Come December, Bill Schermerhorn is not thinking so much about Christmas carols and other winter holiday tunes. A patriotic medley — a reminder of the Fourth of July — might be more appropriate.
That’s because December is the time that Schermerhorn, the creative director for Colonial Williamsburg’s signature events, is plotting strategy for the summer celebration of independence.
Grand festivities such as Colonial Williamsburg’s annual commemoration of America’s independence take on added significance in a place that played a vital role in the birth of a nation. This historic setting adds dimension and meaning to a national holiday.
But Colonial Williamsburg’s celebration is different and special, said Schermerhorn — a full-day affair that is choreographed down to the minute that culminates with spectacular fireworks set in the backdrop of a restored 18th-century town.
Planning for July 4 begins on July 5 of the previous year, says Robert Currie, the Foundation’s director of entertainment. It is a yearlong effort to plan and organize the event, and a critique of each year’s event is critical. Analyzing the highlights and what can be improved offer a road map for a smoother path for future programming.
Schermerhorn and Currie compare Colonial Williamsburg’s Fourth of July programming to a swan on a pond. Onlookers see graceful, flowing movement, but not what’s going on beneath the surface.
Making the Fourth of July memorable is, not surprisingly, a highly collaborative effort. Most conspicuous are museum staffers who stage the day’s iconic events — Colonial Williamsburg’s Fifes and Drums, who present a rousing parade and Salute to the States, and actor interpreters who perform readings of the Declaration of Independence. Staff from Public Safety are on hand to help with crowd movement and questions.
There are also numerous third-party vendors with specialized skills and equipment, such as audiovisual technicians and pyrotechnic experts. The city of Williamsburg, specifically fire and life safety professionals, conduct inspections ahead of time and stand ready to help on the day of the event.
The groundskeepers also have a role to play. Joanne Chapman, Colonial Williamsburg’s director of Landscape Services, noted that flammable debris — leaves, sticks, dead branches — must be removed from the area near the fireworks for obvious reasons. And the morning after the event, crews descend on that same ground to remove the cardboard casings of charges left behind from the fireworks’ detonation.
With so many collaborators, communication is critical. All those involved in the day’s events gather for a briefing that covers the expectations and timeline, and they remain in constant contact as the celebration unfolds.
Colonial Williamsburg’s other fireworks event — Grand Illumination — is closer to an 18th-century pyrotechnics display, Currie said, involving somewhat smaller shells, which create a more intense experience because they don’t travel quite as high. “July Fourth is a blend, taking some elements from Grand Illumination and adding to that larger shells that achieve higher elevation,” he said.
The aim in designing the events, Currie said, is to offer an experience that invites a novel way to reflect on the idea of America.
No detail is too small, including turning off the timed streetscape irrigation system — something that Chapman noted was once famously forgotten. Technology can also be the culprit. Much of the fireworks’ choreography is computerized, and Currie remembers one malfunction that was fixed just minutes before the event was to begin.
“We had 25 people all scrambling around, communicating on radios, and luckily we were able to figure it out,” Currie said. “No one in the crowd knew what had happened.”
And then there is the weather, which does not always cooperate. Colonial Williamsburg’s 2019 Fourth of July celebration went smoothly for much of the day, including a performance by Tony Award-winning singer and actress Anika Noni Rose. But 15 minutes before the fireworks were to begin, Currie got a call from city officials ordering a full evacuation because of an approaching storm.
“We have to be able to turn on a dime,” Currie said. “We plan for every contingency with the understanding that it could all be canceled.”
Indeed, two recent Fourth of July fireworks shows did not go on, in 2019 because of the weather and in 2020 because of the pandemic.
But if there was a silver lining of the pandemic’s social distancing, Currie said, it is that people now seem more open to celebrating outdoors. A spring program called CW Lights and Grand Illumination’s expansion to three weekends instead of the usual single-day event were born of pandemic-era adjustments. Such experimentation frees planners like Currie and Schermerhorn to expand the entertainment and celebrate the American story in creative ways — an especially important opportunity in light of plans to celebrate a milestone in 2026.
“Everything we’re doing now is leading up to the nation’s 250th anniversary,” Schermerhorn said. “We can try all sorts of different things and see what works.”