The Vice President position
Many of you know me, and perhaps many do not, but may have heard my name thrown around - I am Jeff Hale, and I took the reins as interim Vice President of the Carolina Pyros, earlier this year.
I have been in the professional fireworks business for going on 36 years, and my Company, Hale Artificier, Inc., which is based in Lexington, NC will be 22 years old coming next year, 2020.
When the Carolina Pyros was still pretty much a vision of Chris Leach's, he came to me and we got the very first Club event organized and actually put on a couple of decent shows, out in that cow pasture, down in Polkton, NC (yes, and we actually had a small stampede of cows run through!) It was a lot of fun, and the folks who came out for that very first run got a good idea of how much work it actually is to put on even a small event - before you even get to the fireworks. There has to be the venue itself, and then the planning and permitting of the display, getting tables and chairs, trash cans, generators and lighting, a sound system, food, porta-potties, water, literally hundreds of little items and details that are needed to facilitate the gathering of people for any purpose. That first event cost right around $4,000.00, and I provided for the permitting, Insurance and such through my Company, and continued to do so until this year, when the Club provided for it's own, through the donations of a number of members.
For those of you who came out for this past event, in Troutman, you saw the culmination of months of planning, and much hard work to put all of that together, and the Iredell County Emergency services folks get nearly ALL the credit for organizing the infrastructure this year. WE, the Carolina Pyros, were in charge of the fireworks, which did give us the opportunity to do what we do best! That partnership worked very well for us, as well as for them, and I, for one, am hoping that we can continue to partner with an organization like the Iredell County Emergency Services to create additional events that do have the potential to help us raise the money it takes to present displays of the calibre we just performed. This being the first year of this event, well, it probably will not meet the financial goal, which we hoped it would. Just the fireworks, NOT including the big truck rental, the rental on the Fairgrounds, all the equipment, lumber, and everything else I provided this year at my cost was $7,790.44. This also does not include all the donated 1.4G materials, and all the e-matches for that stuff, the use of Tim Jameson's firing equipment, nearly 8,000 feet of additional wire, and many other little items. We did NOT have to pay for any of the things going on in the fairgrounds - the Band gave a discounted price of $3,500.00, and they brought in the stage and all the sound equipment, The food vendors, and all the volunteers that helped with parking, and running the ticket booths, and keeping trash picked up, and everything else that goes along with putting on the event we also did NOT have to pay for this year, so you can see, even though we spent a LOT of money, it was ALL on fireworks! At this time, we do not have the final tally from the Firefighters Burned Children's Victims Fund, but I am pretty sure that it will fall short of the cost of materials.
I am running for the Vice President position for the next term. I am a realist, and most of you who do know me, know that what you see is what you get! I try to always be fair, honest, and I give 110% in everything I do. I have seen this Club grow this year, and have been one who did push for the Club to acquire it's own FEL and Insurance, and try to get it on its own track. Most of you know by now, that Fireworks is a very expensive hobby, and you are going to get pretty tired of us, as the Board, coming to you with our hands out! Look Folks, $75 in dues last year, with a membership of only 17 people, just didn't go very far. Growing the club membership is a main priority for all of us members. Several stepped up to the plate and donated funds for the Club Insurance, which will be up for renewal soon. As with any Social Club, we can't please everybody all of the time, but I do believe that we try our best to listen to the members, and as a Board, we have tried to make productive decisions with the best intent for all the members as a whole. There is much work to do, and many great ideas to pursue. You have seen what we can do, and it is our goal to continue to improve this club, and that can happen with the communication and cooperation of the membership, and the dedicated leadership from the Board.
I am very much in favor of organizing more club events, seminars, classes, and training. There are many facets of this industry that we can explore. There are a number of things that we have to look at, such as locations, because as we grow, many members have to travel sometimes many hours. While having a "home location" would be nice, it would be of benefit to try to have several locations where we can meet. There are also costs associated with holding even small seminars - the two shell building days that I hosted with Gary Nunn, used many hundreds of dollars of materials - many clubs do charge a small fee for club events like this, and that is also something that we have to take a look at. I belong to the MAPAG club, and try to get to their club meets as often as I can (it's a 5 hour drive for me), and it is no issue to pay a $20 "shoot fee", and make a good donation to the pot for the wonderful food that we enjoy there. As a group, it does work for all to pitch in a little, as it takes a bit of pressure off those who always put in a lot!
I truly love fireworks, and I do hope that the Carolina Pyros continues to grow, learn, share, and provide an outlet for all of you who care about the crazy world of fireworks!
Thank you!
Jeff Hale