Futuristic “Fireworks” for Old School Fourth

Local musician’s soundtrack featured

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This year’s Old School Fourth of July won’t culminate with the booms of fireworks, but the zips of bright lasers — and Thunderbull Productions’ promoter Danny Milholland and Slick Rick’s laser event producer Rick Hale couldn’t be more excited for the showcase.

“I’m excited,” Milholland said. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Think ‘epic. Different and new. High-powered; high-energy.’ I’m excited to see how the community responds.”

The light show extravaganza begins at dusk on the parade grounds in Fort Worden.

Milholland decided to switch from fireworks to lasers for the big day after he learned the city didn’t have it in its budget to pay for the popular explosives — a 10-to-15-minute show runs about $15,000 — and the cost of fireworks this year jumped about 15 percent. Most fireworks, too, come from China, and the laser company is based in Seattle, keeping the money local, he said.

Bring on the zaps, the bursts, the sheets and the colors — all choreographed to music by Port Townsend’s Jeremiah Green, indie-rock drummer with Modest Mouse.

The Independence Day finale is moving along with the times.

The lure of laser

The mastermind behind the console, Hale became entranced with lasers during a rave — he thought he was going to a concert and saw the technology for the first time.

He was hooked.

“My first thought was, ‘Whoa, what is that?!’” Hale said. “It was the coolest thing ever. How is it traveling, going so straight, changing colors? I’d never seen light do that. And light doesn’t do that. Lasers do that.”

LASER, the acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, isn’t truly light at all, Hale said.

Regular light is “incoherent,” meaning its beams travel in all directions: hence the light of a flashlight fades as its cone reaches into the dark.

“Light loses distance a lot faster because it goes in all directions; the power is not focused in a certain area — even if you use mirrors,” Hale said.

Laser is coherent; its beams travel all in one direction to maintain a precise stream, making them much brighter, Hale said. Unlike regular light, laser beams are of one wavelength, increasing their intensity.

Smaller, more common uses include pointers used in lectures — or as toys for cats, which are intrigued by the small, darting red dot.

When Hale got started in the industry 20 years ago, he would have pulled up to the event site with large trucks with heavy-duty lift ramps that held four 8-foot long pieces of equipment requiring three-phase power, argon and krypton gases, and enough water to keep the lasers cool at a rate of 10 gallons a minute.

The gases were combined, and to change colors, another piece of equipment was added — but that lowered the beam’s efficiency to about 30 percent.

Technology’s come a long way.

Today, he’ll pull into Fort Worden with his GMC Yukon and set a console and a few boxes up on stage. Fog machines, needed to capture the beams so people can see them better, will be erected.

The equipment includes motors, diodes instead of gases, mirrors to focus the beam, scanners to change its colors and motors to alter their directions, all synchronized by computer.

“It’s faster; you can do more points per second,” Hale said of the technology. “You can make complex images; it looks smoother. In the past, there were 10 beams, and you could see them going one to the next, giving it a strobing effect. Now, there’s one solid beam — but the pulsing will be used, because pulsing looks really cool.”

The beams will shoot, dart, blaze and sheet across the sky, with images and graphics over the crowds toward trees 900 to 1,000 meters away.

Hale plans to put on a patriotic show, with a lot of red, white and blue, but the program has been tailored for Port Townsend.

Both Milholland and Hale are interested to hear what the crowd thinks about the diversion from fireworks, as many in the community have expressed concern about the noise disturbing pets, wild animals and people with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Fireworks make a mess, as well.

“It’s not the driving factor,” Milholland said. “But we have gotten encouragement from the community to consider an alternative to fireworks. This is a community-owned event; we want the community to have their input.”

They both acknowledge that the big explosions are half the thrill of a Fourth of July presentation.

“Lasers don’t have the big boom,” Hale admitted. “That’s the one thing lasers don’t do. But especially in Port Townsend ... there are so many deer. It’s not a natural thing for them. They hear that? Normally, they’d think something’s trying to kill them.”

The throngs below the lights will be safe, as well.

“We are very, very, very responsible with the lasers,” Hale said. “They’ll be 10 feet or higher above everyone’s heads, and we have people looking at the crowd for potential hazards, like stilt walkers or people climbing on top of trailers or in trees.”

Birds will be fine, as well, as most of them will be nested down for the night. In any case, birds’ eyes can scan the entire horizon in one blink; it would take a human several minutes to take in all that a bird can in a brief glimpse. Nocturnal birds avoid the lights, as well. And airline pilots in the heavily trafficked area won’t be affected, either, as the beams will end where they strike the treetops, like any other light.

“It’s a big shift, this move away from fireworks,” Milholland said. “But it’s going to be bad-ass. I’m super pumped.”