Everett's 4th of July fireworks fail to launch, vendor investigating programming error
Everett's fireworks show canceled due to technical error
The annual Thunder On The Bay show experienced an "irreparable technical issue" on Tuesday, which canceled the show.
EVERETT, Wash. - The city of Everett will be getting a full refund from its fireworks vendor after the 4th of July fireworks display failed to launch.
The annual Thunder On The Bay show experienced an "irreparable technical issue" on Tuesday, which canceled the show.
Hundreds of people gathered around Everett's waterfront, expecting an 18-minute show, but were instead met with only one or two fireworks that went off.
The issue apparently impacted the main computer used for the show as well as the backup one. It does not appear that the error was human (controlled by the pyrotechnician).
"We are working to determine the exact nature of the programming error that caused the issue. We have provided spectacular shows for the City of Everett for the past 10 years and are devastated that the show last night did not fire correctly. The last thing we ever want is to disappoint one of the hundreds of communities that entrust us to provide their July 4th fireworks displays. We apologize to the citizens of Everett and again have issued a full refund," the vendor, Western Display Fireworks, said in a statement.
One family waited at the park until around 10:40 p.m. before calling it a night.
"The big kid you know, the 5-year-old, she was disappointed for sure," said Courtney Honey, a mom who took her kids to see the display in Everett. "We were like, what’s going on? Is it on is it off? What’s happening….We were looking forward to it all day."
"There were a lot of disappointed people in Everett," said Julie Lynn, an Everett resident. She said social media was full of comments about the show's cancelation on Wednesday.
FOX 13 spoke with Heather Gobet, the president of Western Display Fireworks.
"This is really an unbelievably unfortunate situation. I’m sick about it," said Gobet.
"This is a vendor we’ve worked with before and that they are extremely apologetic about the situation. They tried everything they could to troubleshoot the issue they encountered, but unfortunately, they weren’t able to get it figured out," the city said in an email to FOX 13.
The city of Everett said that Western Display Fireworks will be refunding what the city already paid toward the show and cover other costs incurred, like getting the tugboat and barge, fuel, permitting and the actual fireworks.
A city spokesperson told FOX 13 that it already paid $37,500 of the total $75,000 for the show.
"Also, we are so appreciative of everyone that came out to the festival, as well as the volunteer-led parade, yesterday. We apologize for any inconvenience. While it is disappointing that the fireworks show had to be canceled, it was still great to see the community come together to celebrate Independence Day," the city said in an email to FOX 13.
Of the nearly 200 shows Western Display Fireworks outs on for the Fourth of July, the Everett show was the only one that had to be canceled.