Monday, July 4, 2011

Fireworks Cap Regatta

Pittsburghers love their fireworks and the folks at the Pittsburgh Three Rivers Regatta know it. A 25-minute fireworks display will cap off the Pittsburgh Three Rivers Regatta tonight at 9:00. The show will launch from four barges moored in the Ohio River just off the Point.

“It’s a ‘pyromusical,’” said Pyrotecnico show designer Ralph Piacquadio, “For me downtown is great [for viewing] Mount Washington is supper, but here at Point State Park, the North Shore, the South Shore, great places to see it, make sure you listen to the music because it does tell a story.”

Pyrotecnico has been working on the show for months. “On the design side it takes about two hours a minute, that just sitting saying OK we’ve got the effects and now we are going to insert them into the audio.” The team also logs hundreds of hours traveling to find the right shells, building the effects and loading the barges. “We usually do that to the end,” said Piacquadio, “someone will call and say, you know what I was thinking about this last night, lets put this in too.” Piacquadio said the show can be tweaked right down to the last minute because the company’s home is just up river in New Castle.

However being so close add different pressures. “We live here, my family, my friends my neighbors are here, we’re going to bring it, there’s no doubt.”

(Photo courtesy Pyrotecnico)

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