Off to a booming start

Chrysanthemums, peonies and coconut palms bloomed in clear Sonoma County skies Thursday night as the first fireworks displays of the Fourth of July holiday ushered in the long weekend.

Crowds gathered in Santa Rosa, Sebastopol and Windsor to enjoy family picnics, model-airplane shows, bounce houses, music, and the oohs and ahs of the holiday.

The largest show at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds drew 7,000 people, including three German exchange students celebrating Independence Day for the first time.

"It's an interesting, funny, cold event," said Christophe Markus, 13, as the first golden explosion colored the sky.

Although the crowd admired the booming display that followed, some were unimpressed with what they saw as a scaled-back affair.

"No music, no dancing, no fun. We won't come back," said Mark Ohlinger of Santa Rosa, who was taking in the fireworks with his extended family.

This year's display was moved up a day to save money on overtime that fairgrounds employees would have been paid for working the actual holiday. Music and other extras that traditionally have accompanied the show were also scrapped.

At Windsor's Keiser Park, where Nancy Ferris gathered with her family for a festive picnic, crowds spread blankets across the lawn like a quilt, bumping into friends and strangers and sharing fried chicken.

"This is our home for the Fourth of July," Ferris said. "We wouldn't go anywhere else."

As big purple peony fireworks exploded in the air, thousands of spectators marveled at the show.

"The last ones are big and really overwhelming," said Joop Klaassen, celebrating his eighth American Independence Day since moving to California from the Netherlands in 2000.

Also celebrating his daughter's 10th birthday, Klaassen made the show extra special, spreading out an air mattress, sleeping bags and pillows for Evie Klaassen, who was thrilled to celebrate her birthday with a special show.

"It's just like everyone is celebrating for me," she said, noting her extra fondness for fireworks that light up the sky in the shapes of hearts or flags.

"It's really cool," she said.

But the biggest shows were backstage, where crews of men dressed in fire gear moved delicately between explosives, lighting fuses with precise coordination.

Pyrotechnic operator George Erdman, coordinating golden chrysanthemum blasts with strobes and giant cakes, said nothing beats the view of a firework from directly below.

"When you get a chance to watch, it's the most beautiful thing to see it," he said. "To see the natural beauty of the color and size fully develop."

You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220

or laura.norton@pressdemocrat.com.