Lead pyrotechnician discusses work that goes into creating the Lowcountry’s largest firework display

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — The United States of America will mark 248 years since it declared independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776.

Over time, fireworks have become a staple of celebrating that day. North Charleston will hold its annual Independence Day event to mark the occasion on Thursday, featuring the largest Fourth of July fireworks show in the Lowcountry.

But to have one of the largest shows, someone works behind the scenes to ensure the red, white, and boom goes off without a hitch.

“I grew up on fireworks and playing with them- and of course, this is on a much grander scale,” explained David Geddings who is getting paid to do what he loves, but said he’s not in it for the money.

“If you’re in it for the money, you’re in for the wrong thing. It’s totally for the power of putting on a show like this. Just seeing the power of each shell as it takes off,” said Geddings.

Geddings is the lead pyrotechnician and facility manager for Zambelli Fireworks. He has been what is called a ‘shooter’ for more than a decade.

“We’re trained professional pyrotechnicians. Firework guys This isn’t like your normal backyard fireworks. You can’t get this anywhere else,” he said.

For a dazzling display that lasts roughly 20 minutes, Geddings said this particular show takes about four to five days to build.

“We’ll start going out and being on the barge every day, putting racks together, cleaning out racks, and making sure they’re all safe and secure,” said Geddings. And on the day of, “We’ll come back and that’s when we start dropping all our shells and wiring them into the electronic firing system, and once that’s ready the tugboat captain shows up about eight o’clock and takes us out to the middle of the Cooper River and we get the signal from the City of North Charleston that they’re ready to fire and we put on the show.”

The fireworks are scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. at the Riverfront Park in North Charleston.

“We range in size from three-inch shells to six-inch shells and each shell, just for purposes, a shell, one-inch shell, will go 100 feet in the air, so for like six-inch shells, you’re getting shells 600 feet in the air down to a three-inch shell which is 300 feet in the sky, so we fill the sky pretty well. Then we add in some cake, multi-shot cakes as well just to give a little break in between, a little difference and then some comets and some mines throughout the show, just to add a little pizzazz to it,” he explained.

The free event hopes to light up more than just fireworks but also smiles across spectators’ faces.

“When the show’s over and you hear nothing but applause from the shoreline — it just makes you feel like you did a great job and we keep coming back and keep getting bigger and bigger, so we always look forward to it,” said Geddings.

As for the crew who helps put on the show when the fireworks are finally over, “We all take vacations and go have a steak somewhere,” shared Geddings.