Rockville Centre puts on a dazzling display

It was a beautiful night under the stars as thousands of village residents and visitors packed Centennial Park, lined the banks of Mill River and watched from various other vantage points in the village last Saturday, enjoying a fabulous Grucci fireworks display in honor of Rockville Centre’s 118th anniversary.

Mayor Fran Murray, accompanied by his father, former Mayor Gene Murray, greeted spectators, many of whom brought blankets, chairs and picnic dinners. He introduced trustees Ed Oppenheimer, Kevin Glynn and Mike Sepe. (Deputy Mayor Nancy Howard was out of town.)

Under the direction of guest conductor Theresa Cheung, the South Shore Symphony Orchestra performed a selection of pop, show and Americana music and included a special salute to members of the country’s armed forces. The musicians were accompanied by dancers from Leggz Ltd.

About a half hour after the sun set, technicians launched a dazzling display of pyrotechnics. According to Grucci producer M. Philip Butler, the Rockville Centre show has been staged for 25 years and is the second oldest continuously running show on Long Island. Butler described it as an “intimate, close program” that takes more time and effort to prepare. It is carefully designed and executed, he said, because of the close proximity of the audience to the fireworks staging area. Not a straight high aerial show, because of the “captured audience concept,” like that of a crowd in a stadium, technicians must use smaller, 3-inch shells, rather than the standard 6-inch shells. But because the audience is closer, the fireworks look just as large. Butler said Saturday night’s show contained the five colors of the “fireworks rainbow” — red, white, blue, green and gold, with lots of the most popular color, white, whose illumination causes a hauntingly beautiful glow. Also popular is the familiar chrysanthemum shape.

Butler said that every year the show is slightly different, and this year was no exception. For the first time, the fireworks were synchronized to 22-minutes of South Shore Symphony recordings of music by John Williams, including “Olympic Fanfare,” and the soundtrack of the movie “E.T.” that were broadcast from large speakers on both sides of Mill River.

This year’s fireworks sponsors included Orlin and Cohen Orthopedic Group, Avalon Rockville Centre, The Kearns Family, Molloy College, the Rockville Centre Chamber of Commerce and Concierge Choice Physicians LLC. This year’s spectacular was chaired by Mary Beth Kearns and Wayne Lipton.

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