Story Update: Spectacular Melissa & Doug & Westport PAL Fireworks
Read WestportLocal’s interview of Grucci Fireworks CEO Phil Grucci of America’s First Family Of Fireworks here and learn how they have been providing exceptional pyrotechnic programs to Westport for 23 years.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Westporters have celebrated the Independence Day holiday each year at Compo Beach where they have enjoyed spectacular fireworks displays with the beautiful backdrop of Long Island sound. What they may not be aware of is that these always thrilling shows originated just across the sound in Bellport, Long Island.
Fireworks by Grucci, a sixth-generation family enterprise that began in Italy in 1850, has been providing Westport audiences state of the art pyrotechnics for 23 years straight, with the exception of 2020 due to COVID. Westport is lucky to have had this long term relationship with Grucci Fireworks which has been dubbed "America’s First Family of Fireworks".
Phil Grucci, CEO and Creative Director of the company that has been certified to hold 14 Guinness World Records, was gracious enough to grant Westport Local a 30-minute interview where he discussed the details of the Compo Beach and other shows, sharing fascinating facts about this innovative company. A 23 year run is impressive and is one of many long term relationships the Grucci family has built over their 176 year history, and Mr. Grucci told us he cherishes their relationship with Westport, now in its third decade saying, he was “honored” to have been their choice year after year.
Always a thrilling show, this year’s July 2nd, 2026 spectacular was bigger than ever! Longtime sponsors Melissa & Doug Bernstein and Westport PAL the expanded the show to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the signing of the Declaration Of Independence. Doug Bernstein told WestportLocalPress the display would run about five or six minutes longer than most previous years and the longer show clearly delighted the thousands who attended.
Grucci, aware of the significance of the Nation’s 250 year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration Of Independence, has created several new effects for their 2026 shows worldwide, including a few specifically for our Westport show. They created an effect producing the PAL logo, one of the sponsors, and spelled out the letters USA in one burst, a complicated technical accomplishment which required a 6” shell to produce. They also created the “golden willows” effect, which appears to be a slow, continuously flowing shower of gold.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Their team knew that they needed a home run for this year’s programs for their loyal customers, including Westport, and this year, they performed 65 shows, including 15 rooftop performances in Las Vegas. The plan to accomplish that goal was in part to deploy a “double finale,” which is termed their “Monte Carlo Finale” as this was first done there by Grucci at an international competition for which they won a gold medal in large part for that “double finale” in their first international performance. They then became know as America’s First Family of Fireworks.
What appeared to be a thirty second finale, was followed by a pause giving the impression that the show ended, but then surprising the audience with a second 90 second finale. This program extended the usual run time from of about twenty-two minutes to more than twenty-five and one-half minutes.
Fireworks lovers are impressed by what they see happening in the sky but usually don’t think much about all the creativity and hard work that provides the stunning visuals they enjoy at a Grucci Fireworks show. It takes two and one-half days to set up the Westport show, with a six person pyrotechnic team headed by ten-year Grucci veteran Chief Pyrotechnician Mike Wassemer, including loading up the barge with equipment, testing on the day of show, and another day to strike the set-up.
They produce many of the designs and products here in the US and have recently been taking note incorporating Japanese designs which create the illusion of a spinning “disco ball”, a highly technical feat which causes burning particles to change color giving the appearance that the ball is spinning. Many of their products are created in their upstate NY facility, however they also import some of their high-end products from Spain and Italy from the port city of Bari, on the Adriatic where the Grucci family has roots dating back to 1850. They source only the finest products internationally for use in their many epic performances.
The design of the Grucci show incorporates a variation of intense bursts with a more subtle display to effect the audience emotions. The large shells used for the dramatic, gigantic bursts is an 8” in diameter shell which is fired 700-800 feet into the sky and will create an 800 to 900 foot in diameter effect.
Their most epic product ever was developed recently: a aerial shell which weighs 3500 pounds, is 66” in diameter and is fired from a mortar that is 20 feet high, with steel walls that are more than 2 inches thick, which will be fired at midnight on New Year’s Eve in the United Arab Emirates. That shell has been phased tested and will receive a final test possibly later this summer. Phil described it as “the most nerve-wracking single button you’ll ever push in your life” as he laughed.
A key member of the team on show day is the show producer who operates in the “control room” which Mr. Grucci described as a mini-NASA who sets everything into motion from the arming of the systems to the actual launching.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Always seeking to maintain their standing at the pinnacle of the competitive world of pyrotechnic entertainment and staying on the cutting edge of technical achievement, Grucci began using drones a few years back and set the first certified world record for deploying 220 drones in a show. They now have made a large investment in their drone fleet now numbering more than 500 UAV’s. They can even deploy the fleet to create a QR code of the organization that is sponsoring the event. They have now adapted their drone capability to lift pyrotechnics for use in their programs and can trigger them without damaging the drone.
We were fortunate enough to enjoy one of their larger performances a few years back for the New London Sailfest, which was a truly spectacular 3-barge program on the Thames River. We saw the Grucci caravan of 4 Black Suburbans resembling a presidential motorcade arrive, each bearing the license plates, Grucci 1, Grucci 2, etc. Phil joked that it was sometimes for show logistics than it was to move the entire extensive Grucci family!
A visit to Grucci.com is a must see for any lover of spectacular fireworks, especially their Portfolio pages where you can see incredible shows for both pyrotechnic, drone and pyrodrone performances.
Above, Phil Grucci at the controls of a recent program in the United Arab Emirates. (photo courtesy of Grucci Fireworks)
Long before the evening’s spectacular display, there was barely a patch of sand to plunk down your beach chair.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
The weekend’s heatwave continued and Westporters found respite in the water, with temperatures around 70º.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Fireworks by Gucci, America's first family of pyrotechnics and current holders of the Guinness World Record for the "Largest Fireworks Display" ever recorded gave Compo Beach the kind of thrilling show we have come to expect every July. They know how to light up the night sky, having done so worldwide for more than 150 years and there were reportedly new effects which debuted this year at the Compo Beach display.
As the sun begins to set the twinkling lights on the Melissa & Doug logo begin to become visible on the barge from which the show is launched.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
As they have for several years the family and friends of Andy Levi stake out their favorite spot near the cannons to celebrate the holiday and enjoy the show.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
The wonderful Compo Beach lifeguards were on scene and completed their shift in time to enjoy the show.
Generally, there was no shortage of excitement and enthusiasm… Generally, lol!
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
And there was no shortage of the red, white and blue.
There was plenty of the flags and flag decor to be found throughout the day. This group of teens proudly wore their 4th of July red, white and blue leis for the event.
All eyes turned skyward for more than 35 minutes to enjoy the dazzling array of pyrotechnics that soared above Long Island Sound.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
One group remembered to ad Old Glory to their seating arrangement.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Prior to the big show Compo lifeguards were all smiles with the highlight of their shift just ahead.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
July 4, 1776: We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident...
Photo of the row of American flags lining the entrance to Compo beach by J.C. Martin for WestportLocalPress.
Story by The Committee of Five: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman.
As much as we love our fourth of July festivities; the Compo fireworks, partying on the beach, the picnics and barbecues, gathering with friends to celebrate the holiday, what is most important is just what history changing event occurred 250 years ago today.
Here is the text of the Declaration Of Independence:
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
A Reading of the Declaration by a group of what were "A List" celebrities of the day is well worth a view.
The dramatic reading of the Declaration, was produced in 2010 by Norman Lear and Rob Reiner at Independence Hall in Philadelphia and became part of a national tour that showcased an original 1776 Dunlap broadside. This was the first printed and published version of the Declaration of Independence. Printed overnight on July 4, 1776, by Philadelphia printer John Dunlap, it served as the original "breaking news" copy.
The 14-minute short film, which was directed by Arvin Brown and Frank Capra III with a score by John Williams, was frequently screened at museums and presidential libraries alongside the historic document.
A Reading Of The Declaration Of Independence
As Always, Truly Spectacular! Compo Fireworks Thrill Thousands
Photos By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Thanks to Westport PAL, the generosity of Melissa & Doug Bernstein and town staff and volunteers, Westport's biggest party of the year was a fantastic kickoff to summer fun in Westport.
Here are a few photos of the show. More pics of the display and the great audience photos will be available on Monday. Check back to see more!
A Devoted Mother Osprey Shelters Her Young From Blazing Sun
Screenshot from Milford Point Audubon Live Osprey Cam. Story by J.C. Martin
This dangerous heatwave continues to stress out people and animals alike. This mother Osprey at the Milford Point Audubon, Milford, CT is spreading her wings to shield her three juvenile offspring from the blazing sun, making herself hotter in the process. They are barely visible under her wings. Temps at 1:00 PM were already nearly 90º ambient temperature with the actual temps in the sun even higher.
We can safely assume Westport's Osprey families located at Terrain/Fresh Market, Longshore and near Sherwood Island will be doing the same thing.
According to the Dyfi Osprey Project extreme heat can be highly dangerous for baby ospreys. Because nests are high up and completely exposed to the elements, prolonged high temperatures (especially over 90°F–100°F) can lead to severe heat stress, lethargy, and dehydration.
Adult ospreys work incredibly hard to shield their young from direct sunlight and hot weather. They adapt by:
- Shading: Spreading their wings outward like an umbrella or awning to create a "shade wall" that covers the chicks.
- Cooling: Panting to release body heat through evaporative cooling, or taking dips in nearby water sources and returning with wet feathers to act as natural air conditioners.
- Fanning: Raising their body feathers to increase airflow.
You can view the Milford Point Live Osprey Cam24 hours a day and see these magnificent raptors up close.Her three chicks have grown quite a bit and will soon be ready to fledge, so make sure you see them while you can!