2 Massive Fireworks Displays Launch New Year's Eve In Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Continuing a New Year's Eve tradition, it's so good, they do it twice.
Two big fireworks displays on the Philadelphia waterfront will light up the night sky this weekend.
Show executive producer Jodie Milkman of the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation says they now have just as many people on site for the 6 p.m. show as they do at the midnight display.
She says the earlier show, added several years ago, opens up more options:
"People who'd love to catch the fireworks at six o'clock, and then have a nice 7:30 dinner reservation."
Ken Furstoss of Pyrotecnico, the special effects and fireworks display company, says they'll be letting go about 4,000 pounds of explosives:
"We call them 'happy bombs' in our business."
Because they're launched from barges in the middle of the Delaware River, they use larger, ten-inch fireworks shells, which Furstoss says can't be used over land:
"Per safety codes at the Art Museum, they're about half the size of this show."
They travel about 1,000 feet in the air before they reach their apex, and then explode with about a 600-foot radius.
Two free and open to the public viewing experiences are The Great Plaza at Penn's Landing, and the trail behind Sugarhouse Casino (the sponsor of the events). Both are wired with speaker stacks, and each of the fireworks shows will be synchronized to a soundtrack heard live on KYW Newsradio.
You can bring your radio to other spots, like the Race Street Pier below the Ben Franklin Bridge. Penn Treaty Park, north of Sugarhouse, has plenty of open space. Also the South Street Pedestrian Bridge over 95, all of Front Street between South and Market Streets, Franklin Square, or further south at the new Washington Ave Pier. Many people just spill out of Old City nightspots, then return to those bars and restaurants.
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Blue Cross RiverRink tickets for on ice skaters are sold out for both shows, but there are some tickets available for spectators to hang in the lounge, or at outdoor seating.
There are ticketed options galore, ranging from Sugarhouse, to across town 57 stories in the air at One Liberty Observation Deck, on the water cruising on the Spirit of Philadelphia or the anchored tall ship Moshulu.
In Camden, there's Wiggins Park, but also events at the nearby Adventure Aquarium and aboard the Battleship New Jersey.
The midnight display will be streamed on screens all over town, including the Lit Brothers Building, Commerce Square, the Cira Center, the Piazza, the Peco tower, the Kimmel Center, and even on screens in taxis.
