A “real” fireworks display will light the skies above Nolan Field after the Ansonia-Derby football game Sept. 19 to make up for a “flare show” after last month’s “Summerfest” that city officials said wasn’t what they ordered.
The city hired New Hampshire-based company, Atlas Pyrovision, for the pyrotechnic display at Summerfest.
But officials said that unbeknownst to the city, the company decided to put on a “flare show” with no real fireworks, just silent flares that shot about 150 feet into the sky.
Those in attendance were miffed.
Some yelled angrily even as the fireworks was going on.
Many others detailed their disappointment with the fireworks on the Valley Indy’s Facebook page.
The city had agreed to pay $5,500 for the Summerfest display, and had put down a $2,500 for the show.
But Ansonia stopped payment on a $3,000 check to pay for the balance.
Since then, city officials have been in talks with Atlas regarding a settlement.
Click here for more background from a previous story.
New Show
During a Board of Aldermen’s meeting Monday (Aug. 11), Mayor David Cassetti told Aldermen during that Ansonia residents “deserve better.”
While Summerfest drew a total paid attendance of 1,700 people to Nolan Field, he said, “not every event can go off without a hitch.”
“Who here saw the fireworks?” Cassetti went on. “That’s a trick question. There were no fireworks.”
But he said that officials had worked out a “satisfactory resolution.”
The city will kick in another $2,500 toward a new display to after the Derby-Ansonia high school football game at Nolan Field. Officials said the display has a $10,000 value.
“I am pleased to announce that real fireworks will return to Nolan Field on the evening of Friday Sept. 19 to cap off the Ansonia-Derby football game,” Cassetti said. “The residents of Ansonia deserve a good show — and they’ll get one.”
The city will release a video of what residents can expect at the Sept. 19 show after the company finishes a survey of the site, he said.
If a quality fireworks show cost $10,000 — didn’t Ansonia get what it paid for with Summerfest, since the city was being charged only $5,500?
John Marini, the city’s corporation counsel, said organizers knew that the Summerfest show “would have limitations, but we fully expected real, exploding fireworks.”
“If we were told it was a flare show, we would have found another location (for exploding fireworks),” Marini said.
For example, organizers considered Fountain Lake as a launch site, he said. “We decided against it only after we were assured (Nolan) Field would work. We were led to believe the $5,500 show was sufficient.”
