Things that go 'Boom!' in the Weirs will again

WEIRS BEACH — After the summer that, in many ways, wasn’t, the feeling of many heading into the summer of 2021 is that there’s lost time to make up. That’s certainly the case for Stephen Pelkey, CEO of Atlas Fireworks and Pyrotechnics.

He’s not alone, either. A few months ago, he was wondering if this summer would be as quiet for his company as the last one was – soon, though, he was looking at the opposite circumstance.

“We’ve been so crazy busy, trying to pull everything together,” Pelkey said. Once the New England states started opening up, his phones started ringing. Now they’re fully booked up, and trying in 45 days to put together shows that usually have 12 months of lead time.

Pelkey is making sure that Weirs Beach is not left behind. The city of Laconia is hiring his company to put on the traditional 11:59 p.m., July 3 show at The Weirs to celebrate Independence Day. Usually, Weirs Beach businesses collectively fund a series of other shows on weekends for the rest of the summer, but many establishments are still hurting after 2020, and therefore don’t have extra money for fireworks shows.

That’s where Atlas Fireworks is stepping in, and is covering between 40 and 50% of the cost of shows starting July 10 and continuing each weekend through Aug. 14. Those shows will begin each Saturday at 9:30 p.m. and will be set off from barges in the lake.

The July 10 show, which Pelkey is calling “Thunder over Weirs,” will be a “much larger display,” he said, “basically the largest fireworks display for Winnipesaukee this year.”

Local businesses that are helping to underwrite the shows include Mix 94.1FM, North Water Marine, Tiki Hut Boats, East Coast Flightcraft, Service Master, the Naswa Resort, Weirs Jetski Rental, Halfmoon Entertainment and the Craft Beer Xchange.

“We are trying to help these businesses recover the best way that we can,” Pelkey said. “Those that can pitch in, great. Those that can’t no problem, we can make it happen… We hope to fill up the skies over Weirs Beach for the entire summer.”

Some other local Fourth of July fireworks displays include:

Bristol, July 3 at dusk, town beach on Newfound Lake

Center Harbor, July 4, 9:15 p.m., at town beach

Gilmanton, June 26, at dusk, at Crystal Lake Park

Laconia, July 3 at 11:59 p.m. at Weirs Beach, and July 4, 10 p.m., at Lake Opechee

Sandwich, July 3 at dusk, at Fairgrounds

Wolfeboro, July 2 at 9:30 p.m., Wolfeboro Bay

A complete list of fireworks – along with parades – will be published next week.