The 2009 show is something you will not want to miss. It is always a challenge to top the show of the previous year but we will again. One of our biggest challenges is to pay for the wonderful Fireworks program, Concert and the sound system that allows you to hear the music for both. Like the rest of the 4th of July Activities we rely on YOUR generous contributions and not a single tax dollar to produce the great evening at the lakefront that thousands come to enjoy. Prior to 1980 we shot the fireworks show at Dyche Stadium and charged admission to pay for it. We moved to the lakefront so that ALL could enjoy this great venue for FREE. Costs have gone up every year and we have had to absorb it. Please go to the Home Page, go to our Donation section in the middle of the page and help us in any ay you can so that we can continue to provide you with the quality program that you deserve!

This year's show will once again be launched from Clark Street Beach immediately after the Palatine Band concert. 

In 1999, the Chicago Tribune voted Evanston's Independence Day fireworks show -- choreographed by Association President Dave Sniader and programmed by Bob Kerns, Director of Operations at Melrose Pyrotechnics -- "the best in the suburbs".

What makes Evanston fireworks different from others is that it is a truly custom design beginning with a soundtrack that I compose and edit from scratch, Sniader said.  "The way that we create an ebb and flow of activity in the soundtrack and the way that Bob places shells to the music is how we make a great show. I think of it as a concert performance set to fireworks. We take great pride in producing the longest and strongest show in the Midwest," he said. 

Other shows begin by telling a vendor the budget. Then the vendor sets a length of time and music, if it is even a musical show at all. He feels that many shows are just too short and those that do not shoot to music are missing seventy-five percent of the effect.

This year's program will again be broadcast live on 90.5 FM so bring your radio and tune into the music. For people in the area of Dawes Park and the Clark Street beach parking lot there will be speakers broadcasting the same program. 

 

"Our supplier is Melrose Pyrotechnics out of Indiana. They not only shoot the show but manufacture some of the finest fireworks in the world. Some are made locally, some come from Italy, China and Southeast Asia," he said. "And those factories manufacture shells to Melrose's specifications. Melrose does a wonderful job in every respect." 

So we can ask for certain shells that we think will fit the chosen music and Melrose will program them into the show. Bob knows their shells and inventory so well that it always turns out perfect and he makes it look easy, he said. If Sniader's experience is any clue, then this year's show will indeed be one that should not be missed.

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VIEW THE 2008 CONCERT & FIREWORKS
YOU WILL NEED WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER

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