of volunteers working on setting up our boxes. These boxes are smaller, rapid firing cases used to transition between different stages of the show.
With the mortars loaded and the boxes placed, our fuses are still un-wired. To get to this point takes about 3 hours. Just in time for lunch.
Fun Fact: On average, we have about 300 shells for each show, but this is decreasing with the cost of supplies, tariffs, and a decrease in donations (click here to donate). To keep the show time around 15-20 minutes, we purchase smaller shells.
Once the mortars are sorted and shells loaded per the design sheet, the fuse boxes are then brought out.
These fuse boxes are labeled 1-10, 11-20, 21-30 and so on. At this time, each numbered firework is wired to its corresponding number on the fuse box using a squib. This process will take about 3 to 4 hours.
Finally, once the fireworks are connected to the fuse box via a squib, the fuse boxes are then connected to our control panel and the team tests for continuity. This is where the connections are verified from the control panel to the fuse box. There are usually a few loose connections that need to be re-wired.
Once we have full continuity and every shell according to the design sheet is accounted for it’s time to take a break until its show time.
Now, for the moment we’ve all been waiting for! Its time to flip some switches!
4th of July shows start at 10pm.
New Year’s Eve shows start at 8pm.
During this time, the spit is completely closed to the public. Only pyro members who are certified and under our supplier’s insurance coverage may be within the fallout zone. Immediate friends and family of volunteers are allowed to view the display from our exclusive behind the scenes viewpoint just outside the required fallout zone.
Once the fun is over and the final shell is shot, we wait a required 15 minutes for a cooldown. This is where we let any unexploded shells to decide what they want to do; Explode, or give up?
After 15 minutes, the lead pyro will give the all clear to approach. There are usually some active fires to handle (mostly cardboard and black powder residue).
This is when we begin to cleanup our mess and pack the mortars, fuse boxes, and control panel back into the truck. But that is only the beggining.
Scattered across the launch site are burnt squibs. and cardboard from the detonated fireworks. Thankfully, we come prepared with headlamps, rakes, blowers, and debris pokers. As a pyro crew should, we work across the spit cleaning up after ourselves.
With the site mostly cleaned up, we go home for the night. We will return the following day to clean up any remaining bits of debris.
From 1978-2022, the Eye Opener Lions Club, 501c(4), was in charge of the Hood River Fireworks. Back then, the club owned their own equipment, designed their displays, and stored everything (including fireworks) locally. Every one of them was a volunteer.
Today, the Hood River Fireworks operates as a separate 501c(3) non-profit by some of the very same volunteers! We also no longer own our equipment, design the displays, or store fireworks locally. This decision saves the non-profit time, money, and reduces liability.
In the yesteryears, the largest shell fired off was 10″ in diameter (today we’re limited to 6″). This was before electronic ignition systems were customary as they are today. Volunteers would bravely hand load and hand light 10″ shells. Once lit, there was not a lot of time to run. When you heard the bang, you turned around to prepare the next shell alternating with runners. This would go on for 45 min to 1 hr.
Another historic event took place in 2020, when the 4th of July show was canceled for the first time since 1978 due to COVID-19 and strict gathering restrictions. By fall of 2020, restrictions reduced and insurance was obtained for Hood River’s first ever New Year’s Eve display.
Have a photo of way back when?
Submit your Photos
For emails about parade registration, raffle prizes, firework updates, and more!
