BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— An Our Country Day committee member said the organization’s July 2 fireworks display at Lake Geneva was cut short by a malfunctioning controller during the show.
Fred Goetzman said that only about 40% of the show went through because of the problem.
“Nothing they could do but apologize,” Goetzman said of the contractor that produced the show. “We will be getting money back to put towards next year’s show. Things like this happen; thank God no one got hurt.”
However, Goetzman also said next year’s fireworks display could be significantly different from the past because of the difficulty in obtaining fireworks and skyrocketing prices.
“The fireworks come from China, and they have been restricting shipments,” he said, “and the price of fireworks has really gone up.”
Goetzman said the cost of pyrotechnics is approaching $2,000 a minute.
“So, for a 15-minute show,” he said, “it’s going to cost $30,000. We were paying $1,200 for 15 minutes.”
Goetzman also said several fireworks providers have gone out of business, and the remaining ones have more business than they can handle.
Goetzman said fireworks shows will likely go on in the future but may be scaled back or in a different format to meet the Our Country Day Committee’s budget.
