announcing the 2005 pgi convention 

opening show

staged by the iowa pyrotechnic association

sunday evening august 7th, 2005

at the north iowa fairgrounds

mason city, IA

 

Question:    What do you get when you mix a couple of hundred pyros from all over

                     the State of Iowa,  a couple of semi-loads of equipment, several thousand 

                     shells liberally sprinkled with assorted pyro effects with a couple of 

                     Iowa Historical events and cook that mix for over eighteen months?

 

 

Answer:       One helluva nice fireworks show to Welcome Local & International

                      visitors to the Opening of the 2005 PGII Annual Convention.

 

The Iowa Pyrotechnic Association invites one and all to join us at the North Iowa Fairgrounds in Mason City, Iowa when we serve up a heapin' helpin' of high-tech and high-flyin' Iowa Home-Grown Pyro to kick off this year's Pyrotechnics Guild International Annual Convention.

We can't say too much without giving it all away but we thought we'd give you a little taste to whet the appetite.

We'll give you the why's and where's but not quite all of the what's here.

 

You can attend any of the nightly shows as a member of the General Public simply by buying tickets (limited seating is available) but in order to attend the PGI Convention, you must be a member in good standing PRIOR to JUNE 1st, 2005.

 

If you would like to help the IPA Setup and Stage this show you must be an IPA Member.

IPA Membership is $ 25.00 per year. 

 

IPA Member Applications are available on this site: 

The "Doc" form can be either filled out on-line and printed on your printer to mail in or saved to your computer and printed out to fill in by hand or opened in MS Word.

The "PDF" form can be printed out, filled in by hand and mailed in.

 

PGI Member Applications are available on this site: 

There are 3 types of Membership forms (pick one which fits you).

These also are all available in either "Doc" or "PDF" Formats

 

 

 

 

Some Interesting Facts about the Show:

More than 3,000 devices and/or effects are being used in this show. 

More than 1,000 Cues are being fired from 4 “Shoot Shacks” by sixteen MAGS DIGITAL SYSTEMS EZ-Fire 8-Channel Panels.

These panels (capable of firing multiple channels and/or consecutive channels every 1/10 second) are firing the 32 channels via computer.

The Show was choreographed using the MAGS DIGITAL SYSTEMS “PyroStudio” Software.

The show length (including the Finale) is 19:34.675 Seconds which is a device of some sort “going off” every .4 seconds on average.

The show will be a welcome to the People of Mason City and visitors from around the world from the pyros of Iowa.

The unique soundtrack is a surprising blend of old, new, old made new again and songs linked to Iowa and Mason City in particular.

We begin appropriately enough with Phil Collins "The Welcome Song" which kind of says it all. There will be plenty of things blowing and going up in that one with a few surprises just for fun.

And since we're speaking of fun, how about fire and smoke measured in tons set to Wynonna Judd's rendition of Elvis' "Burnin' Love" to get the blood boiling and set your mind on fire?

We will feature and pay tribute to the Legends of Rock who lost their lives in the tragic airplane crash that happened on "the day the Music Died" with 3 classics by The Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly.

We pay special tribute to Mason City's hometown boy Merideth "The Music Man" Willson whose world acclaimed musical about his boyhood home in "River City" Iowa still springs to most minds when the words "Seventy-six trombones" are spoken.

One song will be dedicated to showcasing the unique talents of the best of the best Iowa Shell Builders with hundreds of handmade shells, mines and comets for things over head and custom lance sets for ground displays to balance things out.

With a few special things to kick it off, a lot of unique and special things in between and simulated "cannons in the battery" near the end, there is sure to be "thundering, thundering all around the town" of River uh, we mean Mason City.

The members of the Iowa Pyrotechnic Association invite you for a night you won't soon forget. We hope to see you all there.

(See Overview Map)

 

 

 

Below are links to the show soundtrack in it's entirety and by song.

 

Click each to download:

 

Click Link Below for

 

2005 IPA-PGII Convention Soundtrack

(version 9 15)

 

This is the continuous Soundtrack. It runs 19:04

 

 

 

Individual Tracks:

 

 

 

Track # 1: Phil Collins - "The Welcome Song"

 

 

Track # 2: Wynonna Judd - "Burnin' Love"

 

 

Track # 3: The Big Bopper - "Chantilly Lace"

 

 

Track # 4: Ritchie Valens - "La Bamba"

 

 

Track # 5: Buddy Holly - "Everyday"

 

 

Track # 6: Merideth Willson - "76 Trombones"

 

 

Track # 7: Merideth Willson - "Marian the Librarian"

(The IPA Shell builder's song)

 

 

Track # 8: Merideth Willson - "Pick a Little/Good Night Ladies"

(The Finale)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAP OF THE PGI CONVENTION SITE