(Radio Iowa) – About 2,000 people who set of fireworks for a living will be in central Iowa for a convention over the next week and they’ll open two nighttime shows to the public that promise to far outshine the most spectacular 4th of July celebrations. Connie Widmann is spokeswoman for the Pyrotechnic Guild International, which is meeting August 2nd through the 9th in Boone. Daytime activities will focus on safety, seminars and certifications.

“We are a volunteer organization,” Widmann says. “We’re basically a club and this club supports people who have interest in pyrotechnics at all levels, whether they shoot public displays for local municipalities, whether they’re a hobbyist, they may be interested in consumer fireworks, and people who make fireworks for a living.”

One of the public shows will feature “pyro-musicals” where the colorful explosions in the sky are precisely choreographed to music. “It is important, if people are going to come from the public, to actually buy a ticket and come in,” Widmann says. “It’s flat here in Iowa, so people think, ‘Oh, I’ll just go park on the road and watch it from there.’ There’s a very different experience when you’re up close with these types of pyro-musicals, and these are not shows that you will ever see in a municipality.”

Pyrotechnic Guild International photo

Sunday night’s public show will include four pyro-musicals and what Widmann describes as a breathtaking, unforgettable fusion of fireworks and drones. “We will have 2,500 drones — and that is a very large number of drones — that will be choreographed with pyrotechnics and some of the drones will have pyrotechnics firing off of the drones,” Widmann says. “That’s a totally new concept, and Sunday night will be quite a spectacle.”

Most fireworks you buy at roadside tents are in the two- to four-inch range, and while the Boone shows will feature six-, eight- and even 12-inch shells, Widmann says they’ll be setting off one very special firework for a jaw-dropping grand finale. “The 24-inch shell, the chrysanthemum, is a big flower in the sky,” Widmann says. “It would be the largest shell shot this week and certainly ever in Iowa, probably be about a quarter-mile diameter.”

That single shell alone is worth about $2,000. The public shows are planned for the nights of August 3rd and 8th. Purchase tickets here.