Fireworks lit up the night sky in Gulfport Thursday night. That’s what it was supposed to look like in St. Petersburg on the 4th.
Instead, the fireworks flopped.
The owner of Creative Pyrotechnics blames the weather.
“There was a storm that moved in and there was lightning, which is very dangerous when you’re loading any type of explosives,” said E.J. Weppel.
St. Petersburg city leaders aren’t buying it.
“The vendor assured us over and over again that they were prepped and they were ready,” said Mike Jefferis, of the city’s Leisure Services Department.
Forty-five minutes before the show, word came down it was a no go.
“I asked the city if it’s possible to shoot the show tomorrow, and the city said that they had no interest in that,” said E.J. Weppel.
“The vendor requested that we cancel the show. Told us the show was not set up and was not ready to go. We were completely caught off guard and completely surprised,” said Jefferis.
“I hate to do it on July 5, but better today than never,” said Gulfport Mayor Sam Henderson.
The fireworks fiasco in St. Petersburg isn’t eroding confidence in Creative Pyrotechnics in Gulfport.
“Last night, they made the right call. We got inundated with about 12 minutes to go before the show,” said Henderson.
People disappointed in the St. Pete dud got a second chance.
‘Would have been nice if they re-scheduled it, but they just canceled it,” said Chris Flyn, who was in St. Petersburg on the 4th of July.
“What can you do I guess, but it was pretty annoying,” said Christina Danese.
Creative Pyrotechnics also canceled the show in Apopka. Same excuse: Weather, and it wasn’t ready to set off the shells.
St. Petersburg will not pay them $25,000 and won’t hire them again.
