Hoboken Italian feast of the Madonna Dei Martiri roman candle batteries

[Zenith]

Hi,
Iam originally from Hoboken NJ. I got into being a pyrotechnician due to the fact of living in the Italian section of Hoboken NJ. As a kid they used be Italian Feasts with lots of fireworks and there were quite a bit of old time pyroctechnicians in and around the area. As the years passed so did most of the feasts and fireworks. The reason was most of the original people from Hoboken either passed away or moved out. Today there are only 2 feasts and only one of them still has fireworks. In the YouTube link there are mortar tubes racks set up as roman candle batteries. One of the pyrotechnicians is the infamous John Serpico he is wearing the hat and khaki colored clothes.

Enjoy


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_6TaN6bc10&app=desktop

[displayfireworks1]

Great post here is another on I found

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3fUWvXlvKE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2oGuj1gptQ
http://pix.epodunk.com/locatorMaps/nj/NJ_18551.gif
http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kzux8zIWGw1qb9xcjo1_400.png
http://www.newjerseyrealestateguys.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/hoboken1.jpg

[matandch]

Hard to believe that this happened in NJ! Usually NJ is where "fun goes to die."

[Zenith]

Yes,
Unfortunaly this is the only Italian Feast in Hoboken that still has fireworks.
There are a 3 small 1 minute shows intermittent throughout the day during the procession.
Then there is the grand display later on in the evening. The grand display is shot in a part of Sinatra park toward the edge of the Hudson River. The feast is on the other end of the park this area really got developed over the years.

[displayfireworks1]

The Sinatra Park looks like a great location to shoot fireworks next to the river.
http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicv/vfiles8200.jpg
http://cache.boston.com/resize/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2008/04/18/1208572422_4583/539w.jpg
http://matchbin-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/public/sites/383/assets/JK7R_Frank_Sinatra_Park.JPG

[displayfireworks1]

At Matandch
Do not give up having fun in New Jersey I recently added Fireworks Extravaganza as an advertiser to pyrotalk. His main headquarters is located in New Jersey, he sells 1.3 fireworks and has agreed to help me get people ATF licensed in that area.

To Zenith
When I look at the video you posted I see white something sticking out of the mortars, what are those, this looks like traditional Italian product, did these guys make what they are shooting?

[Zenith]

Hi,
I believe that the actual tops of the roman candles have a thick paper nosing filled with black match.
The tops of the nosing have the black match sticking out alittle bit. The black match will then be entered inside of the quick match and secured with either a clove hitch knot or gum tape. The man With the hat John Serpico is an old time fireworks maker coming from a long family line of Italian pyrotechnicians. Surprisingly the roman candles are regular consumer candles. He makes the nosing due to the fact that the original fuses on roman candles are rather short this way having the blck match in the nosing will create more fire and light all 3 fuses simultanously.I going to post more clips tonight.

[Zenith]

Here are some of the rest of the clips from the feast.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMBek_A3vzY&app=desktop


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JawtJ0FNl9M

[Zenith]

Here is the final clip of the main fireworks show.
The show was all hand lit. In the one Clip above you can really here that quick match go as it lights up the fountain pieces. Hope you enjoy.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJie1LLmFxM

[PyroJoeNEPA]

I saw the clip of the fountains burning after you posted the first video that showed them in the setup ....those were beautiful! I can't get over how they kept getting higher & higher--near the end they were up higher than the basketball backstop. Awesome!

[PyroManiacs]

Very Nice Display!