July 4th Fireworks Snafu at Rye Playland

Rye Playland usually gives the biggest bang for its buck on local fireworks, but its recent July 4th fireworks show turned out to be something of a dud.

The fiery goings on, or disjointed lack thereof, disappointed thousands of onlookers from near, far and wide– including some who came from as far away as Athens, Greece– drawn by the popularity of one of Westchester's longest-running July 4th holiday shows.

In brief, the anticipated aerial fireworks show barely got off the ground. When it finally did, it sputtered and stuttered at $7,000 a show. A lot of money to go up in smoke, although just a fraction of the $30,000 nearby Port Chester reportedly spent on its holiday fireworks extravaganza.

Midway through the week, Westchester County Parks Department officials were still trying to figure out what happened in the wake of the Playland debacle.

The July 4th fireworks started on time at 9:30 p.m. The pyrotechnic aerial starbursts provoking ooohs and ahhs from thousands of spectators up and down Playland, Oakland Beach, Rye Town Park and all along the Sound Shore. And then suddenly, there was nothing. Like a planetarium gone dark because somebody had suddenly switched off the lights.

“The show ran into technical difficulties involving a series of electronic short circuits around five minutes into the program,” said Peter Tartaglia, Deputy Commissioner of Westchester County Parks.

“The show is elaborately choreographed and has to be intricately synchronized between the music and the blast-off firing capabilities,” he told Patch. “The show started right on time and ran smoothly for around the first five minutes. Then there was a short circuit, something went wrong with the electrical flow and the show was shut down.

Finding out where the short circuit was took a frantic 20 minutes. Then the show re-started and ran for approximately five minutes before there were more problems.

"The end result was that the show re-started again around 10:30 p.m. and ran for the rest of the allotted time,” according to Tartaglia.

But by that time, most of the crowd who had come for the fireworks had dispersed.

Those living nearby and/or remaining at Playland were surprised by the late and unexpected resumption of the fireworks show around 10:30 p.m.

“What can I say?” mused Tartaglia. “At least 99.9 percent of the time the fireworks show goes off perfectly and has been going off without a hitch for almost as long as there has been a Playland (more than 80 years and counting since Playland opened in 1928). We’re embarrassed. And apologize. Anyone who has a paid parking receipt for July 4th should contact Playland (www RyePlayland.org) and we will make sure they get another parking ticket good for use at any time.”

The Sunday 9:30 p.m. show went off without a hitch, the night sky filled with starbursts of color that were beautiful to behold.

The July 4th  Playland show started off with a bang, the waters around the Playland Pier filled with a flotilla of boats stretching as far as one could see across the Sound, their lights blinking like fireflies in the darkness. Then the fireworks just stopped, not with a bang or even a whimper. The sky just went dark.

The fireworks specialists who staged the show, Bay Fireworks of Farmingdale, Long Island, are still trying to figure out exactly what went amiss at Playland. They have staged hundreds of similar shows nationwide, from the Playland to weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs. 

“They have an excellent reputation, and were by far the lowest competitive bidder on the Playland firework summer seasonal show contract,” said Tartaglia. “Playland by far gets the biggest bang for its fireworks buck locally, if you will excuse the play on words, because of the volume and quantity as well as quality of shows every Wednesday and Friday night throughout the summer.”

The average show costs $5,000– slightly more on the July 4th weekend which was around $7,000.

“We usually get the best bang for our fireworks buck by far, but it just didn’t happen that way on July 4,” said Tartaglia. “We’re sorry. And Westchester and Playland apologizes.”