Tag: fireworks

If you find yourself pining for the Fourth of July and looking for fireworks, there are some to be had this weekend. South Lake Tahoe is putting on their Labor Day Fireworks Extravaganza this Sunday night, Aug 31. The fireworks will be launched from a barge in the lake, right offshore from the South Shore casinos. So the best place to view the fireworks is from any beach in the area. Anywhere from Nevada Beach to Regan Beach, and even as far away as Baldwin and Pope beaches. Or try to find somewhere on the hill, with an unobstructed view of the lake. Or rent a boat, and watch them up close. Also be sure to bring your radio, because the fireworks will be synchronized to music that is broadcast on KRLT-FM 93.9.

Here is video of the 2005 Fourth of July fireworks.

We ended up at Mills Park last night for the fireworks. And one of the things we immediately noticed is that Mills Park isn't such a good place to watch them from. They're fired off from behind Carson High, and that's just so far away from the grassy areas of the Mills Park that the fireworks end up kind of low on the horizon, half-hidden behind trees and buildings (you can see the Pony Express pavilion in the picture above). Better to watch it from a spot closer to the high school, or even from the top of the small hill that's to the north of there. I think we learn this lesson every time we go to Mills Park to watch the fireworks, but then a few years go by before we go back to Carson for the Fourth, and we forget all over again.

It was a good show, though, nearly half an hour long. Quite an improvement over last year's mess, where 25 minutes worth of fireworks were shot off in half that time and everyone went home pissed. So I think they were being very careful not to repeat last year's mistakes. It meant the shots had to be more spaced out, and go up one at a time, but it made for a long show.

One thing that pissed us off, though was that after the show was over, and we made it back to the car and drove away, they shot off about ten more shells, one at a time. What were those? Ones they forgot? Ones they found in the seat cushions after they were done? Ones that got stuck in the tube? Ones they were saving just to get some attention after the show? You know, why don't you just fire them all off during the show and not keep any for the after party.

Dave Morgan has video of the show, and I have several pictures.

If you're looking for fireworks this 4th of July, you have plenty of options this year. The closest one to us, of course, will be in Carson City at Mills Park. After the debacle last year they're going to try again, and hopefully we'll get a full show this time around instead of the shortened mess that was last year's show. The fireworks start around 9:15. There's also a carnival going on at the park all weekend.

If you're not up for Carson City, here are the other options:

• Reno: Rancho San Rafael
• Sparks: Victorian Square
• Virginia City: Mark Twain Park (stay for the brushfires!)
• Truckee: at Donner Lake
• Lake Tahoe has several shows:
  • King’s Beach
  • Tahoe City
  • Incline Village
  • Squaw Valley (laser show)
  • and the big daddy of them all, Star Spangled Fourth at South Lake Tahoe

If you're going to Lake Tahoe, remember that alcohol is banned on most beaches. And they'll be gouging you big time on parking. If you can even find any.

Other Links:
www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20080703/NEWS/221783369/
www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20080703/NEWS/135392171/0/OPINION
blog.travelnevada.com/articles/fourth-of-july-in-reno-tahoe

So by being laid up at home on painkillers, I managed to miss the disaster that was the Carson City 2007 fireworks. I remember reading the stories from last week about how this year's fireworks were supposed to be the best ever, because of several generous donations. That was good, I thought, because my wife gave up on the Carson City fireworks several years ago because she says they're always so short and disappointing. With the community getting behind the fireworks this year, and putting more money into them, I thought they might have been worth going to if I hadn't had surgery just two days before.

But now I'm glad we didn't go. Somebody dropped the ball somewhere, and the fireworks show came in even shorter than usual. While it was scheduled to last nearly twenty-five minutes, it actually clocked in at less than 11. Which left several people pissed, and none more so than the businesses who put extra money into the display and Janice Ayres, who as director of RSVP was the one who sweat and worked the most to get a longer show this year. Fingers are being pointed all over the place, of course. Ayers claims she got seriously ripped off and didn't get all the shells she asked for. She isn't going to pay another dime beyond the $6,000 down payment she's already made. The fireworks contractor, on the other hand, says every shell that was promised was launched, and it was the fault of the guy pushing the button, who had some kind of caffeine freakout and launched the shells way too fast. The guy has since been fired.

So I'm sure there will be bickering about this behind the scenes for weeks, if not months, but the fact remains that anyone who was at Mills Park on Wednesday night got to see what felt like a very disappointing fireworks show, and if we had gone it would have only reinforced my wife's belief that Carson's fireworks suck.

Oh, for the days they used to launch fireworks off the Ormsby House.