In Bovill, a homegrown fireworks show

For Paulette DeRusha and Mike McCann, the Bovill Independence Day fireworks show started as an event between friends.

The two have spent the last few months and the last week finalizing the show for tonight at Bovill.

The Bovill Pyrotechnics Crew, which organizes the show each year, is composed exclusively these days of DeRusha and McCann, but they are in the process of adding a third person. They keep safety and having a family-friendly event at the top of their priority list, and both the fire department and sheriff’s department will be available to help.

There will be hamburgers, hot dogs and other food available for purchase. This year has a few changes, DeRusha said, including additional restrooms and an online way to pay for those who don’t carry cash.

“It’s nice to have people come to our town and get to see it,” DeRusha said.

DeRusha said she had moved next door to McCann in 2005, and it was around 2006 when they did their first fireworks show together. It was just for them and was held it across the street from their homes. They would continue this tradition of putting on their own show each year on the Fourth of July, slowing growing in size.

A few years later, they noticed cars had started to park along the road to watch the show, and they decided to move it to a park in town before outgrowing that spot and finally adopting Boville City Park.

“By word of mouth alone it grew exponentially every year,” DeRusha said. “People come from quite a ways away.”

It has continued to grow through word of mouth, DeRusha said, and last year the city of Bovill roughly tripled in size for the night.

The show usually lasts about 45 minutes, and is one of the longest in the country, according to DeRusha. Most shows average around 15 minutes, she said.

“We had them in excess of an hour at one time, but found the kids were getting restless,” DeRusha said.

The Bovill show always lands on the Friday before the Fourth of July because the organizers didn’t want it to interfere with the Thunder in the Mountains Firework Show in Elk River, DeRusha said. McCann also helps run the Elk River show.

“We don’t want people to have to choose what show they are going to over the weekend,” DeRusha said.

DeRusha said it is McCann who runs the show every year and is trained in the pyrotechnics needed to do it.

It is also entirely funded by a mixture of the crew, donations from the previous year and sponsorships. The sponsors gave $500 and their logos were added to banners, social media posts, flyers and volunteers’ T-shirts.

“If you like the show, please give a donation, because that’s the only way we can keep the show going,” DeRusha said.

Kali Nelson can be reached at knelson@dnews.com.