DAN'S PAPERS, July 10, 2009 Page 15 www.danshamptons.com
Let ‘er Rip On the Front Lines Risking their Lives with Firemen in Sag Harbor By Dan Rattiner At 9:30 on Saturday night, practically every community on the East End set off fireworks to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Because of the crowds on that weekend, it is usually the case that residents in each of the villages go to their own displays. The roads are clogged. The time for the fireworks, at 9:30 p.m., allows for Fourth of July dinners and parties and then, off to the fireworks themselves, which are usually set off from a beach. I love watching the fireworks. I love getting as close to where they are being set off as the police allow. And until this year, when I went to a show at a village other than my own, I did not realize how spoiled I had become. During the last 20 years, my hometown of East Hampton has become the most posh, chic, upscale and snooty community imaginable. And so have our fireworks. All our fireworks now are award-winning affairs, carefully planned out by experts ahead of time and suitable for the competition in Cannes, where the most artful and imaginative fireworks
in the world are judged annually. East Hampton usually hires Grucci, the outfit that has won the gold at Cannes. They do not come cheap. But here’s what you get, as an example. The show, always held on Main Beach, starts with a carefully selected piece of music blasted out gently over loudspeakers. It might be
The men remove their hats. Then there is a rendition of “Y. M. C. A.” with the fireworks in the sky making a Y, an M, a C and an A, then a gentle andante piece, “Swan Lake,” perhaps, with slow flower shaped pastel fireworks. The show might end with the cannon fire of the finale of the “1812 Overture,” the great cannon explosions accompanied by the massive groupings of identical rockets fired across the sky in great silvery rows. At the end, there is a polite, sophisticated cheer and applause from the crowd. Then everybody gets in the Jags, BMWs, Audis and SUVs and goes home. This year, because once again, the fireworks at Main Beach were cancelled because of the existence of the nest of an endangered family of birds, we opted not to go to the similar displays held up at Devon on the bay in Amagansett because of what we felt would be double crowds, and instead went to the fireworks at Sag Harbor on the vast lawns of Havens Beach seven miles away. We had no idea what to expect since we had
”Ouch,” somebody said. The firemen could be seen running around in the smoke.
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Handel’s “Water Music” at the start, with slow, graceful gold and silver fireworks arching overhead in a sort of cascading waterfall ballet to get you in the mood. That ends, and then Ethel Merman belts out “God Bless America” to huge blasts of alternating red, white and blue rockets. Everybody stands up from their beach blankets.
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