PEORIA, Ill. – There was a lot new or happening for the first time at this year’s Carle Health Red White and Boom, Brought Home by Adam Merrick Real Estate.
The fireworks show itself had 33 percent new fireworks. There was a first-time country music concert at Dozer Park. There was a second-time flyover thanks to the 182nd Airlift Wing.
And, there were people going to the show for the first time – like Eric Hipple.
“One of our (three families Hipple was with) has been coming for several years,” said Hipple. “They invited the other two, so we were able to come down tonight.”
As for the first time country music show, Charles Greece is one of the owners of Three Gun Productions, which produced the performance of country star Chris Janson at Dozer Park.
(Mike Sabol/1470 & 100.3 WMBD)
It was their first time in such an environment.
“The idea of (having a concert) on the fourth came up. “(The Peoria Chiefs) had the day off, and we figured what better venue than right next to the riverfront here in Peoria to get a big, good country concert going. Chris Janson, Eddie Montgomery, and Drew Baldridge. It happened.”
Three Gun Productions partnered with the Peoria Chiefs for the show – scheduled while the Chiefs were playing Tuesday in South Bend. Midwest Communications, which puts on Red White and Boom, also was a part of the show.
And what about putting on a fireworks show? You might not think it’s a big undertaking to put on Carle Health Red, White, and Boom Brought Home By Adam Merrick Real Estate.
But, it really is.
“It’s a crazy series of events,” said Shawn Sollberger, Peoria Fire Chief. “It starts in February. We meet monthly. When we get into the month of June, we meet weekly in preparation for this. There’s a ton of coordination, a lot of things that go on behind the scenes. We feel pretty good about it. The Fire Department leads this charge.”
Sollberger says a number of Peoria and East Peoria city departments and WMBD-parent company Midwest Communications start meeting about the show in February monthly, with meetings ramping up to weekly in June, to make sure the show goes off without a hitch.
And it seems like this year’s show certainly did.
(TJ Carson/1470 & 100.3 WMBD)
A new exhibit debuted at the Peoria Riverfront Museum Tuesday night, in coordination for a special ticketed viewing area that was a fundraiser for the museum: three handcrafted and designed, but patriotic, geese.
“It’s an Italian company called ‘Cracking Art.’ They’re made out of recycled plastic,” said Anne Marie Miller, vice president of development, Peoria Riverfront Museum. “They’re here permanently now on display. People can come, enjoy the geese. Kids can move them around. They can ride them, and have fun with them. It’s interactive art.”
The museum was also showing off everything they have to offer – including the world-famous “Body Worlds RX” exhibit.
As for visitors like Hipple, he says he’s seen the Red, White, and Boom fireworks extravaganza from afar before, but never as close up as he was last Tuesday night – which was in a parking lot, calling it, in his words, “a little less buggy.”
200,000 people were estimated to attend Red, White, and Boom on both the Peoria and East Peoria riverfronts, and it was said to be the largest fireworks show in Illinois.
(Reporting by Will Stevenson and TJ Carson, WMBD Radio News)
