Crews were busy at work in preparation for the 28th annual “America the Beautiful” Pops concert down at the River Stage Friday morning through afternoon. Sound crews conducted sound checks and the pyrotechnic crew set up charges in preparation for one of the most anticipated shows of the year.
The river stage lawn was already overtaken with spectator's blankets, spread out claiming their seating area for the show shortly after the gates opened at noon on Friday.
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In its first years, the concert attracted 8-10,000 people, explained pyrotechnics guru Ken Landon. It has since grown to an audience over 30,000 attendees, and the streets continue to swell each year with heavy foot traffic, strollers and colorful lawn chairs.
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Above; A B-1B Lancer from Dyess AFB in Abilene conducts a fly-by to kick-off last night's festivities. (LIVE! Photo/Paul Alexander)
“Our role primarily is in promoting [the concert] to not only local, but especially to outside the community audiences,” said Phil Neighbors, President of the Chamber of Commerce. “We do a lot of advertising, promoting San Angelo as a place to celebrate the Fourth of July festivities. Of course, the Pops concert is a big part of that as well as the fireworks at the lake.”
Neighbors said that the chamber advertises statewide in Texas Highways, Texas Monthly, and various Texas newspapers. Their efforts drew in hordes by the tens of thousands on Friday evening, filling the banks of the River Stage and the outdoor terrace of the adjacent art gallery and lining the river for blocks in either direction with tailgaters and families eager for the ever-growing fireworks show.
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Ken Landon has been in charge of the pyrotechnics at the Pops concert every year since its inception 28 years ago. He says that the day leading up to the concert is hectic work.
“We’ve got so many hours to get it done and it takes a long time to do it, a lot of wiring and stuff to do,” Landon said. “It’s a great site to do it, we’ve got two bridges that we shoot off. We are the number one close proximity show in Texas, and eighth in the nation.”
Landon says those numbers are based off of websites like Trip Advisor, and also says that the firework community ranks San Angelo high on the totem pole of pyrotechnic spectacles in Texas.
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About 900 pounds of explosives was used this year at the Pops concert; enough to blow a hole the size of a small box truck into the ground, and enough to make for a crowd pleasing fireworks show.
“We marry [the charges] to the music because it’s choreographed, so it will be about 20 to 25 minutes long,” Landon said, explaining how the show is planned from the pyrotechnic aspect. “We know what the pieces of music will be and you just figure out where the power punches are and lead that up to the crescendo.”
Landon used to make and actually light all of the explosives for the concert by hand, he said, an outdated practice that has since been modernized at the urging of a previous Fire Marshal, who preferred to see a safer approach to detonation. Despite his years of doing it the old fashioned way, the professional pyro still has all his fingers on both hands.
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“Now we use what looks like a switch board of sorts, and just press the buttons to detonate,” he said smiling. “The chances of an accident are slim, and if that should happen the fire department is on standby.”
The San Angelo Fire Department is always on hand positioned in key places should anything go awry with the fireworks display.
“The Fire Marshal’s office had an inspector out and inspect on Friday hours before the show,” Ross Coleman, SAFD Fire Marshal, said. “We checked the shooter sites to make sure they are legal and compliant with all of the minimal standards.”
On Friday night, the long neck of Ladder 1 could be seen stretching into the sky from the Chadbourne Street bridge, where firefighters kept a watch on the crowds gathered below and the thick fog of white smoke rising from the Oakes Street bridge in the east, where canon after canon and rocket after rocket boomed into the air in a fiery rain of sparkling light.
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Nearby, firemen and police officers provided security as a line of servicemen and women unfurled a giant American flag. Live music from the San Angelo symphony provided a backdrop to the scene, underscoring the patriotism behind each of the nation's insignia as the event progressed through song and show.
*Chelsea Reinhard contributed to this report.
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