LIGHTING UP THE NIGHT

By Michael Yoder

The booming sounds and flashes of light on the Fourth of July hold special significance for Kimmel Schaefer Jr. Nearly 40 years ago, the Lancaster County native was a four-year-old hanging out the window of his home on Hamilton Street in Lancaster, watching the fireworks being set off by his father, Kimmel Sr., near McCaskey High School.

While many youngsters imagine themselves putting out fires or flying a plane, Schaefer dreamed from that early age of a life launching the colorful rockets and shells. But his mother, Caroline, told him that night that fireworks was not a career path worth pursuing.

“If there’s one thing that’s always stuck with me, it’s what my mother said – that I would never make a living shooting fireworks,” Schaefer says. “She was always afraid we were going to blow ourselves up, but I still have all my fingers.”

Today Schaefer owns one of the largest fireworks display companies on the East Coast – Schaefer Pyrotechnics Inc. of Ronks – creating shows both small and large and entertaining generations of fireworks enthusiasts in Central Pennsylvania and beyond.

Schaefer was on hand, along with several of his full-time employees, at a June baseball game between the York Revolution and the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs at Sovereign Bank Stadium to watch a post-game fireworks display shot by his company.

Schaefer Pyrotechnics puts on as many as 400 fireworks shows per year – a 20-fold increase from the 18 to 20 shows it did when Schaefer started working with the company in 1986.

The company fires the annual Fourth of July shows in Ephrata, Marietta, Mountville, York, Middletown and several other local communities, and the popular Long’s Park fireworks display has been its show for more than 30 years.

Schaefer creates nearly 70 shows per year for four baseball teams, including the Lancaster Barnstormers, the Revolution, the Blue Crabs and the Camden Riversharks. The Fourth of July is the single busiest day for Schaefer who, with more than 70 different shows going on that night, employs 400 workers.

The history of the Schaefer family’s involvement in fireworks dates back to 1961, when Kimmel Sr. started shooting displays as a hobby for Keystone Fireworks. By 1977, the senior started his own company, Pyrotechnics by Schaefer, putting on a few local shows.

However, fireworks around the home were a completely different story. Schaefer says there was absolutely nothing to blow up in the house, and he never lit a pack of firecrackers until he was around 19 or 20 years old – several years after he started shooting fireworks professionally.

Schaefer says when he was a junior at Lancaster Catholic High School, someone threw an M-80 firecracker into the toilet. A teacher brought him and his brother into the office to question them about the incident.

“It just had to be us because my dad owned a fireworks company,” Schaefer says. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? We have none of that shit at my house.’”

During high school, there was little talk of Schaefer going into the fireworks business, but when he graduated from Catholic in 1986 he started working part-time for the company.

Schaefer says he still remembers his first show – the Lancaster Catholic Carnival in 1986, right after graduation. He didn’t get the glamorous job of shooting anything that year. Instead, he learned the techniques of setting up rockets and mortars.
“I was only given a shovel and told to dig,” Schaefer says.

By the time he graduated from Millersville University, he was working full-time setting up displays. He bought the company from his father in 1996 and started expanding its size and scope.

The unique nature of the line of work Schaefer chose to pursue is never far from his mind.

“Everybody kind of looks at me funny when I tell them that I’m in the fireworks display business,” Schaefer says. “Their heads kind of snap around and they say, ‘Excuse me?’”

Running a company that sets off shows from northern Virginia to Wildwood, NJ, requires Schaefer to assume more of a behind-the-scenes role these days. He coordinates crews and finds new fireworks shells, while leaving the dangerous job to the wide variety of people that work for him. His two sons, Lee and Kimmel III, have taken an interest in the business.

June’s Revolution post-game show was in the hands of Carlos Castaneda (no relation to the famous author on peyote culture), who ran around the stadium with a head set on, ready to launch the up-close-and-personal show from a trailer parked in the outfield.

Schaefer gave Castaneda some last-minute advice on the length of the show and was quick to compliment him after the fireworks went off without a hitch.

“It takes a certain kind of person [to launch fireworks], because it is kind of crazy,” Schaefer says. “It’s kind of a war zone down there when you’re shooting. It’s loud, and you can get hurt. The most important thing is to keep your fingers and toes away from the tops of the tubes. It’s not rocket science.”

The possibility of some sort of mishap keeps Schaefer alert during a show, making sure his employees don’t get hurt and that spectators are safe. He says he has been to the hospital twice from fireworks accidents, once from being hit in the head by a 2x4 when a shell exploded and left a mark on his face. That was Labor Day weekend 1992 at Williams Grove Speedway – two weeks before his wedding.

Changes in the fireworks industry over the last 20 years have significantly improved the quality and safety of displays, Schaefer says. He imports all of his fireworks from China, as 99 percent of all fireworks launched in the United States come from factories in the heartland of the Asian country.

Schaefer goes to mainland China every couple of years, touring factories and watching fireworks demonstrations at night. It takes 45 days to make the fireworks and another 30 days to ship them over by boat.

Besides the safety of fireworks, Schaefer has witnessed other changes in the industry – both good and bad – that are shaping the future of shows.

Schaefer says the proliferation of fireworks stands in parking lots leading up to the Fourth of July makes it much easier for the general public to create their own displays, but puts more responsibility in the hands of people inexperienced with dangerous explosives.

Federal regulations and severe restrictions on what fireworks can be shipped to the U.S. since September 11, 2001 has also changed the nature of displays, Schaefer says. Today there are less large rockets and shells used, making shows smaller in size.

To compensate for smaller fireworks displays, there is now a greater demand for more musically choreographed shows, Schaefer says, which have evolved with the advent of computer fired shows. As a result, less shows are fired by hand.

“People don’t want a plain Jane, old fireworks show anymore,” Schaefer says.

But what gets people excited to see a fireworks show is the fascination with color, light and noise filling the sky, Schaefer says. He points to a bumper sticker he saw years ago that said, “Fireworks make people happy.”

The crowd at the baseball game left satisfied – including Schaefer.