McHenry County's fireworks shows will go on

From the Monday, June 30, 2008 edition of the Northwest Herald:

McHenry County's fireworks shows will go on
By DIANA SROKA - dsroka@nwherald.com

Despite reports that other cities are canceling or scaling back their holiday fireworks shows, that won’t be the case in McHenry County.

Local fireworks displays planned for Independence Day festivities will be just as spectacular as in years past, officials say, in spite of rising fuel costs and other economic factors.

“We had feared early on in March that donations and sponsorships would be down significantly,” said Howard Doughman, president of the Spring Grove 4th of July Committee. “However, what we are finding is we’re pretty good.”

In Spring Grove, the July 4 fireworks show is funded by donations from local businesses and residents. More than $18,000 has been donated so far, Doughman said, down only slightly from last year.

“[Being] $4,000 down is not bad,” he said.

Woodstock also relies on donations for its fireworks show, as well as $5 parking fees for residents who watch the show from Emricson Park, 898 W. South St.

Part of the reason that local shows won’t be affected is because fireworks orders are placed about a year in advance by the pyrotechnic firms that put on community displays.

“We get 75 percent of products for next year by the end of this year,” said Andy James, president of Mad Bomber Fireworks Productions.

Mad Bomber Fireworks Productions puts on Spring Grove and Woodstock’s shows, as well as others in the area. James said many American fireworks companies experienced inventory shortages due to tightened restrictions on overseas shipments, but Mad Bomber was not one of them.

“The Chicago market has enough good-sized companies that I don’t think this was a big issue for them,” James said. “But it will be an issue next year.”

Wisconsin-based Spectrum Pyrotechnics, which handles Marengo’s June 28 fireworks and the Algonquin Founders’ Days show July 27, makes about half of the fireworks that it uses.

But even so, the company has felt the effects of rising costs.

“Labor’s gone up, we have to pay out a lot of expenses ... [shipments] can only go to certain ports in the country, and it’s hard to bring material in,” said Larry Marchetti, Illinois Manager for Spectrum Pyrotechnics.

The company hopes to produce all of the fireworks it uses in the next few years.

“We’re going that way because things are getting harder and harder,” Marchetti said.