Lakewood Fireworks Show Will Not be Rescheduled for Thursday

The that ended in disappointment at won’t be rescheduled for Thursday.

And the show may not be rescheduled at all.

Although a rain date had been set for the following day, technical difficulties — stemming from a malfunctioned computer board — will prevent the fireworks show from moving forward Thursday.

“We’re definitely not having fireworks tonight,” said Mayor Michael Summers, who met with the city’s department heads Thursday morning to determine whether it could work.

While the city “hasn’t ruled out” a make-up date, he said that high costs of overtime and finding a date that works has been difficult to sort through.

“Right now, there are no fireworks this year,” Summers said. 

The fireworks show —  put on by Pyrotecnico, the city’s fireworks vendor based in New Castle, Pa. — cost the city about $46,000.

The company charged $33,000 and the city paid another $13,000 in overtime and other costs associated with the show.

Summers said, per the contract with the company, the city will seek a “full refund."

That includes the city’s overtime costs.

“We don’t have that kind of money laying around,” he said, adding that he spoke with the president of the company Thursday morning. “They’re a good company … They’ve never had this sort of catastrophic failure before. To have these sort of catastrophic circumstances is very unusual.”

Officials are still sorting through the chain of events, but the actual reason for the computer failure has not yet been identified.

There were two set of back-up computer boards; multiple sets of cables; and several fire control systems. 

They all failed. 

Thousands of people  — many of them camped out at the park for hours — began a slow retreat to their homes when the lights came back on at around 10:30 p.m.

A few rounds went off at around 9:30 p.m., but that was it.

The only public announcement system at the park is located in the pool area, and Summers made in announcement at around 10 p.m. but he conceded that few people heard him. 

“There are things with our decision-making and communication that we could improve on,” he said. “We were buying time hoping things would be fixed. Then 10 minutes went by, and then another 10 minutes. And then we learned at around 10:30 that it wouldn’t be fixed.”

Summers said that the city will look to improve its social media strategy — but noted that with nearly 30,000 people in the park the lone cell phone tower in the area was tied up.

“There’s a lot to think about and learn,” Summers added, noting that fireworks are still planned for next year.

“Emergencies we’re better prepared for — for disappointments, we’re got to take our game up.”

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