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Getting ready for the fireworks show. From left, Matt, Noah, Bruce, Scott.
LUDINGTON – Thousands of people are expected to be in downtown Ludington Monday night to ring in the new year. A lot of volunteer time goes into Ludington’s Light up the Lake New Year’s Eve Ball Drop celebration. Among those volunteers is a group that is responsible for the climax of the evening, the fireworks display.
Bruce Pelletier, Matt Bryant, Noah Laird and Scott Bearup not only volunteer their time, but they also purchase many of the fireworks with their own money. On Thursday they gathered to plan out Monday’s display. The City of Ludington’s Downtown Ludington organization pays for $2,000 of the fireworks. The foursome chipped in an additional $400 and also received donations from fireworks suppliers to help beef up the show.
This is the third year they have volunteered their time to shoot off fireworks. The show isn’t as grandiose as the area’s Fourth of July displays but it is still impressive.
Matt said the show will be just over 5 minutes long with a 45 second finale.
“The big shows like Fourth of July use class B fireworks,” Matt Bryant said. “This show uses class C, which are legal for anyone to use in Michigan.” Legal, yes. But, still safer for a trained professional to launch.
“We use the smaller shells because we are launching the show from the rooftop of Sportsman’s Bar, plus we are downtown, which is a more confined space than downtown.”
The four are professional pyrotechnicians and set off many of the area’s fireworks displays.
The fireworks for this year’s show were purchased from Boomtown Fireworks of Indiana and the Fireworks Depot of Amber Township. Fireworks Depot also donated many of the fireworks. The boards used to hold the fireworks were donated by Lowe’s.
“I just think it’s really neat for the community to get together like this and celebrate New Year’s Eve,” Bruce said. “We are really thankful to Mike and Julie Payment, owners of Sportsmans, for the use of their building. They treat us really well by bringing us food. We also get help from Tye’s Signs, they use their crane to load the fireworks on the roof.”
Story and photo by Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
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