Here Comes 2003!

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By By KOMO Staff

Summary

Space Needle puts final touches on its annual display that promises to be better than last year's.

Story Published: Dec 31, 2002 at 5:11 AM PDT

Story Updated: Aug 31, 2006 at 12:55 AM PDT

Here Comes 2003!
SEATTLE - As we count down the minutes to 2003, The Space Needle is ready for when the countdown strikes zero.

As usual, the Needle is ready to put on a spectacular fireworks display as the clock strikes midnight.

This year, there are 12 boxes on the Space Needle's roof, each containing up to 100 mortars. Hundreds more are placed on lower levels. And new for 2003, are 30 devices called "saxons."

"They're a spinning wheel type device," said Ian Gilfillan, Executive Vice President of Pury Spectaculars. "So halfway through the show you'll see spinning wheels come down the Space Needle."

The goal is always to top last year's show -- so come midnight, you'll see much more than 2002's version.

In all, 8,000 fireworks shots will run through one very important computer to create the display.

The work of art came together in Southern California, where Pyro Spectaculars - the world's largest fireworks production company - is based.

They build and store the mortars in a military bunker and figure out ways to create new colors.

And, their job is about a lot more than blowing things up.

"The idea of combining the music, designing the fireworks, putting it all together and entertaining the millions of people that are gonna see our shows all over the world," Gilfillan said.

And the fireworks at the Space Needle require some extra special planning.

"Here it's not the danger so much as the challenge of working on a structure like this," he said. "We have 60 different firing locations so we have all different challenges. The legs, the saucer roof, the roof of the skyline restaurant."

Those challenges bring us back to the numbers. It took the company three months to plan the show. It took three days to install it.

Come New Year's, you'll have 8 minutes and 40 seconds to enjoy it.

New Year's Eve Happenings

The Space Needle is hosting two parties -- both include food and dancing. But of course, you can also come to the Seattle Center just to watch the fireworks for free.

If you're not going to be at the Needle, Tacoma is having its annual "First Night" party at 9th and Broadway starting at noon and running through midnight. You can ring in the New Year with dance, storytelling, theater and film, plus lots of activities for the kids.

The Seattle Symphony is ringing in the new year with a performance of Beethoven's Ninth "Choral" Symphony with Gerard Schwarz on the podium, and dancing and champagne afterward.

Next door to the Space Needle, the EMP's Sky Church turns into Studio 54, with a disco celebration of the new year.

And if you'd like to be out on the water, Argosy Cruises are offering a variety of sailings around the Puget Sound area to ring in 2003.