Let the Fireworks Begin : Organizers Promise Big Bangs Slated for County Will Light Up Sky to Celebrate Independence Day

From Thousand Oaks to the Ojai Valley, fireworks show organizers are gearing up for what will likely be the brightest Fourth of July to light up Ventura County skies in years.

No fewer than eight fireworks shows are scheduled throughout the county Monday night, with officials from each venue promising evening programs that will entice, amaze and thrill thousands of people.

After a two-year hiatus, Ventura will again host a fireworks show. But instead of at Ventura Pier, it will be staged at Ventura College, where music, dancing and other activities will liven up the audience.

One San Bernardino County company--Pyro Spectacular of Rialto--will produce seven of the eight shows, but that does not mean they will all be the same.

The differing characteristics of each venue and the money each sponsoring group is able to spend dictate what will fly come dusk on Monday.

“The sky’s the limit,” said Jean Starr of Pyro Spectacular. “You spend more money, you get more fireworks.”

More fireworks is what Ventura County residents will have to choose from.

Shows are planned for Fillmore, Santa Paula, Ojai, Oxnard, Ventura, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley. Zambelli Fireworks of New Castle, Pa., will produce the Ojai show, with the others conducted by Starr’s firm.

“I’d highly recommend one of the venue shows where you need to go inside (an arena) to see,” Starr said. “Those are your high-level fireworks, with American flags, a statue of Lincoln, the Liberty Bell and other patriotic images.”

Though there is no intense competition, organizers of each show clearly think theirs will be the most fun.

“We have the best show,” said Kathy Matejka, who is overseeing the Pleasant Valley Recreation & Park District display that begins at 9:10 p.m. at the Camarillo Airport.

“Because we have a large fall-out area, we’re able to have bigger shows,” Matejka said. “We have more bang for our buck.”

The Camarillo show will be free except for a $10 parking charge, which Matejka said will encourage car-pooling and generate money for next year’s show.

“It’s obviously very subjective, but we take a great deal of pride in laying the groundwork ahead of time,” Matejka said of the $10,000 extravaganza. “It’s a wonderful location that’s visible from all angles and perspectives.”

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The Ojai Independence Day Committee is spending just $5,300 on its display. But organizers in the Ojai Valley say theirs is the oldest and most traditional.

“We’ve done it and done it, so we know what works and what doesn’t,” said Walt Reimer, who is coordinating the 31st annual fireworks show at the Nordhoff High School football field.

“Usually we have a nice warm evening and that’s important,” he said. “In a way, it’s a little hokey because it’s old-time and small-town stuff, but that’s part of the attraction.”

Dennis Gass of the Conejo Recreation & Park District expects as many as 20,000 people will gather in The Oaks mall parking lot to watch the hilltop fireworks show.

“We’ve been at that location for 15 years and it provides a very good viewing radius for most of the community,” Gass said of the Thousand Oaks show, which also is free. “You can park miles away and still see.”

The Conejo show will be set to music and broadcast live over KNJO-FM. Organizers said they spent $15,000 on the fireworks show alone.

“Ours is completely aerial because of the location,” Gass said. “The largest shells go up quite a ways. You can see them all the way from Newbury Park.”

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Fourth of July celebrants in Simi Valley hope to break a world record while observing the holiday.

Each of the 5,000 or more people expected at the Simi Valley High School football field will be asked to perform what sponsors hope will be the largest country line dance ever.

“We’re going to have as many people as are interested come out of the stands and the endzones,” said Rick Johnson, a park district official. “I think the (existing) world record is about 2,400 people. But we usually get about 5,000 people at the show.”

Jim Tovias declined to say how much the Santa Paula Mexican-American Chamber of Commerce is spending on its show. But he said the program at George Harding Park has gotten more and more popular since he started it seven years ago.

“We’ve pulled a lot of people from Camarillo and Ventura the last couple of years,” he said. “You can see it from all over town, so it’s probably viewed by 20,000 or 30,000 people.”

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The Ventura production marks the first time the Downtown Rotary Club and the college have sponsored a fireworks show.

“Not having a show at night for several years is a big plus,” said organizer Nancy Cloutier, who expects as many as 10,000 people at the show.

“Ventura Rotary wanted to fill the void of no fireworks in the city and we thought this would be a safe venue at the college,” she said. “It should be pretty spectacular for $10,000.”

The city of Ventura abandoned its fireworks-at-daybreak experiment several years ago after canceling the twilight beach show.

Oxnard fireworks show organizers said it does not matter which of the events people go to--so long as they attend one of them.

“I’m sure they will all be good shows,” said Bill Garlock, the special events coordinator for the city of Oxnard.

“The important thing is they go to any one of them, simply to recognize the independence and freedom they’ve got,” Garlock said. “It’s the one time of year we have to stop and pause and think about how lucky we are.”