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Edwardsville’s Bill Bojarzin and his group with Central States Fireworks lit up the Alton riverfront sky on Friday night with what many described as “awesome” fireworks once again.
For Bojarzin and his team, the fireworks displays are “a labor of love” setting up and firing off. Bojarzin said the one in Alton is definitely his “favorite” display.
CLICK BELOW TO SEE VIDEO OF THE CENTRAL STATES FIREWORKS GROUP AT WORK BEFORE THE ALTON SHOW:
“I do the Alton show with a crew that includes my brother, Rob,” he said. “The two others on the crew are long-time friends. I am the lead contact operator. There is quite a bit we have to do with Alton. There are a lot of meetings and we meet with the fire department and others to make sure everything is set just right. This takes months of advance planning.”
This year, the fireworks team had to shoot behind a bunker near the old Great Central Lumber area and the Liberty Bank Amphitheater in Alton because of high Mississippi levels. Last year and normally, they fired from across the river in West Alton, Mo.
Central States has done the fireworks in Alton since 1998. In 1997, there was a terrible tragedy with the fireworks company that did the display with five losing their lives, firing from a barge. Nationwide, several safety changes for companies were enacted after that tragic night that attracted national attention.
“We do things a lot safer today,” Bojarzin said. “We fire everything electronically and we are 100 feet away and we shoot behind a bunker. We are also in full fire gear with helmets and coats and make sure the crowd is a safe distance away. This year they were 450 feet away. When the accident occurred, they were doing hand firing.”
The Edwardsville man said he is proud of the safety precautions Larry Lefferts and the rest of the Central States Fireworks team take prior to conducting their fireworks celebrations.
Bojarzin’s family and friends are all invited for the show and they always support him and his brother with a solid turnout. When Bill and his brother and the others look out from their bunker, they see thousands of people witnessing the fireworks celebration, which he says is motivation to want to succeed and perform properly.
“I live in Edwardsville, and I have a massive amount of family come out and some come down from Springfield,” he said. “It is a real thrill, especially after the show when you hear the roar of the crowd it just gives you goose bumps. Both my brother and I just love fireworks on the Fourth of July. The Fourth of July and Christmas are our favorite holidays. We can’t wait each year for the Fourth of July to come.”
The fireworks setup in Alton is a two-day process. Boxes of mortars and tubes have to be put together and wires have to be attached and run for the high-tech show.
Most summers it is “hot, but enjoyable work,” Bill Bojarzin says. Safety is the thing stressed over and over when the display is put together the day before the day of the celebration. By trade, Bill is a software developer, so this ties in nicely to his other work.
“It is great spending time with my brother and these are my friends,” Bill said.
Ginger Taylor of Glen Carbon has been part of the Alton fireworks set up and celebration for eight years. She said she loves the show and being able to participate with her good friend, Bill.
“I love fireworks,” Taylor said. “We are in such close proximity which is always good.”
Chuck Spohr, is another tech who has worked with Bill for 10 years.
“We work together in an I.T. department in St. Louis,” he said. “I love to do this show and the others I do with Bill.”
Rob Bojarzin said it is a lot different watching a fireworks display from just a few feet away and he said the impact is so much more close. He said he also enjoys the time with his brother and “the cheers from the crowd” after a good show.
The Bojarzin brothers didn’t know how many pounds of fireworks they bring for the Alton celebration but several thousand dollars worth, they said. This year because they weren’t across the river, they didn’t use the 8-inch mortars, going only to the 6-inch as the highest.
Throughout much of the year the Bojarzin brothers can be found coordinating fireworks displays all the way through New Year’s Eve. The two and Central States Fireworks company even does the University of Illinois football games displays.
“This is something both of us love to do,” Bill said. “We hope to be doing this for a lot more years to come.”
