At 9 p.m. Wednesday, four private fireworks shows are scheduled to illuminate the coastline from barges this year in Malibu. But at a cost of about $60,000 the shows do not come cheap.
By Melissa Caskey / Special to The Malibu Times
The Malibu Colony Association fireworks show, a longstanding tradition for Malibu Colony residents, will once again light the sky over Malibu for the Fourth of July holiday. The show is one of four private Malibu fireworks shows being held Wednesday for the holiday, and the shows are quite an undertaking.
The Malibu Colony Association privately funds the annual show with voluntary donations from residents such as Elizabeth Luster, who lived in the Colony from 1973 until 1980 and again from 1996 until today. She writes a check for the fund every year.
“We’re always looking forward to it,” Luster said. “It’d be nice if it were a little bit longer though.”
Carol Moss has owned a home in the colony since 1964 and has lived there since the mid-1990s. She does not donate to the fireworks show fund.
“We get a number of notices each year and we’re asked to donate to it,” Moss said. “But I don’t look forward to it. The colony dramatically changes that day and there are many parties.”
This year the Colony Association contracted display fireworks company Pyro Spectaculars to produce the fireworks show, budgeted at $60,000. Pyro Spectaculars has produced shows for Disneyland, Olympic events and Ronald Reagan’s presidential inauguration.
Mike Crow, a pyrotechnic operator for Pyro Spectaculars, said the Malibu Colony’s show is one of the most expensive the company offers. This is Crow’s third consecutive year as the operator for the Colony’s show.
Crow said the amount of work that goes into the fireworks show—from planning to permits to showtime on Independence Day—involves year-round involvement from all parties. Planning for the following year’s show begins every August.
Fireworks shows along the coast typically launch from rented barges. On July Fourth, Crow and about 12 crew members will board a massive flat-bottomed vessel named the Malibu Barge, which is typically used to transport freight to and from Catalina Island. The barge is pulled by a large tug boat and parked 1,100 feet offshore.
Two barges are used in Malibu to launch four nighttime shows. The Malibu Barge will play home to a show sponsored by retail development company Caruso Affiliated Holdings at 9 p.m. along with the Colony show, which is also scheduled to launch at 9 p.m. The second barge, called “The Barge off Malibu” is set to house a show sponsored by Malibu resident Donahue Wildman at 9 p.m. and a second show at 9:30 p.m. sponsored by information technology company Execpro Services, Inc.
Authorities from the Los Angeles County Fire Department perform a mandatory safety inspection of the barges the day of the show before giving pyrotechnic operators the go-ahead. Crow said he treats the barge as a construction workplace: employees must wear boots, hard hats, safety glasses, gloves, long sleeve cotton shirts and denim pants.
Workers are protected by a glass shield and an overhead screen in case a firework misfires or turns out to be a “dud.”
“As each of the cues are coming up, I’m shooting them accordingly to the music,” Crow said. “And if there’s a dud, I’m making sure that there’s no dead sky.”
Organizers from the Colony Association declined to comment on this story.
The use of “safe and sane” fireworks is illegal in Malibu and the city reminded visitors and residents that the four shows on display Wednesday are private affairs.
“The fireworks displays that people see are not sponsored by the city,” City of Malibu media information officer Olivia Damavandi said.
Hundreds of thousands of spectators are expected to spend America’s 276th birthday on the beaches of Malibu and take in the nighttime fireworks.