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Jul 4, 2008 8:23 pm US/Central
Preparer Shares Secrets Of The Fireworks Show
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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No problems so far, just striking shows for Minnesotans. (File)
CBS
The people who watched the Minneapolis Red, White and Boom show on the 4th of July, probably think they have the best seat in the house. Keith Kutzke insists he does.
He's been setting up fireworks displays for 38 years.
"This is my enjoyment! This is my hobby," he remarked.
He and his team of fireworks fanatics know a lot about safety and spectacular shows, the ones thousands come to watch on the banks of the Mississippi in Minneapolis.
Getting the 20-minute display to come together takes Kutzke and friends 10 hours.
They started setting up for Friday night at 8:30 a.m. They had to put 2,000 bulbs in specific order.
"Each one's labeled so we know what order it goes off in," said one worker.
A firework is inside each one.
"There's a match, like a farmer's match head in here, and when I give this current, this will spark, sending the -- lighting this fuse, which ignites the powder on the bottom and sends the shell up," Kutzke explained.
It sounds complicated, but he makes it look easy and gets it all to come together from his control panel. It's far back from the set-up area.
"Yeah, it'll go right down. It'll down the line, see it'll say cue one, cue two, cue three," as he showed WCCO how he will hit the hundreds of switches to light the creative, color scene of fireworks in order.
"You always get nervous before a show," Keith remarked. "It's just part of the business, I guess. I guess if you got too confident, you probably have a problem somewhere."
No problems so far, just striking shows for Minnesotans.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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