Behind the Scenes

There is no more magnificent and magical place than Disney. In 1971, when Walt Disney created Disney World in Florida, he built an underground tunnel system called the “Utilidors”, for the cast members and maintenance to travel underfoot, unbeknownst to guests.  The idea was that the tunnel network prevented anything out of character from ruining the magic of Disney World for the visitors.  You might be asking, what does Disney World have to do with Chapman Lakes?  I want to share what goes on behind the scenes to bring a magical, fireworks show to Chapman Lakes.

In years past, the barges were launched and many kind people along a channel shuffled their own boats to house the barges. Don Smith allowed the fireworks crew to load the barges from his property and once loaded, the barges were towed to the fireworks launching site. Every barge has a crew and every crew stays on their barge from the time they are launched until they are towed back that evening. Due to circumstances this year, Don’s property was not an option to facilitate loading the barges.

Loading the barges at the public access seemed like the next viable place until one starts calculating the number of people it takes, cars they drive, a big box truck full of explosives and then asking people to stay a minimum of 50 feet away, at a public access. Yikes!  If only we had underground tunnels. 

Since there are no underground tunnels, I started begging and pleading for help. Like Chapman Lakes people do, they come to the rescue.  Pat Higgins, Higgins Sport & Lawn serviced the CLCA pontoon boat and put it in the water to tow the barges.  He pulled all the barges stored at the clubhouse away from the trees so the crew could load them.  Once the barges were loaded, Pat started hauling the barges to the public access.  At the access, Tom Ross and Dave Wihebrink were ready to tow each barge to their destination. All was going well until some pop-up storms came as they were placing the second barge in place. Thanks to Tom Ross for some quick-thinking to cover the barge with the pontoon cover, only one barge of fireworks was ruined. Once again to the rescue, Tom towed the two barges and their crew back to shore in torrential rain while Pat hauled them back to the clubhouse. After they were able to assess the barges, a determination was made, the show will go on.

Back at the clubhouse all the other barges were covered and safe. The tent rented for that mornings pancake breakfast served as a shelter for the crew and their equipment. The crew dried off a bit, and the process started all over again until every barge was in place.

Once again, there are so many blessings in disguise. Of the things that went wrong, there were more that went right. Only 10% of the fireworks were ruined by the rain and we still had a great show. Please say, thank you to Pat Higgins, Tom Ross and Dave Wihebrink for hauling and towing barges in and out all evening, Don Smith for all the years he has so graciously allowed us to use his property and to all those in past years who have worked behind the scenes. We have an amazing lake community!

Also, I want to thank Mitchell Quartz, a photographer from Utah who was visiting his family on Chapman Lakes over the 4th of July weekend.  Mitchell so kindly donated his photography skills to capture pictures of the parade and the fireworks.  Please visit www.chapmanlake.com under the “Events” tab to see all the pictures he captured.

Behind all the magic, there is someone making it happen.  THANK YOU to all who are behind the scenes making magic!