CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Brad Chesshire held up a large aerial fireworks shell yesterday at Magic Island, one of many that will be used tonight in Ala Moana's Fourth of July display, which begins at 8:30 p.m.
Family-run fireworks
outfit set to thrill
audiences tonightTonight's Ala Moana show is one
of 500 for Pyro Spectacular
For the past five days, 12 workers and one "boss lady" have unrolled hundreds of yards of cable and stuffed thousands of fireworks into plastic pipes on a half-mile stretch of Magic Island -- all for an 18-minute show.
"It's so much work for those 18 minutes, but it is so worth it when you hear the crowds roar and ooh and aah," said Sherry Souza, part owner and show coordinator for the California company Pyro Spectacular. "Those minutes are so powerful, and when it's done you're on this incredible high."
Souza is in charge of tonight's Ala Moana show. She studies the master plan, keeps tabs on a Maui show by cell phone and watches her crew set up the fireworks.
Souza yells, "Eh, wire from the top so they go off right."
The crew chimes, "Yes, yes, boss lady."
Souza and her husband, Steven, have done giant fireworks shows for the Olympics, Hollywood, sporting events and royalty. Today alone, the family-run company will produce 500 Fourth of July fireworks shows across the nation, including the Ala Moana show.
"Basically, I'm an entertainer with the most dangerous props in the world," said Souza. "It's scary stuff, these shells."
The fireworks shells resemble coconuts wrapped in brown paper bags with a dangling wire tail. The explosives are spread across the beach, each labeled with a number.
With the help of her master book, Souza knows what gun the shell belongs in, at what angle it will be blasted into the air, how many seconds it needs to reach maximum height and how long the fireworks will last. Steven designs the show around the music and decides what the crowd will see explode and when.
"We set up a spider's web of cable all across the beach," said crewman Brad Chesshire. "The 1,350 feet of cable all lead up to the master computer."
After hundreds of hours of work, Souza and her crew can't wait for tonight.
"By late afternoon everything's been fine-tuned and checked," she said. "That's when we start to get anxious and jump around."
Chesshire added: "Even though I've seen 288 shows, it is still exciting to see the first firework explode in time with the music. It's also a big relief when the first shell lifts off."
Souza would not let out too many secrets about tonight's show, but she did hint at the finale, pointing at three fireworks the size of watermelons. "We'll blast these 1,200 feet in the air, and they will cover over 1,000 feet of Waikiki sky," she said.
Two of the 40-pound fireworks are named after Souza's son, Thaddeus, and Chesshire's daughter, Hannah, and promise to be nothing short of awesome, she said.
