Original Article -- http://www.pe.com/articles/ceremony-787708-night-hotel.html

Thousands of festive revelers and millions of lights turned the historic Mission Inn Hotel and Spa into a holiday wonderland during Friday night's 23rd annual switch-on ceremony, a glittery kickoff to the region's holiday season.

The ceremony, which included a fireworks display and a performance by the Riverside City College Marching Tigers, has turned into a national draw in recent years due to exposure on TV shows and in USA Today. And it's become a highly sought-after backdrop for selfie-seeking locals.

"Now with social media, it's gone crazy," said Monica Puga, who took in the spectacle with her husband, Juan, and 3-year-old son, Andrew.
Andrew had one of the best seats in the house, taking in the scene from his dad's shoulders. The Pugas, who hail from Moreno Valley, have been going to the ceremony for about 10 years.
They make a grand night of it, indulging in kettle corn, doughnuts and funnel cakes. When the crowd thins out, the Pugas make their way to the front of the historic structure to take in the awe-inspiring sight of a building bathed in the glow of almost 5 million lights.

"It's the start to the holidays," she said. "You start thinking about the lights you're going to put up at your home."

Oliver Unaka, the inn's public relations director, said the crowd for Friday night's extravaganza was estimated at 78,000.

Included in the number are international and national guests who have made a visit to the inn part of their holiday traditions and Southern Californians who drive in for the ceremony.
Unaka said the festival, which runs through Jan. 6, has helped boost the occupancy rate at the hotel to around 96 percent, up from 80 percent to 85 percent five years ago.
Some of the guests stay for a week at a time, he said, a fact that would bring a smile to the face of the hotel's founder, Frank Augustus Miller, who packed the hotel with diversions to occupy a visitor during long vacations.
"This is our busiest time of the year," Unaka said.

In response to the recent attacks in Paris, organizers bolstered the private security presence at the festival and the Riverside Police Department, apparently at the behest of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, deflected questions ahead of the event about the exact time the lights were scheduled to be switched-on and how many people were expected to attend.
At last year's ceremony, a group of protesters attempted to disrupt the festivities by blocking traffic at Main Street and Mission Inn Avenue. The scene turned chaotic when a motorist trying to weave through the crowd hit some of the protesters.
There were no similar incidents this year.

Original Posting -- http://goo.gl/eD8RwW

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Weeks before its official opening, TriMet unleased a spectacular fireworks display over the Tilikum Crossing bridge Saturday night.

The bridge — the first new bridge over the Willamette in more than 40 years — will be a transit and bike bridge used as the Orange Line when it opens September 12.

Despite the skies over Portland being filled by smoke from Oregon wildfires, the fireworks lit up the sky and brought thousands downtown.

Orginal Article -- http://goo.gl/0erGLh

Smoky skies and breezy weather didn’t deter thousands from heading to the South Waterfront for TriMet’s Orange Line Fireworks Spectacular Saturday evening.

It was expected to be the one and only time that fireworks are launched from the Portland’s newest bridge.

Portlander Rich Bader envisioned the show more than a year and a half ago.

“This bridge is iconic of the 21st century of Portland,” Bader says. The show was designed to create memories for Portland, he says, “the memories that they will carry forever.”

Kiewit, the construction company responsible for building the Tilikum Crossing, sponsored the event.

Tasked with converting Bader’s vision into the 12-minute show was the responsibility of Pyro Spectaculars of Rialto, Calif. It wasn’t the company's first show on a bridge, having been responsible for the 50th anniversary shows on both the Golden Gate and the Oakland Bay bridges.

Thousands of explosive devices were used in the computer-controlled show. It was timed to music broadcast around the show site by All Classical Portland (FM 89.9). Fireworks ranged “from classical aerial up to 500 feet above the bridge deck to theatrical, instantaneous devices that can create movement across the bridge,” says Ian Gilifillan, Pyro Spectaculars executive vice president.

More than 1,300 firing commands drove the show, each firing between one and 100 devices.

The show was broken up into five scenes, according to Bader. It opened with an homage to native Americans, followed by images of movement to symbolize transportation. The history of the MAX light-rail systems was shown in a series of different color themes, starting with the Blue line.

Introduction of the Orange line put a crescendo on the MAX scene, but it was topped by a spectacular finale, synchronized to celebratory western music.

Different kind of light show

Fireworks were only one part of the evening’s festivities. An orange-themed picnic at Zidell Yards started off the hazy night on the waterfront, with Tilikum Crossing-themed beer from Bridgeport Brewing and Salt & Straw’s special edition ice cream on hand.

The TriMet Orange Line and Portland Streetcar Loop open on Sept. 12. Orange Line MAX follows a 7.3-mile alignment through SE Portland and downtown Milwaukie to north Clackamas County. The $1.49 billion project was built on time and under budget, according to the agency.

All transit throughout the region, including MAX, bus, streetcar and the Portland Aerial Tram will be free on the opening weekend.

If you missed the fireworks, you can see a different light show on the bridge starting Sept. 10. The Tilikum Crossing’s aesthetic lighting system will be switched on for the first time that night. Lighting patterns and colors will be based on the height, speed and temperature of the Willamette River below.

TriMet touts that the fireworks show was one of the largest ever staged in Portland, and it will be once in a lifetime due to the 24/7 operations of the bridge starting Sept. 12. However, Gilifillan says not to talk too soon.

“We love anniversaries,” he says.

Orginial Article -- https://goo.gl/jWHHqr

Written By -- Gordon Cox | Legit Editor

How do you celebrate a Founding Father? With fireworks, of course. And the producers of ultrahot Broadway musical “Hamilton” obliged, capping the show’s opening night party Aug. 6 with a fireworks display over the Hudson River.

The mood was already pretty explosive at that point. The opening performance of the show — which has been an intelligentsia buzzmagnet since it bowed Off Broadway last spring, and has logged huge sales since it started performances on Broadway — attracted an enthusiastic, starry crowd that included everyone from Jake Gyllenhaal to Anna Wintour to Questlove. At the curtain call, the show’s star and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda (pictured above) called everyone up onstage — not just the cast, but the designers and the crew and the band and all the other people who make the musical happen each night.

And even with rave reviews in the bag and a hefty advance in the bank, Miranda and his team have made it a point to thank the show’s fans, too. The cast and creatives have regularly gone out onto the sidewalk to entertain the people that line up for the 20 super-cheap tickets that are handed out by lottery to each performance.

Pyro Spectaculars by Souza was selected to present the finale at what is acclaimed to be the most prestigious and largest fireworks […]