Fireworks Shooter
Memorializes
An Old Friend
By Emily Marshia

When the sky lights up in Randolph for this year’s celebration of the Fourth of July, the man with the worst view of the show will be the one relishing it the most.

DeRoss Kellogg of Bethel is the new "shooter" for the annual fireworks show, but he won’t see much from directly underneath it. The flashing colors and cascading symmetry will be Kellogg’s tribute to his friend, Steve Pryce, who had been the master of the Randolph fireworks for many years. Pryce died suddenly after "shooting" a show in Morrisville for last year’s Fourth of July.

Kellogg, who has been teaching fifth and sixth grade in Chelsea for 31 years, has been shooting fireworks on the side and during the summers on and off for over 25 years. While working in construction, Kellogg had earned his dynamite license and so the progression to fireworks came naturally.

(He is also somewhat famous for his annual rocket building and launching project in Chelsea School, a natural leap for someone drawn to igniting objects to fly into the sky.)

He began doing shows for Northstar Fireworks Display company in Montpelier in the early 1980s at ski areas, Dartmouth winter carnivals and other events. He even provided some small displays at Chelsea graduations in his early years. But then he drifted away from regular stints.

But awhile back, Kellogg’s neighbor, 14-year-old Dan Noel, learned of his former pastime and began urging Kellogg to resume shooting. Noel convinced him to at least look into it and when he did, he liked what he found. During his time away from the company, Northstar had been sold and the new owner, Dave Swenson, impressed Kellogg, so he agreed to begin shooting shows again.

Once back on the circuit, Kellogg requested to become the shooter for the Randolph show.

"It’s special because it is Randolph and it’s special because I can pay honor to Steve. He was just a great guy who loved putting up a good show."

He says he has a few surprises in store. "These days it seems like you can’t do a show fast enough for people," he shared, noting that his show will move more quickly because it will be all preloaded as opposed to the standard "run-n-gun" shows of the past.

Modern design and technology have brought faster shooting systems. Preloaded shows feature multiple four-foot racks, one for each size tube used to shoot the firework shells into the sky. Two-and-a-half inch tubes fit ten to a rack, while three-inch tubes fit eight to a rack, and so on. Kellogg said the Randolph show features over 400 tubes, with an additional 60 racks of tubes just for the grand finale. Each rack is set and loaded before the show begins—Kellogg and his crew will spend the entire afternoon loading the tubes.

His crew also brings special meaning. Two of his former Chelsea students, Zeb Allen and Eli Childs, along with his neighbor Dan Noel (who kick-started this whole tale) and his father, Jim, make up his team

Kellogg looks forward to the adrenaline that builds up over the course of set-up. If all goes well, there is time for a quick meal before show time. He notes that this is one of his favorite times during the job: when all is ready to go, adrenaline is at its height, and good friends share a sense of youthful expectation.

Once the show starts, though, they are all business. "Safety is always our primary concern. We are always watching each other. It is very choreographed, almost like a ballet," which might sound strange. But it seems that there will be as much of a show on the ground as there is above.

Despite the distance between himself and his audience, Kellogg stills cites the pleasure of "making people happy" as his biggest motivator. He also delights in the challenge of choosing a sequence and orchestrating its optimal timing. He hopes to hear feedback on his signature style after this year’s display.

For Kellogg, the July 3 fireworks will not only top off a hard day’s work, but it will also celebrate the common thread in a friendship, a common hope that he and Pryce shared, to hear hundreds of horns honking in applause as the smoke settles across the hills.