Local

Fireworks give Tri-state a star-spangled Fourth

By NEIL YOUNG/The Daily News

Sunday, July 6, 2008 12:53 AM CDT

ROCKETS OVER THE RIVER: Fireworks launched from the Arizona side of the Colorado River explode into a display of multi-colored light Friday over the river. Thousands turned out for the annual Laughlin Independence Day weekend event. JEFF MANGUM/The Daily News

LAUGHLIN - This year's Rockets Over the River was billed as the largest fireworks display ever presented in Laughlin and the thousands of spectators who watched Friday's show from both sides of the Colorado River were not disappointed.

It began at 9 p.m. and lasted approximately 30 minutes.

The show was put on by Ryan Foster and his team of pyrotechnicians from High Desert Pyrotechnics of Boulder City, Nev. He brought “the biggest shells in the biggest quantities that have ever been shot for the Laughlin display,” said Jena Morga, Laughlin Tourism Committee executive director.

The shells were fired from state land on the Arizona side of the river and at one point caused a small grassfire that was quickly extinguished.

LTC sponsored the show in partnership with the Bullhead City Fire Department and Bullhead City Police Department.

It was “a true community effort with both sides of the river working together to present a truly patriotic community event,” Morga said.

The fireworks were choreographed to patriotic music broadcast on several radio stations owned by Cameron Broadcasting and Murphy Broadcasting.

A second show of fireworks were launched Saturday further down the river, sponsored by the Avi Resort & Casino.