“The most important thing about Pops is that we celebrate our freedoms ... and we honor those who have fought for those freedoms,” said Jan Hansen, chairperson of the Pops in the Park organizing committee. “It's just so meaningful to me that we still have people willing to stand up and fight for freedom in this country.”

Aside from the Big Spring Symphony's annual presentation, music also was provided by Ackerly native Jim Kays and his Kays Grass Band, a bluegrass combo that opened festivities, and singer-songwriter Maren Morris, who showcased her softer-rock tunes.

But the symphony was the musical highlight of the show. The 57-piece orchestra, aided by a chorus and, at times, the crowd, barreled through a medley of patriotic and popular tunes. Special guests of the symphony this year were members of the 7th Army Soldier's Chorus.

The symphony's preparations for its show were brief but intense, director Keith Graumann said.

“(Members) got their music early, so they've been practicing on their own for weeks,” Graumann said. “But we all got together (Friday) at 3:30 p.m. and rehearsed for almost three hours straight.”

Providing the capper to the evening was the $20,000 fireworks display, supervised for the seventh consecutive year by the husband and wife team of Terry and Terry Hurt of Odessa.

The Hurts have been supervising fireworks shows for almost 20 years.

More than 10,000 individual “shots” comprised this year's fireworks show, the biggest ever for Pops in the Park, Mr. Hurt said.

Mrs. Hurt estimated that on-site preparations for the fireworks display took about 40 hours — while the show itself lasted about 30 minutes.

Each shot of the show was programmed electrically weeks ago to explode in choreography with the symphony's music.

“It gets awfully loud up here during the show,” Mr. Hurt said.

Preparing, then firing off thousands of explosives is inherently dangerous, they conceded, but manageable if the proper precautions are taken.

“The worst thing that ever happened (at Pops in the Park) was a couple of years ago during the drought when some of our fireworks caught the side of the hill on fire,” Mr. Hurt said. “But we had the fire department right there, so there was never any real danger.”

Committee members had been planning this year's event for months, but preparations really hit high gear in recent weeks, Hansen said.

“A lot of works goes into making Pops happen,” she said. “But I've got a lot of committee members who know their jobs and do them extremely well. I'm just here to coordinate.”

Hansen added that a recent surge in contributions has allowed the committee to get “very close” to its goal of $40,000 for this year.

“We were $8,000 short as of our last committee meeting, but some money's come in since then,” Hansen said. “We may not be at $40,000 right now, but we're very close.”

Contact Staff Writer Steve Reagan at 263-7331 ext. 234 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it