Asheville, NC Downtown Fireworks 2010

I have to admit, I was excited to watch Asheville's Downtown fireworks display this year, especially because I had the fantastic vantage point of being on the roof of the Flat Iron building on Battery Park. As I made my way to the roof, I was imagining a beautiful display, colors filling the sky, streams of light cascading down over the city, the cheers, oohs and ahhs of the crowd down below, followed by a deafening roar of voices as the crescendo peaked during the finale.
I set up my tripod, put my Canon 24-105 f4 L lens on, set the camera to 400iso, f8 @ 3.2 seconds, cracked open the most patriotic of July 4th drinks, a Corona, and I was ready to rock. I watched as crowds of people pushed toward the launch site. In the distance behind me I could see the wondrous display of fireworks coming from Lake Julian and thought, our are going to be better than that! As the red glow of the Biltmore Fireworks began over the mountain my friends and I sat with bated breathe as we glued our eyes toward the center of town.
Having grown up in NY, I had the privilege of watching the Grucci Family light up the East River every 4th of July. Their fireworks are like a dream, the concussions from the dynamite hitting me in the chest, the throngs of people screaming to each new explosion in the sky, the Brooklyn Bridge glowing in the night air.  This was not, that. Not by a long shot.

The Asheville fireworks began slowly... one could say meagerly, frankly. But I maintained hope! I thought, surely Asheville will pick up the pace, our fair city will not be outdone by the coal burning folks at Progress Energy!

As the lights got brighter from the skyward explosions, I was feeling better, clicking open the shutter, I extended my exposure times to 4 seconds then to 5 seconds to let in more of the ambient light, to help give perspective to the size of the displays. Our fireworks show was off and running. I glanced over to my right to see how the Progress Energy show was going,  I could see lights blooming in all directions, circles in the sky within other spheres of alternating lights, bulbs of color cascading down in all directions and I thought : "Come on Asheville.. lets go already!"

And this is what I got. LAME. Oh well, maybe the next one will be better... the kids in my neighborhood did better when I was in grade school...

Ok, thats kind of cool.. I like the streams in random directions...

Eh. not bad.. but we can do better!

My expectations were lowering. I was enjoying the show but I really thought we were working to some great crescendo of light and sound.
And then....
It stopped.

A collective sigh was heard throughout the city. "What the hell just happened?!" was the thought running through my mind and the minds and mouths of all those around me. I heard people say: " Really?!" "Is it over?" "it cant be over.. that wasn't the finale.. no way!" I heard a little girl say : " Is that it Daddy?" I was sad.
My fellow viewers and I sat and thought, surely, there must be more to come, this is just a pregnant pause....
And we waited....
And waited....
Nothing.
People began packing up their chairs, gathering their little ones, cleaning up their empties and marching home.
And still I waited. Surely there must be more, Asheville didn't go out like that.
I looked around and I was the last one on the roof. It was over. 12 minutes had gone by. Below, I could see the sea of people making their way back to their vehicles, pushing sleeping babies in their strollers, Dads carrying blankets, chairs and diaper bags with sad looks on their faces. I decided to pack up my gear. I guess it was done. Oh well, so be it. July 4th has come to a close.

As I was walking away, tripod folded neatly under my arm, camera safely in its bag, empties in hand... a huge explosion went off behind me... figures! Asheville's 15 plus minute pregnant pause had come to an end. All at once, fireworks began exploding without rhyme or reason in the sky. It was as though someone had said.. "Screw it!, lets light all this stuff off at once!" I quickly grabbed my camera and hurriedly unfolded my tripod to grab a couple last effort shots...

I dont mean to complain... but I was not impressed. I have heard through the grapevine that there was a fire on the ground where they were lighting off the munitions and that most of them blew up on the ground. I hope everyone is ok and that Asheville receives some kind of refund. Maybe next year will be better. 
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