BREA : Fireworks Show Is 2nd Largest in State

With an arsenal of 1,800 aerial fireworks, lasers and 19 cannons, the Brea Fireworks Spectacular is billed by the city as the second largest in the state, second only to the show at the Rose Bowl.

Set to music, the one-hour, $57,000 show features seven sets, including one with the theme “Phantom of the Opera.” Other fireworks-and-music productions include the 1812 Overture and “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The Society for the Preservation of Big Bands will perform most of the music.

The show will start at 9:30 p.m. at Brea-Olinda High School stadium.

After a three-year hiatus, this year’s show resumes a tradition started in 1974. The event was not held during the last three years because the old high school had been torn down and the new school stadium was not completed.

According to Mike Maxfield, Brea’s public information officer, the City Council was eager to hold the fireworks show again. In January, the Fire Department surveyed the new stadium and gave its approval for the event.

As in the past, the fireworks display will cap a day of festivities. From 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. a country fair will be held at City Hall Park. Entertainment, food, games, contests and crafts will be featured.

Before the show, several bands will perform and vintage airplanes will fly over the stadium.

Tickets for the fireworks show are $10 and will be sold at the fair. Shuttle buses will run between the high school and two parking areas--the east parking lot at Brea Mall near May Co. and the Olen Point Ride Share Parking lot, north of Lambert Road and west of Wildcat Way. The buses will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and immediately after the show. Parking will not be available at the high school.