How much does a professional fireworks show (20-30 minutes) with about 100 assorted shells cost?

Question

My town used to have a great one. I started counting in 2002 after 9-11 when everyone felt so "patriotic" and there was 100. A great community event, bands, food and fireworks. By 2005 it started declining. One brief concert and a 50 shell display. Last year, no band and and a 40 shell display. This year it is canceled due to lack of funds. Back in 2002 vendors paid enough in rent to pay for everything. I hope we can still do something, or at least bring it back next year.

Answer 1

Wow! What a great question! I gave you a star!

I believe that the best fireworks in America is in the small village of Spring Creek, Nevada.

They have a little park called the Marina. It has a lake and they set off the fireworks there. It is so cool to see the reflection in the water!

All day long there are festivities surrounding the event. The Mormon Church Boy Scouts have an early morning flag ceremony, then a big Cowboy Breakfast with pancakes, ham and eggs and juice! There is a big bbq at the Marina with music, games, prizes, races, swimming, fishing, more fun than you can shake a stick at!

The fireworks are always awesome!

Spring Creek is in the heart of Gold Country. The largest Gold Mines in the world are nearby. The mines have money to burn and they donate tens of thousands of dollars each for the fireworks every year! It is the most awesome display anywhere, rivaling the big cities. They just have so much money to spend!

This 45 minute show runs about $50, 000.00 and the cost keeps going up every year.

It pays to live in a community where the corporate big shots live who work for mining companies who just go out every day and scoop money out of the ground!!!

In nearby Elko, Nevada, which is double the size of Spring Creek, the show is smaller because the people all pay for it. Not so much money from the mines.

In Elko, City Councilman John Ellison was the big mover and shaker in getting the donations for a big show every year. It takes a lot of work and a lot of time and salesmanship to get people to fork over that kind of money for a short show like that!

John had big help from the radio station, newspaper and tv station. He beat the streets all year long getting the job done.

I hope you can glean some ideas from this to get your town's fireworks back on track!

Call John. He will tell you what he went through to get the job done! [phone]. This is his business phone, Ellison Electric.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How much does a professional fireworks show (20-30 minutes) with about 100 assorted shells cost?
My town used to have a great one. I started counting in 2002 after 9-11 when everyone felt so "patriotic" and there was 100. A great community event, bands, food and fireworks. By 2005 it started declining. One brief concert and a 50 shell display. Last year, no band and and a 40 shell...

Answer 3

How Much Do Fireworks Cost

Answer 4

Well there are a lot of factors that decide the costs. Like shell size, shell type, type of detonation (how it's set off [computers, hand lit, etc] and location.

Usually 6 inch shells are common. My friend recently had a wedding and had a 5 minute show with only 3 inch shells and it cost 4,000. My city is very wealthy with it's money and has three huge shows throughout the city on the 4th of July. The biggest one is in a huge park we have and at the end it launches a 16 inch shell. The rest of the shells are 10 or 12 inches and are still massive. The 16 inch is the size of an exercise ball just to give you an idea. Anyway, that show costs easily >100,000 and the other two shows range in 60000 to 80000. I only know this because my dad is a Fire Battalion Chief in town. So yeah, it's not surprising a small town cannot afford a show. They're not cheap.

ADDED: BTW the shows in my town are computer launched and timed to music. Which hugely boosts the cost. Also, it's run and setup by over 20 trained pyrotechnics.

Answer 5

a 30 min. show could cost $30,000 or more. then you have to have trained people to do it -- that may be in the cost.

i would estimate at least $15,000 for a 20-30 min show minimum.

i'm not talking about something in a backyard. i'm talking about the type that small towns do in their city park on the 4th. talk to the chamber of commerce to get one going.

Answer 6

look online for the type of fireworks you want, they are out there...but you must live in certain areas to get them...

wild guess: nice 30 mins w/ finale- $6000 or less

Answer 7

I would guess about $3000
Just a wild guess

Answer 8

fountain

Answer 9

Well, it's going to depend on a number of things. First, the shells themselves. Here were talking type and possibly color. Different types do different things. The peony is the most common shell type and breaks up into a spherical shaped explosion of stars. The chrysanthemum is like the peony, but it's stars leave trails behind. A spider kinda looks like spider legs. A palm has a "tail" as it rises up, which ends up looking kinda like a tree trunk when the shell bursts into the "leaves."

Then there's the color or colors of the shell. It could well be that certain chemicals used for coloring the shells when the burst cost more than others due.

After the cost of the shells, you've got the cost of the folks putting on the display. Their going to require people who have been properly trained. And probably the cost of the operator's fee, which in the US will be different from state to state. They'll also be charging for the time it takes them to set up the display. And for their time during the "show" (used for a lack of a better term in order to seperate the actual display from lawn party/festival events held in conjunction with the display which may also be refered to as a fireworks display). This would include final preperations for the display and setting off the display.

Then you've got to factor in insurance costs. Again, in the US each state is going to be different. New Jersey requires a minimum of $2500. Mass requires insurance, but has no specific amount. New Hampshire has a $100,000 liability requirment. In D.C. insurance runs from a minimum of $1 million to a max of $3 million. North Carolina doesn't have a specific state insurance requirment. Any display will have to take into consideration what it's state's insurance requirements are.

Then you've got the case of the police, security personnel (in case the event is using renta cops in addition to, or in place of, regular police), and firefighters to consider. Police and/or Security personnel are going to be needed to maintain crowd control and direct traffic. And firefighters need to be on hand to deal with possible fires or to douse any shells that fail to launch properly.

In the end, you could be talking tens of thousands of dollars, minimum, to put on a thirty minute show featuring a hundred shells.