Pyromania, an event in the St Louis area annually in the fall of the year is one of the largest gathering of 
pyrotechnicians in the United States. The event is a 3-4 day long festival, with the public being invited on Saturday nights to witness magical fireworks displays from some of the very best choreographer’s and technicians in the world. Pyromania was founded by Ed Vasel with help from Brian Thiemann, Kevin Kemper and Scott Fleer. 2018 was Pyromania’s 13th consecutive year and part of the event is a Pro-Am competition, although fair goers would say it certainly is more pro than am!
Dominator Fireworks has been a major sponsor of the event since it’s inception, and competitors routinely use the high end product for their technical displays. This year was no different, enter Josh Wetmore from Putsburgh PA. Josh competed for his first time this year at Pyromania and walked away with the first place trophy. Josh has been a key crew member for both IPC (Innovative Pyrotechnic Displays) and Team Dominator, working with them on their large 2017 display at the FPAG 25th Anniversary display.
Josh’s 10 minute competition display used 1,231 cues and utilized much of Dominator product line including cakes and single shot comets mines, and slices. We asked JOsh his overall take away from the event and here is what he had to say:
“It took me a month of scripting whenever I could find free time… me and my buddy mike prepped all the 
product in 2 days at the barn… a 5 man crew set up most of it in the field on Wednesday…. the same crew was also setting up Michael Richards & Tim Jameson’s big 1.3 show…. lil Josh, Steve from Florida and myself buttoned things up and set the towers up on the day of the show… lots of people lent a hand on both shows during the week, Big shout out to the members of NEOPG for their efforts….
Overall opinion on Pyromania… The event was great… Very nice shoot site and a fantastic sound system… It was awsome getting to shoot in front of a huge crowed 
that payed to be the event exclusively to watch fireworks… the crowed was hyped up and very responsive”
Winning this years competition puts Josh in the pool for the “Champion of Champions” competition where every 4 year, the 3 prior years winners compete against each other for the regarded title. You can se video of Josh’s award winning display here.