By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
Fireworks are the attention-getter finale for the Independence Day celebration every year. This year’s Crestline’s Jamboree Days will have its fireworks shot over Lake Gregory on Saturday July 6 at 9 p.m.
The Lake Gregory show is a very special show to Jason Pope, the fireworks specialist who shoots it off each year, for several reasons.
Pope is a private contractor for Pyro Spectaculars, the California company which puts on the show. They do many shows nationwide from Las Vegas to New York and yet Lake Gregory is one of the shows that Pope likes best.
What makes the Crestline/Lake Gregory show so unique is its intimacy. For Pope it is like doing a very private intimate concert in a small bar, since those shows are probably better than attending that same concert in a huge stadium because the audience wouldn’t get that same intimacy.
Lake Gregory is in a small valley with trees all around with the lake as a mirror. Because everything is so close to where the product is actually fired, it gives everyone that intimate feel that they can almost touch the show. In Crestline, Pope gets the biggest size product he can use, and it looks even bigger than it would if it was in a different place. The sound feels louder and resonates in the valley. It feels as though the show is just for you.
Pope has done the show at Lake Gregory for nine years, usually shooting it from the south shore. The crew needs a 20-foot-square space for safety reasons, away from all spectators, to do their set up. He likes to set up the finale separate from the rest of the show. They use about 430 individual shells for the show, with almost half of them for the finale.
“The perfect show is one where everybody remembers the finale,” Pope said. “People will remember the show, but we want them to be in awe of the finale.
“I tried doing the show one year from a barge out in the middle of the lake, but that didn’t work,” Pope added. It caught on fire. “We’ve also shot from the north side where the marina is, but that was not the best shooting location for the spectators.”
He became interested in this job when his brother-in-law, who was a pyrotechnical professional, asked him to help on a show with him in Los Angeles’ Lincoln Park. It was a hand-fire show, meaning all the fuses were lit by hand with a road flare. So afterwards, he researched the job and responsibilities and went through the apprenticeship with the same company, Pyro Spectaculars, and got hired. After that two-year apprenticeship, he then passed the state test and must keep current in his knowledge to stay licensed. He’s been licensed and doing pyrotechnics for about 20 years.
Nowadays, there are very few, hand-fired shows for safety purposes. After setting up the show, it is fired all electronically from about 100 feet away so pyrotechnics are a lot safer than they used to be.
Pope does this job for the entertainment value that others receive from the shows. He likes being an entertainer, but doesn’t like to be in front of people. When he hears the roar of the crowd, he gets instant gratification from the show, “This is a perfect combination for me,” Pope said.
“When I when I do a show, I envision this little kid basically sitting on his deck watching the fireworks show, just mesmerized for 20 minutes, and then after the finale goes off, you know he’ll always remember the show. I think that’s why I do it just to just to give someone an experience that they’ll never forget.
“I grew up in Crestline on the opposite side of the lake from Goodwin and Sons Market,” Pope said. “I still remember sitting on my deck, watching the Lake Gregory fireworks show as a kid.” He is still a local man who has been married for 27 years and has two adult daughters.
“Lake Gregory, I guess, is special to me because that’s my hometown show. It was an honor when they offered me the Crestline show. I put a lot of pressure on myself and my crew to do the best job possible and put on a perfect show here. Of course, we try to do that every show, but for Crestline especially, I’ve really put a lot into it because I live here.” The beach is an excellent spot and safe spot from which to watch the show, and the reflection on the lake doubles the impact.
“Fire safety is absolutely the biggest concern for any show but especially here. From experience I understand the wind and where the fireworks will potentially go. We place fire engines in special locations because there’s often dry brush on the hill. We always take precautions on every show to be as safe as possible. The last thing I want to do is burn down my own town.”
A lot of the best product Pyro Spectaculars gets is from China. Some of the multi-shot devices, which shoot a lot of product in a short amount of time, are made here in the United States. The chemical makeup of fireworks has changed slightly over the years, mostly for environmental reasons. The state fire marshal has to certify it as environmentally friendly or he won’t shoot it. But another reason the chemicals have changed is for the “brake effect,” chemicals that make the fireworks have the visual effect linger and last for a longer time.
“I do firework shows all year long, probably 15 to 20 shows each year,” Pope noted. “Probably six or eight of those shows are around the 4th of July. I usually do Universal Studios on New Year’s. I also do Lake Arrowhead, Newport Dunes, Pala Casino, Chapman University, the Colosseum and others.”
The Lake Arrowhead and Lake Gregory shows are very different from each other in several ways. While the Lake Gregory show is intimate and Pope works with a crew of eight to 10, the Lake Arrowhead show, which will take place on July 5, is larger. There they need to surprise the audience which surrounds the larger lake, which has boats on it, so they use more and bigger product to get the same spectacular feeling, getting more height and effect. At Lake Arrowhead, they’re shooting from out in the middle of the lake set up on a floating barge. The crew of 15 to 20 technicians is on a different barge but chained only 10 to 15 feet away from the shooting platform. With a larger crew, they must take extra precautions when they’re that close to the shooting barge and out on deep water.
“It’s like having that concert in the big stadium, excellent but a greatly different type and style of firework show,” explained Pope.
“The best part I can say confidently is right after that finale dies, when the sky is again dark and the crowd continues to cheer. That is the best part. Hearing the cheering of the crowd is basically why I do it. That 30 seconds to a minute of cheering gives me all the excitement that I need,” added Pope.
The fireworks shows at Lake Gregory and Lake Arrowhead both begin at 9 p.m.
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