Dallas Booms! Fireworks Accident Creates Amazing Show

It was only the 1st of July but it was a Sunday and a good day for the celebration. Dallas Booms, held for a second year at Fair Park was not very well attended. No surprise since the weather had been threatening all day. The event presented by the city, Cadbury Schweppes and WRR FM features the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and, what else...FIREWORKS!

My friends and I packed up our lawn chairs and headed off to Fair Park in Patrick's Prius. We got a great parking spot only a few hundred yards from the gate and found a nice dry spot to set up our chairs.

The concert featured the usual patriotic songs and American composers. I have to admit I am a sucker for Arron Copeland, and the movement of "Appalachian Spring" based on the Shaker song "Tis a Joy to be Simple" always sends shivers up my spine. The only break in the all American program was the "1812 Overture". But hey, what better way to kick off the booms than the real cannon fire used in the piece and of course the start of the fireworks show.

Things were going great, the fireworks synchronized (sort of) to the concert until the end of the "Liberty Bell" march (Monty Python's theme song). At what seemed like an inopportune moment the sky erupted with a burst of fireworks that deafened the crowd. Hundreds of shells all shot upward simultaneously and the light was almost blinding.

I remarked to my friends, "that was not supposed to happen."

The remainder of the program proved me right. The finale was "Stars and Stripes Forever" and the sky remained dark throughout. Seems that all the rest of the fireworks show accidentally exploded at once. Hopefully no one was hurt. I suspect the firing mechanism shorted out and ignited all the remaining shells. It was the most spectacular display I had ever seen, just starting a few minutes too early to coincide with the musical crescendo. Oh well, it was still fun!

As the unexpected dense cloud of smoke descended on the crowd and the orchestra finished, we made our way back to the car. I love the smell of gunpowder!