Labor Day fireworks display continues to grow

Display location: Henley Street Bridge
City:Knoxville
State:Tennessee
Date:Sept. 6.

Details: In any other situation, five tons of explosives on a downtown bridge and several thousand pedestrians milling about below might seem like a scene lifted from a blockbuster action movie.

It's a scenario that plays out every Labor Day weekend in downtown Knoxville, however, and this year will be no different. It's the annual Boomsday fireworks spectacular, and this year it's set for Sunday, Sept. 6. Of course, the "explosives" are the fireworks, and they'll go off as they do every year from the Henley Street Bridge in downtown Knoxville.

"The volume of fireworks hasn't changed that much over the years -- sometimes it's a little more, sometimes it's a little less," said operations manager Mike Walden of Pyro Shows Inc., the LaFollette-based company responsible for setting up and setting off the Boomsday pyrotechnics. "The amazing thing is that over the years -- other than the staples of the show, like the waterfall off the bridge -- the product is totally different every year."

That variety is part of what's made Boomsday into the biggest Labor Day fireworks show in the nation, attracting visitors from as far away as Europe. The number of spectators on-site usually numbers between 300,000 and 350,000 people, and the event is simulcast on WWST-FM Star 102.1, and WBIR-TV. The display lasts for almost 30 minutes and caps a full day of entertainment that kicks off at 1 p.m.

Children's activities, games, rides, crafts, live entertainment and food and drinks will be available for participants to enjoy. When night falls, the fireworks light up the sky at 9:30 p.m. And as the festival has grown, so have the logistics of setting them all off.

"We're actually setting them off from the City/County Building now, and we're shooting off much more from Baptist Hospital now that it's closed," Walden said. "Even the product that's shot on the bridge throughout the show has grown (more diverse). I would say, several years ago, we were using four manufacturers, based mostly in China and Australia. Now, we use about eight from China, Australia and Spain."

One of the owners of the Australian fireworks company, he added, came last year to witness Boomsday for himself; his company's product, Walden said, has made a noticeable difference in the pyrotechnics themselves.

"It does neat stuff, but to me, the colors are what are so vivid," he said. "I've had a lot of people who have been around a long time who notice a difference in the show. When we saw his stuff in China -- that's where his company makes it -- the colors are so much better than some of the other formulas. Being a chemistry guy myself, I'd say that's because the chemicals he uses in them are cleaner."