Big Bay Boom on July 4th at risk of eventually losing its fireworks

Fireworks explode over San Diego Bay during the Big Bay Boom on July 4, 2022. The Port of San Diego is scrambling to organize this year’s bayfront show. Hayne Palmour IV / U-T file

By Lori Weisberg
Union-Tribune

Faced with new state-imposed conditions for staging this year’s Big Bay Boom, the Port of San Diego is scrambling to put on the show itself after its nonprofit partner was forced to pull out as event organizer at the last minute.

While the San Diego Unified Port District is the title sponsor of the show each year, it has relied on the Armed Services YMCA the past several years to oversee the logistics of organizing the show. That changed, however, after the YMCA informed the port late last month it was unable to secure the insurance it needed to cover liability in connection with tough new requirements imposed by the California Coastal Commission.

“This team has been working around the clock to find a way forward for our region to once again enjoy the Big Bay Boom fireworks show this coming Fourth of July despite some minor setbacks along the way,” Lesley Nishihira, the port’s assistant vice president, said during a hearing this week updating port commissioners on changes to the annual show. “To avoid canceling this year’s event, the district now plans to serve as the event organizer.”

The now mad dash to the Fourth of July was precipitated by the California Coastal Commission’s first-ever requirement for a coastal development permit. It was issued by the commission in February amid the agency’s growing concerns about the impact of fireworks on birds and water quality.

While the commission is pushing the port to consider transitioning to a drone-only show, the San Diego Unified Port District was able to persuade the commission to issue it a two-year permit for now that would allow it to continue launching fireworks from barges.

The permit, however, came with some very specific requirements. First, it must undertake a study exploring the possibility of replacing fireworks with an aerial light show or using drones to complement a scaled-down fireworks event, beginning with the Fourth of July in 2027.

And it will also be required to submit monitoring reports conducted by a biologist and resource specialists documenting impacts on marine wildlife, birds and water quality from this year’s show and the following year.

While the upcoming shows will be unaffected by the commission mandate, Port Commissioner Frank Urtasun said the outlook for the future troubles him.

“I’m really concerned about this,” he said. “The regulatory restrictions we’re up against here are serious, and they could very well take fireworks out of play. People love this. It’s Americana, and this may all go away folks … Drones are not the answer.”

Nishihira noted that the commission’s concerns about the environmental impacts of fireworks are not limited to San Diego. She said that in some parts of the state, shows have had to be postponed.

“The Coastal Commission seems to think drones might be the answer,” she said. “There are environmental impacts associated with drones. They aren’t the perfect solution, so we want to make sure we thoroughly analyze what the trade-offs are, and if it also achieves the same impact and meaning to the region.”

More immediately, the port staff is busily hiring vendors, from pyrotechnics and barge companies to longtime show producer Sandy Purdon, who helped conceive the show 24 years ago. As part of the hiring process, port staff needed the board’s approval to indemnify the vendors against any potential losses associated with the Big Bay Boom.

“I was very nervous,” Purdon said when he learned that the YMCA would have to pull out of the fireworks show. “We told the port if you don’t take on all this liability, we couldn’t have an event. But because the event means so much to the port and the port tenants and the community, they didn’t want to lose it because of the economic impact.”

A recent study to assess the show’s ripple effect on the economy concluded that the Big Bay Boom last year attracted 400,000 visitors to the waterfront and yielded an economic impact of $100 million. And for every dollar invested by the port, the event brought in $22 in revenue from its tenants.

The port will continue its role as sponsor, contributing up to $315,000 toward the event, up from $275,000 last year. Purdon’s role will include raising funds to supplement the port’s investment, with the help of the YMCA. The total budget, he said, can be as much as $700,000. Although the Armed Services YMCA is out as event organizer, the port said it will continue to use the organization for fundraising services.

Some port commissioners urged the staff on Tuesday to explore expanding the Big Bay Boom to include Chula Vista. Commissioner Ann Moore said that with the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center due to open next month, the timing for next year would be ideal, for either a fireworks or drone-only show.

“It would be a phenomenal event for South Bay, and in Chula Vista we have not had the ability to enjoy a Big Bay Boom celebration,” Moore said “It’s never been in Chula Vista. You would have to drive somewhere else, so it would be wonderful to see if there would be something that we could look at.”

Nishihira cautioned that nearby environmentally sensitive areas make it more challenging to stage a show in Chula Vista.

“In our study we will look baywide and to Chula Vista,” Nishihira said, “and for a number of the same concerns for fireworks, we’d also be concerned about drone impacts to birds, noise, lighting and also public safety issues that come with attracting people and boaters to areas that are surrounded by refuge areas that create quite a burden and concern for additional monitoring requirements.”

Commissioner Dan Malcolm said he’s skeptical that a drone Fourth of July show would resonate in the same way that exploding fireworks do.

“In Imperial Beach when we tried a drone show one year, yeah, it was cool, but it’s certainly not fireworks,” he said. “It doesn’t have anywhere near the visceral impact fireworks do. I’m worried that fireworks could become a thing of the past.”

SeaWorld, known for its summer fireworks shows, is also facing pressure to phase them out. Last month, two environmental groups sued the theme park accusing it of illegally discharging pollutants into Mission Bay during the dozens of fireworks shows it puts on each year.

The lawsuit seeks a court order ruling that SeaWorld has violated the Clean Water Act and should be temporarily barred from continuing its fireworks shows until it can demonstrate that it is no longer discharging pollutants from the shows.