Vlach is the man behind the blast

Fremont’s fireworks display may seem a little brighter for some, but especially for Ron Vlach.

The 61-year-old owner of Victory Marine has made the fireworks display his personal community gift. Every year, he works diligently to raise funds to pay for the display, which will be held just after dusk tonight. Fireworks are shot off at Christensen Field. Many people watch the spectacle of lights sitting around the Fremont Municipal Airport or in parking lots around Christensen Business Park.

Vlach said this is the fifth year he has organized the event and raised money for it.

"People love fireworks," he said. "There’s not a lot of new stuff that you’re going to put into this. We are going to use some bigger shells again this year and more of them. The show will probably last between 20 and 22 minutes. A fireworks show is a fireworks show. It’s a lot of fun."

He said there will be some special features before the fireworks.

"We’re going to have a sky diver bring down a U.S. flag into the airport. We’ll have some vintage airplanes flying between 7:30 and 9:15 (p.m.) or so."

But the economy is taking some of the spark out of organizing the event this year, he said.

"I’ve struggled this year to get this together. We’re still a little short. We have two major sponsors: Natura and First State Bank. We also have other sponsors: American National Bank, Marlin Brabec and the Fremont Rotary Club. We had four major sponsors, but two of them pulled out.

"Things are tight. The economy is tough. We’re still going to put on show. I think I’m going to have to put up some of it in myself on top of the other things we pay for. I spend a lot of time working on this every year. "

But he said the fireworks display is important enough for his time and effort.

"Why do I do this? I was drafted off the streets of Fremont in 1968 after sitting out a semester of college and sent to Vietnam - two tours. It’s sad that (Lake) Ventura can have a fireworks show. Woodcliff can have a fireworks show. Hooper can have one. But Fremont stopped paying for one. It’s time consuming and takes a lot of effort to take this on. Nobody wanted it. I decided to try to resurrect it. It’s all about the military anyway. That’s what we’re celebrating."

But it’s even more personal than that, he said.

"I used to belong to the Cosmo Club. I think it was called The 100 Cosmo Club. That was a lot of years ago. We used to shoot fireworks off at the football field on Military Avenue for the city until fireworks regulations got a little tighter. We started that around 1973 and did it for quite a few years. That was before we had electronic firing boards. We had to set them off by hand. We had eight stations, eight garbage cans to set them off manually. Now, it’s all done electronically with computer boards."

He estimates 20,000 to 30,000 people watch the fireworks show each year put on by Premier Pyrotechniques of Sioux Falls, S.D. Well, he said those are figures given to him by members of the Dodge County REACT, who help make sure that traffic flows smoothly before and after the fireworks displays.

"They do an outstanding job of getting people out of parking lots every year," Vlach said. "They do a great job. Without them we would have traffic jams all over the place."

No money from the city of Fremont is being used to pay for this, he said.

"It benefits anybody who wants to come out and watch. There are people who’ll park three miles away to watch. Some people park on the top of the hill just north of town."

Even though this year’s fireworks display is going off without a hitch, he said he wants to make sure next year’s does too. He’s asking for contributions - early contributions - to ensure the night sky will light up with patriotic bursts next year.

"If we could get some contributions early, that will help. We don’t want to let this die. It’s all up to contributions. Before, we had four sponsors. Two of them pulled out. That left us to raise $6,000 on our own, and we still aren’t there. But we’re going to make it."