Port Alden’s harbor festival draws spectators along nearly a mile of waterfront, which made a barge launch the only practical way to hold a consistent NFPA 1123 minimum distance across the entire crowd line rather than just the closest viewing point. The barge was anchored 480 feet offshore, clearing distance for the display’s 6-inch shells across the full length of the public seawall.
The town’s harbor committee requested a traditional pacing without music sync, built around a steady mid-show density and a finale that visibly doubles the firing rate of the preceding eight minutes — timed by our crew rather than a track, called live off the cue sheet.
