PGI 2022 Recap

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Just got back from the 2022 PGI convention. This year it was held in Newton, Iowa at the NASCAR track called "Iowa Raceway."

From my perspective, this was not a great convention for many reasons.

The public got to sit on the left side of the grandstands, and the show was built on the left side of the infield in front of them. The 1700 PGI members had to sit on the right side. So we were looking sideways at the show. We were not allowed to dig any holes I'm told due to all the communications and other wiring running around the track. So all the guns were set in barrels filled with sand. The shows were good, but nothing to write home about.

Ground salutes, the rocket line, and the "B line" were located out where the public parks for races. They had plenty of room to shoot, and as far as I know, there was only 1 mishap. A rocket fell back to earth and hit someone in the forehead. He was patched up and continued firing rockets.

The commercial shoot site or "C Line" where I usually work was once again a total cluster. This year we were located on the right side of the infield. Commercial vendors (there were 11 this year) were located in the garages that NASCAR uses for cars during races. Like every other year, we were inundated with people shooting juiced up and blatantly 1.3G products on the C Line. There are 5 of us on the C Line who are expected to visually check and identify non-1.4G effects from 11 different vendors, in the dark, from entering the C Line. Clearly an impossible task. We usually find out a cake is juiced after it's shot and the salutes go off.

Having said al that... We were told that the rules have changed, and Articles of Pyrotechnics (AOP) products can now be up to 1K grams! So (for example) Thunder King salute cakes previously designated as 1.3G are now 1.4G UN0431 and available for purchase for people without a 54 license. Spirit of 76 demo'd a cake that was all salutes, and another fan cake that contained traditional 1.4G effects and salutes. I haven't been to their website yet to see what these are, but since they don't normally sell 1.3G products, I'm assuming the bump up to 1K grams per cake is true.

Another problem we had is the labeling. Based on the little research I was able to do yesterday, it appears that China is insisting on shipping AOP products as 1.3G.... But when it gets to the USA vendors can rename them 1.4G UN00431, UN0432. So the people we were dealing with saw the label that said it was 1.3G in China, but 1.4G in the USA. What they didn't understand is the UN designation made it AOP, and therefor not legal to be shot on the C Line. I posted 3 videos on my You Tube site from the last night of shooting on the C Line so you can see the chaos for yourself. I will try and post them here shortly.

Anyway...

That's the basics of the shooting.

The site is nice. The town is nice. The restaurants were good, but understaffed. No one knew we were coming. More advertising needs to be done.

If NASCAR waives their $250K user fee for the track, we will be going back there next year. If not, it looks like Appleton Wisconsin will be the next stop.

[cduesman]

The AOP product rule changes I believe is the "2018 APA STANDARD 87-1C". It took almost 4 years to start seeing the changes.

You can read the details here:
https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/2021-09/2018%20APA%2087-1%20C.pdf

There are changes on the consumer side as well. One of the nice changes is the tube spacing for small tube 500g cakes. If the tubes are small/meet the requirements, they no longer require the normal 500g tube spacing. This can result in smaller small tube fan cakes. Smaller size saves on shipping costs.

Chris

[Arles]

Great info, thanks for the write up!

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Here is some of the action from the (1.4G) C-Line:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YrECRt-6tw&list=PLhf2Xsn_yacpfmctNjikh2R-0GrZ4zhYs

More fun...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV6UI8BYqJs&list=PLhf2Xsn_yacpfmctNjikh2R-0GrZ4zhYs&index=2

And more chaos...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oInIByUvEmA&list=PLhf2Xsn_yacpfmctNjikh2R-0GrZ4zhYs&index=3

[Rick_In_Tampa]

The AOP product rule changes I believe is the "2018 APA STANDARD 87-1C". It took almost 4 years to start seeing the changes.

You can read the details here:
https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/2021-09/2018%20APA%2087-1%20C.pdf

There are changes on the consumer side as well. One of the nice changes is the tube spacing for small tube 500g cakes. If the tubes are small/meet the requirements, they no longer require the normal 500g tube spacing. This can result in smaller small tube fan cakes. Smaller size saves on shipping costs.

Chris

Thanks for the reference. I'll dig into it.

[topshelfpyro]

Here is some of the action from the (1.4G) C-Line:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YrECRt-6tw&list=PLhf2Xsn_yacpfmctNjikh2R-0GrZ4zhYs

More fun...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV6UI8BYqJs&list=PLhf2Xsn_yacpfmctNjikh2R-0GrZ4zhYs&index=2

And more chaos...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oInIByUvEmA&list=PLhf2Xsn_yacpfmctNjikh2R-0GrZ4zhYs&index=3

The C line was CHAOS from 5pm till it was shut down every night! I wish I realized you were there I would have said hello.
Some of the boom cans that were going to thru the c line hit as hard as some of the ground salutes. Holy crap I'm saluted out till next year.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

The C line was CHAOS from 5pm till it was shut down every night! I wish I realized you were there I would have said hello.
Some of the boom cans that were going to thru the c line hit as hard as some of the ground salutes. Holy crap I'm saluted out till next year.

It really was. We generally have trouble on the first day, but we're able to set the tone and keep people in line and have a good time the rest of the week. This one was different. We had 3 near physical altercations the very first day. I was knee dep in the first one. Just insanity. 1% of the people are just a-holes that cause 99% of the trouble. We had 1 guy tossing M-80's around like they were firecrackers. Didn't care who was around him. We had a hang-fire in one cake that turned out to be a salute that went off, thankfully, while no one was near it. Our one guy is usually pretty good about clearing out the fired cakes so people can come in behind and shoot. Thankfully he didn't touch this one of he'd be missing a hand right now.

If we go to Newtown next year, we're going to move the C line out by the ground salute area and move them over by the B line. I told them I want a spot just for the kids and moms to go and do their fountains and spinners and such, without risk of getting a salute rocket in the back. We shall see.

Sorry you didn't know I was there. Maybe I'll see you next year!

[WithReport]

Thanks for the reference. I'll dig into it.

We had some discussion on this last year, too: https://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/showthread.php?8981-ATF-Clarifies-Articles-Of-Pyrotechnics-Oct-2021-Newsletter&p=74138#post74138

From what I was told at that time from an importer, was if you are already brining in 1.3 it might be easy to manage. But there are some that were just brining in AOP and 1.4 consumer and wouldn't be able to do this 1.3 to 1.4 swap. It has to ship 1.3 all the way to the final destination.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

We had some discussion on this last year, too: https://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/showthread.php?8981-ATF-Clarifies-Articles-Of-Pyrotechnics-Oct-2021-Newsletter&p=74138#post74138

From what I was told at that time from an importer, was if you are already brining in 1.3 it might be easy to manage. But there are some that were just brining in AOP and 1.4 consumer and wouldn't be able to do this 1.3 to 1.4 swap. It has to ship 1.3 all the way to the final destination.

It was confusing the crap out of everyone. The labels on many of the cakes said "1.3G in China. 1.4G in the USA." So of course every time we said they couldn't shoot it on the consumer grade line, they pointed out that the label said it's 1.4G in the USA! When we started talking UN numbers, we got the deer in the headlights look and more yelling. Like I told my friend who runs the C line, we can't keep playing these shell games. We need a 1.4 line. Period. No gradations of G. Just a 1.4 line. But we need to keep the kids safe so we need a family line too. We'll see what happens next year, but that's my position on it right now.

[esgrillo]

some of those were extra "juicy" lol

[Scotty Rockets]

Unfortunately they’re irresponsible dealers and responsible dealers. Fingers crossed but I can foresee AOP eventually being limited or controlled by the alphabet groups do to misuse and the irresponsible dealers selling to every Tom Dick and Harry, lol.

This convention was one of the best personally however that site truly sucked and I hope a few changes are made if there’s a repeat. Class C needs to move, especially now with the “legal” OL’s. Whether it was the afterglow or production pre-show preparations, it was more than just distracting.

The public displays definitely felt lesser this year in comparison to past years, I’m guessing that the show budgets were not increase or just slightly increased. The class C shows really brought it this year, I hope this becomes the norm and hopefully they consider scheduling C shows on public nights.

The grand public display night from the public’s prospective couldn’t have been enjoyable, heck it wasn’t enjoyable for pyros. It was long winded chatter that went on and on, save it for non public nights at least.

[Engineer Cat]

I bet it's a lot of fun. But it just seems like to much of a hassle being they always hold them in the middle of the country. Pay for hotel and flight etc. I guess they figure it's a good spot since pretty much everyone will have to travel there unless you live in one of the 4 states it's usually in. There's a lot of people that have posted I'm done with PGI but I'm not sure if that's because each year it seems to be getting more and more chaotic or if it's for other reasons. Also many of you guys go every year so what's your though on it?

[WithReport]

... being they always hold them in the middle of the country. ...

Middle? If you are in NJ, say NE NJ; Newton is probably 800-1200 miles closer for you than those of us on the west coast.

We feel lucky when it is at Gillette (which is a wonderful huge venue), but still 1100 to 1600 miles away.

Maybe we can actually have it west of the continental divide someday - LOL, but I won't hold my breath.

[Engineer Cat]

SO.. I just finished reading the http://https://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/showthread.php?9331-Safety-Considerations-you-wish-you-knew-when-you-started thread and I think I answered my own question about PGI. I don't want to be in an environment where some chick or dude that knows nothing or has no respect for fireworks is able to toss a cake in the field and light it. AND THEN try to do it again after being told the safe way to shoot it.

Rick I don't know how you have the patients for that. And that was just your position? How many others were doing stupid shit like that that you didn't see?

[Engineer Cat]

HA Newton is close about 40 mins west of me. I'm 10 mins from Giant Stadium (Met Life) a few miles outside of Manhattan.

Yea I feel for you guys on the west coast. NOTHING west of the continental divide ever. At least there was one over here in PA like 5 years ago or so. But nothing closer to the west side.

[Bgreen]

The biggest problem of Pgi was the c line safety people. You all suck. Zero problems any where else but the way you all treat people needs to be addressed. All you guys did was yell an threaten to kick people out for lighting legit legal cakes. I even witnessed you all say a 60 gram can from dominator was to loud. A legit consumer can. The chaos you see in your video was people lighting as much as they could in the sub 30 minutes we where aloud to shoot. People are pretty discussed by the way you all treated folks down there. You all literally had to tape over the rules to justify yelling at a guy.

[Bgreen]

You all should set the c area up like you did in Wyoming a c line an a c + area an we needed more room you had a ton of people piled on top of one another in that little area with almost zero time to light stuff after dark.. some nights less then 30 minutes of night time shooting 100-200/300 people trying to light stuff. also you all Should of been aware of the laws being changed things you are calling “overloads” are completely legal an legit now.

[topshelfpyro]

You all should set the c area up like you did in Wyoming a c line an a c + area an we needed more room you had a ton of people piled on top of one another in that little area with almost zero time to light stuff after dark.. some nights less then 30 minutes of night time shooting 100-200/300 people trying to light stuff. also you all Should of been aware of the laws being changed things you are calling “overloads” are completely legal an legit now.

No they are not legal and legit. The only thing that is legal to have salutes in is UN 0431 1.4pro which was CLEARLY stated to be shot on the ground salute line!

Those salute cans and salute cakes were absolutely not "legal" since salutes nor flash powder is allowed in UN0336 consumer 1.4g fireworks.

[AMERICA1776Again]

-Requested 30amp RV camping spot, was told when we arrived we were given a 50amp and deal with it. Buy a converter..... so we did and spent my PGI SHIRT MONEY on that instead this year.
-Watched countless PRE-REGISTERED people be told that their payments didn't go thru and get into line and pay full price.
-People Movers...... that was a joke I assume since we seen them running maybe 5-6 times.
-I enjoyed ice cold showers all week since the showers in camping were not sufficient.
-Watched people buy blind in csales and go out to use devices only to get berated and abused verbally without understanding why.
-No water refilling stations or water fountains (found two the entire week) one vendor for food and water, water was $5 a bottle when it was toppling 100 degrees the entire week.
-One ATM on site that had not been serviced since 2019 (we called and asked the number on the side).
-Wasted almost two tanks of gas driving from line to line in one week......
-Limited night (dark) cline shooting. We travel thousands of miles to enjoy seeing people on cline from other states who travel far as well only to be told you are not important enough to do what is advertised.
-Paid upwards of 350 dollars guild fees and admission to be given TERRIBLE SEATING for DISPLAYS when local pay $40 and don't hVe thousands of miles of driving...... ...

In a nutshell. I'm half way tempted to call my bank and dispute the guilds charges. They advertised and sold us on going by having eminities they didn't deliver on. Basically lied to get us there........ can't wait til next year, we are going with intentions nothing will be delivered on so we won't be disappointed. I could keep listing things but it's so sad and morally just beats me down thinking about last week..... I actually contemplated giving up all things pyro middle of last week because of the way people were treated.

[AMERICA1776Again]

It was not CLEARLY stated on day one when the safety was ripping off labels on Articles and screaming these were illegal and getting banned from csales. The sign put up the following day at csales was not there and tape was put over the sign on cline stating you could use Articles/Pro on cline.

[leftiluci]

People like you are the reason why I quit pgi in 2016. You enjoy yourself taking the very soul away of what this hobby is all about. "Old guard " mentality. . Yes there should be a separate spot for younger children and s&s .that isn't any new news that you safety power trippers didn't already know. If not to buy and light the best and loudest you can find.,why travel,, pay for membership, and deal with consistently lousy amenities. If shutting down vendors and yelling at people who are trying to have fun gets you off,maybe you should have it in california. Great job at the rocket rodeo "safety team ". You forgot to put the P before the rest of your name rick ❤,Luci

[Rick_In_Tampa]

People like you are the reason why I quit pgi in 2016. You enjoy yourself taking the very soul away of what this hobby is all about. "Old guard " mentality. . Yes there should be a separate spot for younger children and s&s .that isn't any new news that you safety power trippers didn't already know. If not to buy and light the best and loudest you can find.,why travel,, pay for membership, and deal with consistently lousy amenities. If shutting down vendors and yelling at people who are trying to have fun gets you off,maybe you should have it in california. Great job at the rocket rodeo "safety team ". You forgot to put the P before the rest of your name rick ❤,Luci

I am so happy to hear that you are no longer a part of the PGI. Clearly you are one of the geniuses that thinks he should be able to shoot 1.3G products anywhere you want, just because you paid to travel to a PGI convention. If "yelling at people who are trying to have fun" includes preventing members from tossing M-80's randomly around the C Line, or preventing someone from lighting a 1K gram cake and picking it up and walking away with it, then you're damn right I'm going to spoil your fun. If you consider that a "power trip" then so be it. I'm not there to cater to or safeguard your feelings. I'm there to keep people safe. Keeping people with your mentality off the C Line and preferably out of the PGI altogether is an added bonus.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

This convention was one of the best personally however that site truly sucked and I hope a few changes are made if there’s a repeat. Class C needs to move, especially now with the “legal” OL’s. Whether it was the afterglow or production pre-show preparations, it was more than just distracting.

The site has some issues, yes. But I think we're going to be able to work most of them out if we return next year. The C line will definitely be moving out by the ground salutes or B line.

The afterglow issues bothered a lot of members I spoke with. What most don't know is, the catering company we hired for afterglows pulled out 3 days before the convention. That would have been great info to share on the Whova app. Some people might have still been upset, but at least they would have known what happened.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

I bet it's a lot of fun. But it just seems like to much of a hassle being they always hold them in the middle of the country. Pay for hotel and flight etc. I guess they figure it's a good spot since pretty much everyone will have to travel there unless you live in one of the 4 states it's usually in. There's a lot of people that have posted I'm done with PGI but I'm not sure if that's because each year it seems to be getting more and more chaotic or if it's for other reasons. Also many of you guys go every year so what's your though on it?

I'm not sure how true it is because I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but.... A member told me a few years ago that a survey of the members was once done and it was determined that Gillette, Wyoming is the geographic center of the membership. So anything out in Iowa or Wisconsin or Pennsylvania is too far for many people to travel. Fargo and Gillette are not an option next year due to scheduling conflicts. Mason City is being remodeled (whatever that means) so it's not an option. So even though there are a handful of sites we can use, they don't always line up with the time we want to have a convention.

As for why members don't renew... I only work on the C line, so I can only speak to what I think about what happens there. In my own humble opinion, when a person pays money to go to a PGI convention to shoot class C products, they should be able to shoot class C products; especially at night; the entire time they are there. As it is now, we have to close down for all the major shows. Then we have to close down for competition shell shows. Then we have curfews. So there are lots of things that prevent a class C shooter from enjoying their time at the convention. We need to fix that. I think our plan for moving the C line next year (assuming we're going back to Newton) will solve most, if not all of those issues.

I heard many of the older members say that "we should go back to how we did it 20 year ago when the C line NEVER opened back up after a show!" I think that' s an entirely wrong attitude and I plan to fight that kind of antiquated mentality so people can shoot on the C line every day they are there.

[esgrillo]

I am so happy to hear that you are no longer a part of the PGI. Clearly you are one of the geniuses that thinks he should be able to shoot 1.3G products anywhere you want, just because you paid to travel to a PGI convention. If "yelling at people who are trying to have fun" includes preventing members from tossing M-80's randomly around the C Line, or preventing someone from lighting a 1K gram cake and picking it up and walking away with it, then you're damn right I'm going to spoil your fun. If you consider that a "power trip" then so be it. I'm not there to cater to or safeguard your feelings. I'm there to keep people safe. Keeping people with your mentality off the C Line and preferably out of the PGI altogether is an added bonus.

Preach it Rick

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Rick I don't know how you have the patients for that. And that was just your position? How many others were doing stupid shit like that that you didn't see?

This year was a particularly stupid year. We had more than our fair share of morons attending the convention. Never before have things devolved to the point where a physical altercation was imminent. That happened the very first hour of the convention this year, and there were many close calls this year.

As the one former member posted in this thread, they feel they should be able to fire the biggest and loudest effects they can get their hands on when they go to a PGI event. Not sure why these fools think safety rules go out the window just because it's a PGI event, but they don't. Personally, I couldn't care less if someone blows themselves up being ignorant. I would probably enjoy seeing a few people carted away in a bucket. But I worry about the families and especially the small kids. I focus on keeping them safe. As I mentioned previously, there are only 5 of us to police the C line. We miss lots of cakes because we are just outnumbered, and we can't possibly be familiar with all of the products that 11 vendors bring in by the truckload. That's another reason why I want to see us have just 1 C Line where members can shoot every flavor of class C, and have the families moved elsewhere so they won't be in the line of fire. That's my goal.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

You all should set the c area up like you did in Wyoming a c line an a c + area an we needed more room you had a ton of people piled on top of one another in that little area with almost zero time to light stuff after dark.. some nights less then 30 minutes of night time shooting 100-200/300 people trying to light stuff. also you all Should of been aware of the laws being changed things you are calling “overloads” are completely legal an legit now.

I absolutely love hearing from people like you because you do such a great job reinforcing the points I make about the type of people we have to deal with at these conventions. The "you all suck" comment was particularly informative and enlightening. So thank you.

A few points for you to consider.

1. A wide open space divided by a mountain of sand in Wyoming is markedly different from a parking lot on the infield of a NASCAR track in Iowa.
2.The event organizers decide who shoots where, not the safety team members. We have and will provide input to them for future conventions, but we don't make the decisions on where we shoot.
3. The only absolute in life is death. So when you make comments like "All you guys did was..." one can immediately dismiss everything that follows as utter BS. Clearly, we did more than that.
4. The times we are open and closed are also dictated by the PGI Board members and the Vendor/Safety team leadership. Not the safety people working the C line. We encouraged every person that voiced a concern to show up to the Business Meeting to voice their concern(s) to the Board. Not a single one of you took us up on the offer. I guess it's easier to be a keyboard commando.
5. We literally taped over "1.4 Pro" on a sign that was made 5 years ago, before AOP cakes could contain 1K grams of powder and could be shot on the C-line. We also posted a sign that escaped your keen observation skills that read "All UN0431 and UN0432 effects must be shot on the B Line." A similar sign was located in the vending area.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

No they are not legal and legit. The only thing that is legal to have salutes in is UN 0431 1.4pro which was CLEARLY stated to be shot on the ground salute line!

Those salute cans and salute cakes were absolutely not "legal" since salutes nor flash powder is allowed in UN0336 consumer 1.4g fireworks.

Eggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg-zactly!! It's so nice to see that some people actually get it. :cool:

[Rick_In_Tampa]

It was not CLEARLY stated on day one when the safety was ripping off labels on Articles and screaming these were illegal and getting banned from csales. The sign put up the following day at csales was not there and tape was put over the sign on cline stating you could use Articles/Pro on cline.

Tell me which member of the C Line safety team screamed at you and I will address it with the safety team leader. To my knowledge, no one on the safety team screamed at anyone, or banned anything from C sales as we do not have the authority to ban anything. The sign you refer to at C sales is the same sign that was put up on day 1 at the C line that said UN0431 and UN0432 items must be shot on the B line. That is what made those effects "illegal" on the C line. If the word "illegal" confused the issue, the sign saying you can't shoot those effects on the C line should have cleared things up for you.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Preach it Rick

Some folks don't have the good sense God gave dryer lint. smh...

[flashfuse]

Tell me which member of the C Line safety team screamed at you and I will address it with the safety team leader. To my knowledge, no one on the safety team screamed at anyone, or banned anything from C sales as we do not have the authority to ban anything. The sign you refer to at C sales is the same sign that was put up on day 1 at the C line that said UN0431 and UN0432 items must be shot on the B line. That is what made those effects "illegal" on the C line. If the word "illegal" confused the issue, the sign saying you can't shoot those effects on the C line should have cleared things up for you.

I was on the C-line every day, when it was open except Friday, I did not see or hear any member of the safety Team yell or disrespect anyone, and mind you, they all had reasons too at times. In My opinion, the safety team did a pretty damn good job despite the obstacles put infront of them.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

I was on the C-line every day, when it was open except Friday, I did not see or hear any member of the safety Team yell or disrespect anyone, and mind you, they all had reasons too at times. In My opinion, the safety team did a pretty damn good job despite the obstacles put infront of them.

With the exception of 1 guy that was hurling f-bombs at us from across the parking lot, I didn't see any of our team yelling at anyone. As you noted, there were plenty more that deserved being yelled at.

Glad you enjoyed your time. If we go back to Newton next year, hopefully we'll have more space to work and shoot every flavor of class C.

[Engineer Cat]

Maybe PGI can provide a large sticker roll to the vendors that say C on it and have them slap it on all the C product after purchase so it's easier for you guys to spot the rouge cakes being brought in. It might be a hassle for the vendors but might help you guys to not have to deal with irrational people or argue if that item should be in the C line or not. Have them make the sticker reflective so your flashlight easily spot if it's class C or not.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Maybe PGI can provide a large sticker roll to the vendors that say C on it and have them slap it on all the C product after purchase so it's easier for you guys to spot the rouge cakes being brought in. It might be a hassle for the vendors but might help you guys to not have to deal with irrational people or argue if that item should be in the C line or not. Have them make the sticker reflective so your flashlight easily spot if it's class C or not.

I made that same suggestion the past 3 years. The counter-argument made by my boss is that there are just too many effects being brought in to the C line and too few of us to catch most of the juiced up cakes. Then we have people who bring stuff from home that doesn't come from vending anyway. So we are left with either having juiced up cakes on the current C line, or we move the line where people can shoot every flavor of class C cake. My vote is for the latter.

[leftiluci]

I made that same suggestion the past 3 years. The counter-argument made by my boss is that there are just too many effects being brought in to the C line and too few of us to catch most of the juiced up cakes. Then we have people who bring stuff from home that doesn't come from vending anyway. So we are left with either having juiced up cakes on the current C line, or we move the line where people can shoot every flavor of class C cake. My vote is for the latter.

You like to combine several different points into your diatribe. Like liars do, say one truth that no-one
could deny then include your own agenda . in Just the same way governments sneak their own agendas into popular law changes. I am not talking about unsafe lighting practices, idiots moving ,lit cakes, or randomly throwing m 80s. My point is you're not the cpsc , just a c line mall cop. If a product has a 1,4 g label then boo hoo if it's a baby b or a little juicy . as long as it is being lit safely should be your main responsibility. There is much more danger possible from a compliant noab than an o.l. 1/1. And people wonder why membership and vendors are diminished. Running around to see labels on cpsc passed 1,4 product that you've personally determined to be 1.3 by your ears only ,is pathetic, and only serves to distract the "safety teams " purpose. What's going wrong in your life that makes you feel like that? Everyone signed a waiver. Let freedom ring

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Spoke with the C Line boss about some of the feedback I've received, and he provided the following response:

Iowa Seedway being a new site presented challenges, some logistical, others with food vendors, transportation, etc. Unfortunately, PGI needs permission from NASCAR to do anything or provide certain amenities, food services, even people movers.

The PGI board has a list of lesson learned from this new site. No event is perfect and the more services provided during a convention causes fees go up. There's a delicate balance to ensure every member gets to enjoy the reason they attend.

For some, it's competing, seeing the shell they made, rocket, etc. that week or over a course of months launch out of that tube in grand fashion.

For others, it's making art, taking photos and enjoying fellowship along with the public displays and the always popular Jr. Pyro show and wild Rocket Rodeo.

Last but not least, the true back yard pyro. Those members who enjoy consumer fireworks. Of which is often the most controversial due to changes in composition, increase in maximum allowable black powder or flash.

PGI is about all of these things.

Mission

Since its founding in 1969, the PGI has been dedicated to helping you do whatever you love and want to do in fireworks, legally and safely. Whether that is enjoying consumer fireworks with family and friends, becoming a fireworks display operator, learning how fireworks are made, photographing fireworks displays, collecting pyro memorabilia – or all those things and everything in between - there are PGI members that share those same passions.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

You like to combine several different points into your diatribe. Like liars do, say one truth that no-one
could deny then include your own agenda . in Just the same way governments sneak their own agendas into popular law changes. I am not talking about unsafe lighting practices, idiots moving ,lit cakes, or randomly throwing m 80s. My point is you're not the cpsc , just a c line mall cop. If a product has a 1,4 g label then boo hoo if it's a baby b or a little juicy . as long as it is being lit safely should be your main responsibility. There is much more danger possible from a compliant noab than an o.l. 1/1. And people wonder why membership and vendors are diminished. Running around to see labels on cpsc passed 1,4 product that you've personally determined to be 1.3 by your ears only ,is pathetic, and only serves to distract the "safety teams " purpose. What's going wrong in your life that makes you feel like that? Everyone signed a waiver. Let freedom ring

Once again you highlight why people like you have no business being a member of PGI or any other pyro organization. Thanks for sharing!

[leftiluci]

Well gosh Rick, shouldn't collecting old fireworks be illegal?.since most everything in the collectors corner is now non compliant. Shouldn't you please shut that down? I mean even old firecrackers are considered 1.3 in todays standards

[Arles]

What's going wrong in your life that makes you feel like that?

Says the angry internet dude trying to be provocative.

[leftiluci]

No anger or ill will. ,it's just fireworks. Nothing personal. Just pointing out altruistic misunderstandings .I'm not the one who needs to post over and over to get the last bark like a dog. Thought this was a country of free speech and opinions. Disagreement doesn't equal anger .