It all began when Gov. Kristi Gnome (R-SD) posted a pouting 4th of July Tweet whining that “Sparklers Suck” because fireworks were not allowed at Mount Rushmore this year because of the high risk of wildfires from the drought
(OK – I’ll note that she seems to prefer spelling her surname N-o-e-m.)
If you scroll through the wonderful Comments responding to her whiny Tweet, she was deservedly and repeatedly torn a new one! In fact, on Daily Kos where I learned about her bitchy Tweet, I, too, responded:
Hey, Kristi —
You know what really sucks? Forest fires really suck!
These are all photos from fires — Black Hills, Custer, Hill City, Mount Rushmore, Schroeder, Storm Hill, Vineyard, Wanblee and White Draw — in YOUR state!
Then I got to thinking, I bet there are some pretty cool alternatives to fireworks. So I started looking, and found a few examples of drones being used for light shows.
I’ll start with the best one I found from the USA: It was created by Intel, so it has a little commercial flavor to it.
(If you want to decrease the viewing time and really not lose much effect, on YouTube, click the cogwheel down at the lower right – and then select “Playback Speed” to select different options if you want it faster or slower. I tried all the videos at double speed, and I don’t think it lost a thing.)
Greenpeace created a well-done display with a message for world leaders when they arrived in Cornwall, UK on June 11, 2021:
The world’s record for the longest drone light show tells the story of Vincent Van Gogh’s life, and lasted for 26 minutes. (And yes, they included a little bit about cutting his ear off.)
BUT the YouTube presentation was sped up to almost 4 times normal speed – and I increased the playback speed on YouTube to twice that. And it did not suffer one bit.
There was a clever drone light show introduction of an online game that ended with the drones forming a scannable QR code enabling folks to download the game.
But for a true “WOW!” factor, it seems China is the hands-down winner:
This year there were a number of cities that opted for a drone light show instead of fireworks – including Cincinnati, Rochester NY, Richland Hills area in Texas, Tusayan AZ, Texas A&M University, and even Macy’s included a drone light show as part of its NYC spectacular display. (St. Petersburg FL was going to, but hurricane Elsa forced a cancellation.)
But unfortunately, drone light shows are NOT cheap. And it requires 2-3 months lead time to create and will last about 5 to 10 minutes. Here’s the pricing guidelines for an Intel produced show:
For reference, a small-town 4th of July fireworks display will run $2k to $7k just for the fireworks (not counting setup, fencing, insurance, etc.). Disneyworld’s nightly firework display runs $33k.
Still, they offer a safe program with lots more options than a fireworks display.
