Orland Park’s Independence Fireworks Show
Published January 20, 2010 | 
Display location:Orland Park
City:Illinois
State:Illinois
Date:Fourth of July
Details: Orland Park’s Independence Spectacular has been trimmed to one day this year, but Village trustees took preliminary steps last week to ensure the Fourth of July festival still goes out with a bang.
The Village’s community events and outreach committee voted 2-1 on Monday, Jan. 11 to recommend the Village Board approve a three-year contract with Melrose Pyrotechnics for a fireworks display at the Independence Spectacular held July 4 at Centennial Park.
Under the terms of the contract, the Indiana-based pyro company will be paid $23,000 each of the next three years to set up and deploy the fireworks and synch the 25-minute show with music, Trustee Kathy Fenton said. The Village has used Melrose Pyrotechnics for its Fourth of July festival for the last 10 years, Fenton noted.
Trustee Bernard Murphy cast the lone vote against the contract. He asked if the Village should consider skipping the fireworks show this year to save money after the challenges Orland Park faced to adopt a balanced budget for 2010.
Assistant Village Manager Ellen Baer told Murphy the board could place a donation box on all water bills for those residents wanting to contribute and help offset the cost of the show.
Orland Park officials already approved reducing the Independence Spectacular from two days to one to trim staffing expenses. The cost of the fireworks display was included in this year’s budget, Trustee Ed Schussler said.
“Trustee Murphy’s comments are well-taken because this is going to be a difficult year and a tight year,” Schussler said. “But we did already make cuts to the event and we already budgeted [for the fireworks show].”
Fenton, who serves as chairman of the community events and outreach committee, said she never considered eliminating the fireworks display from the festival.
“I think we figured we could reorganize the festival [to one day] to save funds,” she said. “You can’t have a Fourth of July festival without fireworks.”
A vote on whether to approve the contract with Melrose Pyrotechnics was expected to take place at the Village Board meeting on Monday, Jan. 18.
Posted in Uncategorized | 
festival, fireworks, independence, Independence Spectacular, Orland Park, park, show, year | 
Leave a commentThe 2nd Sinulog Fireworks Display Competition
Published January 18, 2010 | Display location: Cebu
City: Cebu
Country: the Philippines
Date:July 17.
Details:The night skies of Cebu City on the eve of the Sinulog were painted with light and color in the 2nd Sinulog Fireworks Competition held outside SM City.
Bulacan entries were the big winners.
Pyrohaven from Sta. Maria, Bulacan province bagged first place.
LF Fireworks, also from Bulacan, was first runner up and DSS Fireworks of Dumaguete City was second runner up.
“Wow!” was all the judges could say as seven groups took turns showing their pyrotechnic marvels.
The panel of judges came from the Culture and Arts Center of the Philippines and Sinulog Foundation.
They were Chris Milano, Shirly Halili-Cruz, Nestor Jardin, Marichu Tellano and choreographer Douglas Nierra.
This year’s prize were P100,000 for the best, P80,000 and P60,000 for the runners up.
DSS fireworks was last year’s champion in the 1st Sinulog Fireworks Competition. Pyrohaven, on the other hand, was the first placer of the 2009 Sky Wizardry of Enchanted Kingdom in Laguna province.
Other contestants in this year’s competition were ENB Fireworks (Dumaguete’s Buglasan Festival champion), A.R.E. Fireworks from Laguna, Ganna Fireworks from Surigao City, Avila Fireworks from Babag, Lapu-Lapu City, and Tsing Tsang Fireworks from Cagayan de Oro City.
The competition ended with a grand fireworks demonstration synchronized with the Sinulog beat by Cebu’s Pyroworks International.
The competition was organized by SM City Cebu, Pyroworks International and the Sinulog Foundation as a prelude to the Sinulog Grand Parade./ Reporter Aileen Garcia-Yap
Posted in Uncategorized | 2nd, competition, display, fireworks, Sinulog Fireworks Competition, SM, year | Leave a commentFireworks display extravaganza over Aspen Mountain
Published January 18, 2010 | Display location:over Aspen Mountain
City:Aspen
State:Colorado
Date:July.16 8:15 p.m.
Contact:csack@aspentimes.com
Details: ASPEN — Chamber officials are banking that the extra $15,000 kicked in by the city of Aspen for Wintersköl festivities will pay off at the corner of Galena Street and Cooper Avenue Saturday.
The monetary allocation was part of the Aspen City Council’s “economic stimulus” funding that set aside $200,000 as seed money toward a host of new or existing special events. The goal is that the events will drive tourism, fuel the local economy and create memorable experiences for guests as an enticement for them to return.
The Aspen City Council earlier this month allocated $147,500 to a handful of events. The Aspen Chamber Resort Association’s (ACRA) new Epic WinterFest to be held Saturday is the first one to be executed.
“We’re the first one out of the gates,” said Debbie Braun, president and CEO of ACRA. “I don’t know how it’s all going to go, but I have a good feeling.”
More than 30 concepts with a total of $544,500 in requests were submitted to the city, which were vetted by a 12-member committee over the past few months. The committee’s aim was that each event ought to “put heads in beds” or create vitality.
“WinterFest, funny enough, fell into both,” Braun said.
ACRA’s destination marketing arm placed a significant ad buy in Denver to promote Wintersköl, hoping to drive business from the Front Range.
“Wintersköl has morphed into a repeat guest event,” Braun said of the local celebration that began 59 years ago to liven up the doldrums of winter. “People now make their trips around Wintersköl.”
Bill Tomcich, president of Stay Aspen Snowmass, a central reservations agency, said as of Dec. 31 — the date of the last occupancy snapshot — advance bookings for this weekend peaked at just more than 70 percent both Saturday and Sunday nights. However, there have been a lot of last-minute bookings since then, and the agency was fielding a number of last-minute requests Friday for arrival this weekend. Last year’s peak occupancy for Wintersköl and Martin Luther King weekend peaked at 84 percent, he added.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we wind up very close to that if not exceed it this year,” Tomcich wrote in an e-mail. “Snowmass was also booked to just over 70 percent this weekend as of Dec. 31, and likewise, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them break their peak weekend occupancy of 81 percent achieved last year, as well based on the last-minute booking activity we have seen.”
Braun submitted an invoice for WinterFest to the city on Wednesday, along with a detailed budget of WinterFest expenses.
While the traditional parade has been scrapped because of a lack of participation in recent years, ACRA’s special events department came up with a replacement that they hope will attract more people downtown, and thus spend money in local shops and restaurants.
“We hope it keeps people in the downtown core from noon until the fireworks, and they’ll go shopping and maybe even dinner at a restaurant later,” Braun said. “WinterFest is really just trying to tinker with what’s already been the success of Wintersköl.”
During their deliberations on how to distribute the seed money, City Council members discussed the merits of re-inventing or “tinkering” with Wintersköl.
Councilman Steve Skadron suggested that perhaps the community is growing tired of always having to entertain its guests and too many special events or beefed-up activities will further contribute to the fatigue.
He questioned why more money should be put into Wintersköl, or why fireworks have to occur so often in Aspen.
Councilman Torre responded by saying Wintersköl fuels tourism in a month when more is needed than just the holidays and the Winter X Games.
“Business drops off and the bookends of January aren’t enough,” he said, adding Wintersköl is designed to be a local celebration for guests to enjoy. “I’d take Wintersköl over X Games.”
Mayor Mick Ireland said trying something new with an existing event is worth the attempt.
“I think we ought to try this and see how it works out,” he said.
Saturday’s events, which are new to the four-day celebration of winter, consist of several free activities, including a canine fashion show, live entertainment and music on the malls and streets, cookies and hot chocolate, and more.
There also will be a beer garden set up on Cooper Avenue in front of Bad Billy’s. The street will be closed in the morning for the canine fashion show and then reopen from 2-5 p.m. The beer garden will be open from 6-8:30 p.m., with fireworks following.
The city’s contribution doesn’t cover all of WinterFest’s costs and ACRA will pick up the difference, Braun said.
The bulk of the Wintersköl budget hovers around $30,000, which is paid mostly through sponsorships. Braun said $28,500 was raised this year through sponsorships from various Aspen businesses. The goal was $30,000.
“We almost made it, which is not bad considering,” the fragile economy, she said, adding in year’s past the sponsorship goal was $40,000.
Fifteen businesses have contributed cash to Wintersköl this year, with $1,000, $500 and $250 donations. Dozens of others have contributed in other ways.
Braun said another significant contribution comes from local lodges, which puts up out-of-town performers in rooms for free or discounted rates. Lodges also contribute between $1,000 and $2,000 each to pay for Soupsköl, which is an annual soup making competition that was held Friday night with more than 20 participating restaurants.
Aspen Valley Hospital underwrites the Wintersköl buttons to the tune of $2,500 and 50 percent of the proceeds are then given back for AVH’s helmet program.
Whatever overall costs aren’t covered by sponsorships, ACRA pays for them out of its budget funded by membership dues, which is how the chamber’s three main events — Fourth of July, Food & Wine and Wintersköl — are subsidized.
“This is not a revenue generating operation in our events department,” Braun said.
It’s all hands on deck for ACRA this weekend because Wintersköl is one of the chamber’s signature events and the extra effort is designed to ensure that WinterFest is indeed “epic.”
Friday morning Braun was picking up doughnuts for the U.S. Air Force Drum and Bugle Corps, who are scheduled to perform at 1 p.m. on the Cooper Avenue mall. And Saturday, Braun plans to be the one handing out balloons to the kids.
“I’m not too proud to do what it takes to get the job done,” she said.
Posted in Uncategorized | ACRA, Aspen Mountain, display, events, fireworks, mountain, year | Leave a commentSpectacular fireworks displays will mark the launch of Istanbul’s year as one of three European Capitals of Culture.
Published January 18, 2010 | Display location:İstanbul’s historic Sultanahmet square
City:Istanbul
Country:Turkey
Date:Jan 16
Details: The prestigious title gives cities the opportunity and funding to showcase and enrich their cultural life.
For Turkey, which is struggling to fulfil its longstanding aim of becoming a member of the European Union, the title has particular significance.
But Istanbul’s celebration is not without its problems.
Istanbul competed fiercely with the Ukrainian capital Kiev to win this title, the last time it will be offered to a non-EU member.
The two other winners were Pecs in Hungary and Essen in Germany.
With its rich heritage of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman history and its pulsating contemporary urban life, Istanbul is already recognized as one of the world’s great cultural capitals.
But the title means a great deal in a country which has for decades aspired to membership of the European Union.
The opening celebrations will be marked by a spectacular fireworks display choreographed by the French pyrotechnician Cristoph Berthonneau.
And by a series of cultural performances set against the backdrop of some of Istanbul’s greatest landmarks.
But big questions hang over how effective the rest of the year’s programme will be.
The organizing committee has been rocked by conflict between NGOs and government bureaucrats, with mass resignations last year.
There have been persistent allegations of corruption.
Critics say there has been too much focus on restoring well-known historical sites, and too little on contemporary culture.
And very little effort has been devoted to confronting the painful twentieth century legacy left by the mass expulsion of the Greek and Armenian communities, whose buildings, many of them derelict, still litter the city.
Recent Comments