Myra Miller
The July 4th fireworks show at the Eunice Recreation Complex is scheduled at 9 p.m. Saturday and normally lasts for 30 minutes.
Kenneth Peart, former mayor and Eunice’s expert pyrotechnist, said a grand finale of fireworks is planned. The finale will be bigger and even better than last year’s, he said.
“This year’s fireworks will be something to see and it’s finale will be even better than before.”
This year’s event will have something special added to the normal shells fired and this year there will be more than 3,000 shells fired.
Peart works weeks prior to the 4th of July, preparing and assembling the fuses and getting the tubes ready for the shells.
For more than 30 years Peart has executed the Eunice fireworks.
According to Peart the state rule is for every inch-size shell the crowd must be 87 feet away. However, his personal rule is 100 feet for every inch shell.
The shells are roundish brown objects, and some range anywhere from 3 to 8 inches in size. The shells are fitted with fuses, and then loaded into tubes for firing.
Peart does much of the work at his “Smiley” Peart Drug Testing Consortium located on East Maple Avenue. He had help from his two grandsons, Carter Cashen, 16, and Nick Bertrand, 14.
Every year Peart orders the fireworks, usually in January or February, from a company in Missouri. He then travels to Missouri to pick up the fireworks.
Peart does not charge the city for anything, he said. His volunteer effort is not insignificant. He estimates a similar show would cost anywhere from $40,000 to $50,000 to stage. “The city pays about $17,000 for the fireworks,” Peart says.
Peart is excited to fire a new product at this year’s event. He added, “It’s a secret. However, I do know that this special shell has never been shot in Louisiana before.”
Peart has a great deal of volunteers helping him on the grounds of the Recreational Complex. He would like to express a thank you to those who have helped in the past and will help this year. He said, “Volunteers from Acadia Parish Fire Department as well as Eunice Fire Department are always a tremendous help. They volunteer their manpower.”
The fireworks show will go on as scheduled. If it is raining on the Fourth, there will be no show.
Peart added, “Out of the many years of Eunice having a fireworks show, it was cancelled only one time.”