Author Topic: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks  (Read 15380 times)

Offline BLeafe

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Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« on: July 02, 2011, 01:20:08 AM »
Tuning up for the big Hackensack fireworks Monday night, I practiced from my roof on some towns' earlier displays Thursday and Friday night.

Thursday was Englewood and Hasbrouck Heights. In the first picture, it looks like Englewood is celebrating Sears' new look. The second image is just zooming in on the first.

Same deal with 3 and 4 from Hasbrouck Heights.

Friday, I got out too late for a couple of towns' shows, but got the fifth shot of Edgewater's, which just barely cleared the trees of the Palisades ridge. The smoke from the Edgewater fireworks finale had no problem getting up higher and you can see it drifting by midtown Manhattan in the sixth photo.

The seventh shot is just the railroad gates going up at the Passaic St crossing. I forgot I had a 2-second timer on to prevent blur when hitting the shutter on a long exposure, but this is unusual-looking enough to be interesting.

Not much happening on Saturday night, but Sunday night will be Maywood-Saddle Brook-Paramus, which are all nearby and close together and could possibly be in the same shot.



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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2011, 10:47:07 PM »
Unexpected bonus: The Record's fireworks listing is, apparently, far from complete. Tonight's photos are from some unknown town not too far west of here.

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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2011, 11:42:26 PM »
What a crappy night for shooting distant fireworks. Low visibility and low cloud cover meant that some fireworks that shot real high weren't visible when they exploded. Take a look at the first picture (Maywood) whose top is chopped off by clouds (the building on the left is 5 Linden St at Passaic St).

The second shot - also from Maywood - backlit the triple-cross on the steeple of the church at Passaic and Summit.

Paramus' fireworks were dim and low except at the finale (third picture). Saddle Brook was a no-show. I think they were the unidentified town I shot last night.

All in all, a waste of time, but tomorrow's Hackensack show should more than make up for it.

« Last Edit: July 03, 2018, 05:43:08 PM by BLeafe »
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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« Reply #3 on: July 04, 2011, 11:21:06 AM »
According to today's Record, Maywood didn't have fireworks last night and rescheduled them for this Friday. Then whose did I see last night, Saddle Brook's?

I'll try real hard not to mess up the town ID of the ones outside my window tonight. ;D

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Offline Skipx219

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Re: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« Reply #4 on: July 04, 2011, 11:47:29 AM »
A friend & I watched from one of the High Rise Condos on Prospect. They must have been Paramus in the Park next to the Parkway just the other side of the Plaza.. That's our best guess.

Offline BLeafe

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Re: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2011, 11:20:52 PM »
Locally, the 4th of July officially ended last night with Maywood's twice-postponed show...........or maybe they were the preliminary ones for next year.

They were pretty good, from the opening barrage at dusk to the explosive and smoky finale.

I don't know why, but I think I got better shots from a mile or two away than I did from Hackensack's.


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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2012, 01:00:38 PM »
According to Thursday's Record, fireworks in nearby towns start tomorrow and run through Wednesday, the 4th. Last night, however, I heard some going off not far away.

I went out onto the roof with my camera and there they were, WNW of Hackensack. If I had to guess, I'd say they were Paramus', but The Record says that theirs are scheduled for tomorrow.

Oh well...........who cares? Here they are:

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Offline irons35

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Re: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2012, 06:32:38 PM »
Maywood was last night.  Paramus is tomorrow night

Offline BLeafe

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Re: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2012, 02:25:59 PM »
Maywood was last night.

It figures. The Record didn't mention any fireworks for Maywood in their "comprehensive" town-by-town listing of 7/4 activities last Thursday, but today, they published a photo taken at Maywood's Friday fireworks.

They also didn't mention any town having fireworks last night, but I saw 3 or 4 of them, including one that looked like it was in the same vicinity as Maywood's (first picture). Any idea where that might have been?

Another puzzlement last night was a fireworks display that I see every year between and behind the high-rises on Prospect Ave (second pic), but still have no idea what town they come from.

The third pic shows a display last night that was north of here and beyond the horizon.

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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2012, 03:57:16 PM »
Paramus' show was pretty good last night . It started right at 9:15pm when the western sky wasn't dark yet. These were taken between 10-20 minutes after the start.

When it was over, it looked a bit like the Northern Lights provided an encore (last picture).

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Offline irons35

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Re: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« Reply #10 on: July 02, 2012, 05:17:43 PM »
did you shoot the intense in cloud lightning to the southeast last night?  it lasted over an hour in the supercloud that was just sitting there.

Offline BLeafe

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Re: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2012, 07:11:10 PM »
Boy, I sure was trying both before and after Paramus' show, but nothing came out well.

This is the best I could get - you can see a small bolt:

« Last Edit: July 02, 2012, 07:16:08 PM by BLeafe »
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Offline Editor

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Re: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« Reply #12 on: July 03, 2012, 09:50:11 AM »
To keep July 4th fireworks alive, North Jersey towns turn to donors
Last updated: Tuesday July 3, 2012, 7:33 AM
BY KATHERIN DRIESSEN AND JAKE HYMAN
STAFF WRITERS
The Record

Fourth of July fireworks and events across North Jersey

North Jersey towns that struggle to pay for costly but cherished Fourth of July fireworks displays are increasingly relying on hefty and sometimes unpredictable commercial donations to help light up the skies.

Using everything from red-white-and-blue-themed donation websites to direct mailings sent out as early as September, towns are desperately appealing to businesses' sense of patriotism in the hopes they will open up their pocketbooks.

The approach is different in each municipality — some, like Paramus, now rely solely on commercial and resident donors while others, like Ridgewood and Clifton, offset costs by also charging admission to the show. But across the board, more towns are offering less financial support for the festivities.

"The well is dried up," said Bergen County Freeholder David L. Ganz, who is also the former head of the county's Budget and Finance Committee. "Even with something like the Fourth of July fireworks, a real national tradition, taxpayers don't want to fund it. Municipalities are going to have to get creative."

Commercially funded fireworks shows play just a small role in a larger and increasingly familiar narrative unfolding in North Jersey as municipalities confront bleak budgets and consider contracting out services previously provided in-house. It's a story playing out at the county level, too, where debate about privatization has centered on issues of quality and liability for services such as garbage collection and tree trimming.

While the towns that have contracted out for fireworks displays have had no complaints about the quality, some have struggled to raise the necessary donations. Some, like Hawthorne and Haledon, gave up their fireworks shows altogether because of flagging interest among would-be corporate donors.

"Originally, we were getting some interest from local businesses, but that dwindled at the same time of the budget cuts," said Haledon Mayor Domenick Stampone.

Other Passaic County towns — including Wayne and West Milford — have turned their shows over to local Police Athletic Leagues, non-profit organizations that attempt to use the fireworks display as a fundraising tool.

Show canceled

In Paramus, where the Fourth of July committee has been asking residents and businesses to help foot the cost of its annual celebration for nearly 10 years, the committee was forced to cancel its fireworks display and block party in 2010.

Until that summer, the borough routinely had picked up the tab for costs that donations didn't cover, said committee Chairman Ace Antonio. That usually meant paying overtime for police and fire officers.

But with the town working to close a $3.7 million deficit in 2010, the borough cut all funding for the Fourth of July events and began relying more heavily on business donations. Those proved to be in short supply, even in a town that boasts at least six prominent shopping malls.

"When people's jobs are on the line and the cuts are being made everywhere, you couldn't justify something like fireworks," Antonio said. "So we had to ask [businesses] for more."

The town relied on donations from the "big three" — Paramus Park, IKEA and the Westfield Garden State Plaza — to cover the costs of the fireworks display, Antonio said. But about five years ago, IKEA stopped giving as much and in 2010 the store dropped off the donor list altogether. Paramus Park also gave less that year than ever before.

Even though the town had raised roughly $80,000 in donations, the extra $50,000 estimated for overtime and sanitation costs was too much for the borough to pay or for the committee to raise in donations, then-committee Chairman Rich Siniscalchi said. The committee made a last-ditch effort to reach out to other area towns that were also struggling to pay for fireworks shows that year, but there was no interest.

"It wasn't easy to call it off because of course it's an important tradition," Siniscalchi said. "We just didn't see we had any other option."

The borough revived the display in 2011 when Westfield Garden State Plaza pitched in $35,000, its largest-ever donation to the fireworks fund. The Plaza offered roughly the same amount this year to make sure the fireworks' cancellation in 2010 was not repeated, according to a spokeswoman for the mall.

Event as fundraiser

In some Passaic County towns, local Police Athletic Leagues have taken over running the events. Wayne Mayor Christopher Vergano said the township's fireworks display — which went on last night at Wayne Hills High School — is a huge summer event attended by thousands of people and the Wayne PAL's biggest annual fundraiser. The organization charges $10 a head, proceeds of which pay for the event itself and help fund PAL programs throughout the year, Vergano said.

Steve Schiffman, director of operations for the Wayne PAL, said the fireworks show wouldn't happen if not for corporate sponsors and donations. "We survive on corporate and individual donations," he said.

About 5,000 people on Friday night attended West Milford's festival, called the Thunder in the Highlands, said Bill Hemstead, president of the West Milford PAL. The PAL seeks corporate donors but also charges $15 per car for admission to the event. The organization took over in 2010 after the township cut budget funding for fireworks. The show costs between $15,000 and $18,000 to put on.

One of its major sponsors is Lakeland Bank, which in return gets its name emblazoned on advertising banners. Hemstead said the corporate donation helps keep the fireworks afloat and that he expects the event to break even this year.

In Hackensack, where the fireworks display is funded in large part by four businesses — Sanzari Enterprises, Hackensack University Medical Center, ShopRite and Mariners Bank — the town still picks up extra costs.

City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono declined to say exactly how much money the four main sponsors contributed, but he said donations total about $40,000. Lo Iacono expects overtime pay for police and fire officers will exceed that amount this year.

Finding sponsors

Hackensack, like Paramus, has had more difficulty soliciting donations from businesses over the past couple of years. Lo Iacono said he sent out letters early and played up the roughly 14,000-person crowd when marketing the celebration.

"We offer exposure," Lo Iacono said. "I can go to [businesses] and tell them roughly how many people are going to attend. It's certainly an advantage we have here."

Clifton charges $3 a head to watch the fireworks display and taps donations from a variety of local businesses as well as fees from vendors, said Mayor James Anzaldi.

"People just love it," Anzaldi said.

Sponsors give $100 or more and banks and restaurants are typically the big donors, he said.

Covering the costs of fireworks is easier in towns like Ridgewood and Clifton, where the slight decline in business donations is offset by charging for admission to Fourth of July events. Ridgewood's 112-year-old celebration is covered almost equally by ticket sales and private donations, former committee Chairwoman Margie Downs said.

But not every town that relies on donations has found a model that works. In Ridgefield Park, home to New Jersey's oldest Independence Day celebration, the skies will remain dark for the fourth consecutive year, though the daytime festivities will continue as planned.

"It's not cheap to do some of these things and the cuts are hard to make," said Ganz, the Bergen County freeholder. "But it would be a shame to lose fireworks permanently."

Email: hymanj@northjersey.com

Offline BLeafe

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Re: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« Reply #13 on: July 03, 2012, 07:30:31 PM »
Last night: Englewood and Hasbrouck Heights (and local landmarks):

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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Photos: The Preliminary Fireworks
« Reply #14 on: July 04, 2012, 03:38:25 PM »
I expected to shoot only one fireworks display last night, but got 3. I have 16 pictures to show, so I'll have to make 2 posts.

The first picture was the most distant display. I wasn't sure where it was, but The Record had a front-page picture of fireworks from Ridgefield, so Ridgefield it is.

The best fireworks last night (and the closest) were from Saddle Brook. Something I didn't notice until I edited the pix was that the cross on top of the church on the corner of Passaic St and Summit Ave was lit and near the bottom of the scene and the fireworks seemed to emanate from the cross' location.

If you look at the fifth picture, the cross is clearly visible. The colorless explosions and smoke trails make the scene look like The Second Coming or something.

The last two images show some pyrotechnic innovations that I don't recall seeing before. The circular bloom with the missing horizontal middle area immediately reminded me of the head of Ike - Kyle's little brother on South Park.

In the other one, color blobs that don't burst outward seemed to hang in the air. Because the shutter was open for 4 seconds, they kind of just drooped down in a smearing fashion. The length of exposure washed out most of the green and yellow blobs.

Let's see if Hackensack features Ike and the Blobs tonight (and let's see if anyone after this names their band "Ike and the Blobs").

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