When many people make the trip to their favorite location to watch the 4th of July fireworks, they may have images of someone sitting behind a launcher, lighting fuse after fuse. The reality, however, is much more complicated and more specialized than that. One of those responsible for the amazing displays in Breda, Denison and Sac City, Bob Anderson, says they work through an electrical board that controls each firework.
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Anderson says there are many man hours that go into the set up.
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Anderson says they operate that board on cords running 100 feet away from the shells; 200 feet away if they are using bigger ones.
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He works with a group of others to put on these annual events.
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Anderson says he has been doing this for 20 years, but Chris Young and Arnold Tiefenthaler have been doing it even longer. However, it is difficult to get new people to do the job, not only because of the amount of time it takes to put together the show, but because they are working while everyone else is sitting back and enjoying the fireworks. Anderson says he has no doubt he and his team will be putting on an impressive display in Breda on Saturday night as the community hosts on one of the best celebrations around.
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The Breda display will start at 10 p.m. and the team will be in charge of the Denison display that night as well. Prior to the fireworks, there will be a beer garden, inflatables, food, bingo and games as well as the 2022 gun raffle in Breda. Proceeds from the gun raffle and from the Legion food stand support the Breda American Legion Post #607.
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