Lasers Light Up the Sky on the Fourth of July

Paul Pritchard has lived near Bass Lake for 16 years. He says he moved to this mountain community near Yosemite to get out of Los Angeles. And he makes the most of it, especially during this season when it’s warm enough to take a dip.

“We always come out every weekend and sit on the shore and drink some beer and get wet,” says Pritchard.

And he never misses the annual Independence Day fireworks.

“It’s great. It’s fantastic,” he says. “It’s the best! Because there’s so many of them, they last for 30, 40 minutes and everyone’s happy.”

Lots of people agree including Michelle Miller. She helps run her family’s resort, Miller’s Landing. She says the Fourth typically draws about 20,000 people.

“Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of boats and then they just completely pack the beaches,” she says.

And the best part of this more than 75-year-old tradition?

“The boom noise echoes in a circle around the trees. So it’s really something that is spectacular,” Miller says.

But a lot of those Ponderosa pine trees ringing the lake are now brown.

“You can see we have a lot of dead trees,” says Miller as she points to the far shore.  “They’re expecting a big portion to die by the end of summer.”

And there’s the threat of wildfires.

“We also had a fire that burned down to the water at the end of last summer in September,” Miller says. “If you drive through that neighborhood, it is just devastating.” The fire destroyed more than 30 homes.

“Everyone’s just on edge with the dry conditions,” Miller says.

So this summer, the local chamber of commerce is dropping the fireworks for a display of laser lights.

The lasers “move to the music,” says Miller. “It’s all choreographed and we’ll be playing, you know, patriotic songs.”

Tim Anderson, owner of Nu-Salt Laser Light Shows International, says the drought has led to more inquiries from people looking for a safe alternative to fireworks displays.

And Bass Lake is not the only community going without fireworks. Kern County, also in the Central Valley, has banned fireworks from all county parks until the drought is over.

“Fireworks are spectacular and there’s really no replacement for that,” says Miller. "But instead of having nothing, we’re doing something and I think it’s gonna be fun.”

She says the lights will be displayed from a barge out on the lake, the same place where the fireworks were set off.

Miller says locals are on board with the change. Well, for the most part.

“No I like the fireworks,” Pritchard says. But then Miller informs him that he’s just given a bad answer. “Bad answer?” he asks. “Oh no.”

Miller reminds him it’s something new and different. And then there’s the mention of why the laser show is a good substitute: no threat of starting a wildfire.

Last year, Pritchard and his family were evacuated from their house because of a wildfire so he starts to come around.  “Well that’d be a good idea,” he says. “Let’s try it out.”

And then, he turns to his 2-year-old sidekick, a kid he and his wife are babysitting.

“Braden, look, do you like the fireworks or the laser? Say laser,” says Pritchard. And then Braden says laser the way a 2-year-old might and everyone laughs.

Sometimes children know best.