Strobes, salutes and weeping willows burst into the night sky as people along the waterfront in downtown Louisville enjoyed the 11th annual Thunder Over Louisville. The show kicked off two weeks of celebration, which culminated with the Kentucky Derby’s Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs.
The extravaganza attracted more than 800,000 people who watched from televisions and hotel terraces, and many arrived early in the day or the previous night to choose a prime spot along the waterfront of the Ohio River. Putting on a show of that magnitude takes a lot of hard work, and no one knows that better than the pyrotechnicians who work for Zambelli Fireworks Internationale of New Castle, Pa.
The pyrotechnicians worked for 10 days setting up the show. The explosives are trucked in on five Freightliners and six straight trucks from Zambelli’s plant, and many of the truckers work as pyrotechnicians, also known as shooters.
“We rely on the drivers quite a bit,” says Michael Richards, vice president of operations at Zambelli. “Some drivers deliver only, but others work the show as pyrotechnicians. It’s a great help to us.”
George Zambelli Sr., the president of Zambelli, appreciates that the drivers are trained to be pyrotechnicians and says their work is essential to his company.
“They’re the best,” he says. “They’re very valuable. It’s an advantage that they can drive and do the pyrotechnic work. We’d have to hire more employees if they didn’t.”
All fireworks shows are important to the Zambellis whether it’s a big draw like Thunder or smaller Fourth of July shows. The company produces 1,800 fireworks displays each Fourth of July and uses more than 1 million shells. Zambelli’s goal is to please their customers and feel good about the results.
