After Bust, Big Bay Boom May Not Return to Imperial Beach

The company behind the now-infamous says it will pay for another sky show, but Imperial Beach might not be part of it.

Fireworks make up only part of the event cost, said Imperial Beach City Manager Gary Brown. 

Half of the $60,000 it costs to host the Big Bay Boom in Imperial Beach comes from the city to pay for public safety and emergency services. The Port of San Diego and sponsors covered other costs.

“I guess the timing is an issue,” Brown said Thursday. “We will be working with the Big Bay Boom people and I guess we’d have to see what the details are.

 “If we took it to council and they wanted to spend it, we’d do it.”

August Santore, co-owner of Garden State Fireworks, said the company would be willing to donate the $8,000 worth of fireworks necessary for IB’s show, but may not be willing to cover costs beyond pyrotechnics.

“If I could, I’d love to just write everybody a check for everything that’s went wrong in my life, but I can’t,” he said via phone Friday. “I wouldn’t be in business very long.”

Last month, the city revised its 2012-13 budget. No money was set aside for 2013 fireworks out of the city's . Instead, the city may seek sponsors or reconsider funding the event next year.

Logistical issues like environmental permits may prevent a show from happening before next July, said Sandy Purdon, whose firm H.P. Purdon & Co. organized the event.

“It just might be too complicated, but we’re going to talk about it with the port,” Purdon said. “The city of Imperial beach will be involved in discussions.”

Fireworks make up about one-third of more than $300,000 necessary to fund the Big Bay Boom, he said.

It’s still too soon to tell whether port funding could assist in reducing Imperial Beach costs next year, said Marguerite Elicone with the Port of San Diego.

“We’re still in discussions until we find a resolution,” she said.

In what quickly became international news, fireworks on the pier in Imperial Beach and on barges in San Diego Bay launched prematurely for a short but spectacular Fourth of July show.

Hundreds of thousands of people packed the bayfront, and hundreds of thousands of dollars invested by cities, the Port of San Diego and sponsors went up in smoke in less than 30 seconds.

A day after the bust heard round the world, Garden State Fireworks, the company in charge of the show’s pyrotechnics, said they would be willing to provide a complimentary show before next year.

No date has been set, and event sponsors and organizers said it’s still too soon to say what will happen.

The Big Bay Bust was caused when primary and secondary computer files crossed, Santore said.

 “There are things in life we don’t like, and that was one of them,” he said Friday to IB Patch. “If something was wrong Monday or Tuesday, we could have flown in equipment from all over the world, but there was no indication anything was wrong.”

Technology will come back and bite people in any industry, but it doesn’t keep people from using a service, he said.

“Airplanes crash sometimes, and people still get on planes,” he said. “Toyota killed hundreds of people this year and everybody’s buying Toyotas.”

The Santore family business has carried out firework shows for Olympic ceremonies, at the Statue of Liberty, on The Mall in Washington, D.C. and other locations for more than 100 years.

Garden State Fireworks has lost thousands of dollars at the Big Bay Boom in the past three years, he said, but high-profile shows are the cost the company pays “to stay in the limelight.”

The Big Bay Boom certainly placed Garden State Fireworks in the limelight. The mishap has led to more media attention than plenty of fireworks shows that had malfunctions, he said.

“We’ve got more attention than when bin Laden died, and all I really did was a show that went up and didn’t last long enough.”

“It’s a heartbreaker for us and all the people who came out to attend on the Fourth of July,” he said. “But I’m sure people will continue to watch our fireworks.”