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Hagley’s
Fireworks:
Exploding with History
June 15 &
22, 2007
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WILMINGTON,
DELAWARE - Each year for the past twenty-five years, Hagley
Museum and Library has presented a pyrotechnic masterpiece
that weaves together a story illustrated through music, narration,
aerial shells and intricate set pieces. This year on June 15
and 22, in honor of the museum’s 50th anniversary, the
Hagley fireworks pay special tribute to the 1950s.
One of the main ingredients in fireworks is black powder, which
was produced for more than 100 years along the banks of the
Brandywine at the DuPont Company’s mills at Hagley. While
advances in chemistry transformed DuPont into a modern corporation,
advances in the chemistry of pyrotechnics have transformed modern
fireworks into a highly-specialized art form.
One frequently asked question is “What makes the colors?”
According to Felix “Phil” Grucci, of Fireworks by
Grucci, who are producing Hagley’s 2007 show, this is
where the importance of chemistry comes in. Pyrotechnic formulas
use a fuel, an oxidizer, and in many cases, a color producing
agent with a binder or glue.
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rainbow of comets illustrating the advancements in fireworks chemistry. |
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Specific
chemical elements are used to produce the various colors. Strontium
is used to produce red, calcium is used for orange, sodium
is used for yellow, barium compounds are used for green, and
copper is used for blue. Other effects such as glitters, twitters,
strobes, and twinkles are created with the use of fine metals,
such
as aluminum and titanium flake for silver, iron for gold, and
magnesium for bright white. |
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Very
few venues, other than Hagley, combine the dynamics of
aerial displays with set pieces and ground effects.
Set pieces are also referred
to as fire paintings. Each set piece has an image on it
that when ignited outlines
a portrait or picture.
To create the set pieces, bamboo is bent into the desired
shape and attached to a lattice frame. The bamboo is secured
with small cigarette-sized colored flares called lances.
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A map of the United States,
with
Wilmington's location pinpointed
with a star, all done in lancework.
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Each lance is connected together with
a black powder fuse that burns 100 feet per second. When the
fuse is ignited, all the colored lances burn simultaneously,
creating the elaborate images seen at Hagley. Soaring thirty
feet high and forty feet wide, Hagley’s set pieces depict
scenes that have ranged from a map of the United States, a rocket
ship, and Niagara Falls to the Lincoln Memorial and Fred Flintstone.
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According
to Phil Grucci, “Fireworks at Hagley requires thousands
of hours each year developing, test firing, and evaluating
the shells and special effects that are manufactured exclusively
for this program.
It is very important to us to
have what we consider the
most exciting, dynamic shells
and special effects to ‘wow’
the Hagley audience.” |
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to “Fireworks at Hagley” are $30 each and may be
purchased
along with a Hagley Museum membership ($50) through the museum’s
membership office, 302-658-2400, ext. 235.
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For more information contact: Fireworks by
Grucci at 631-286-0088
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