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Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular returns with a bang — and 5,000 fireworks

Display designer Matt Shea was at work Saturday on the Charles River, preparing for the upcoming fireworks display that will accompany the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular on the Fourth of July.Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff/The Boston Globe

The Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular is preparing to return to the Charles River Monday with a bang — thousands of bangs, to be exact, with no fewer than 5,000 fireworks detonating over the course of the night’s flashy finale.

The fireworks, which are expected to run from 10:30 to 11:00 p.m., will be closer to crowds at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade than in the past, display designer Matt Shea told reporters during a press conference at the site on Saturday.

“It’s going to be closer this year, a couple hundred feet close, a little bit wider — sort of like an HD version of a fireworks display,” he said.

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Instead of launching the fireworks from a large barge in the Charles River, his team is shooting the fireworks from multiple “mini-barges,” said Shea, who arrived at the press conference by boat.

The mini-barges are designed to be “like floating fireworks islands,” which help create “a low imprint on the water” and spread the size of the show,” he explained.

The area around the Hatch Shell buzzed with activity Saturday as staffers prepared for the show, shifting stacks of stands onto the stage for the Boston Pops. The concert — which begins at 8 p.m. Monday — also features the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Middlesex County Volunteers Fifes & Drums, and acclaimed artists like Chaka Khan and Heather Headley.

As for the fireworks, preparations are “in a good place,” said Shea. The show involves about 1,700 pounds of explosives.

“We are well ahead of schedule for the loading of the fireworks this year and the weather has held up so far today, which is great, and the weather promises to be far better than it was last year on the Fourth of July.”

In 2021, fireworks were launched over the Boston Common, though the display was dampened by rain. In 2020, no festivities were held due to COVID-19.

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Monday will be the fifth time that the Atlas PyroVision Entertainment Group has conducted fireworks for the Boston Pops Spectacular. The company last produced pyrotechnics for the show in 2014, when the show was cut short by storms.

“It’s nice to be back here,” said Shea, who has designed displays around the world. “This takes the cake. It’s a fun event.”

Asked whether he has any anxieties about Monday, he said, “You don’t feel the pressure until about five minutes before showtime.”

A fireworks show conducted by Atlas PyroVision in Dover, N.H., in July 2021 was forced to end early after an unexpected explosion.

“We are always concerned about that,” Shea said. However, he said, this display was designed so that even if part of the show has to be stopped, the rest can continue.

Shea expects all the fireworks to be “fantastic,” but said the finale is his favorite.

“I was really happy with the music with the finale this year,” he said. “It allowed me to really do a design that is different, where it’s busy, and then it sort of slows down, and then it kicks up, and really is exciting.”

Pam Picard, executive producer of the event, said it feels “really special” to be back with the Boston Pops at the Hatch Shell for the first festivities since 2019.

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“I’ve worked on the show for 20 years, as have so many of the people who have done this — it’s very familial,” she said. “Being back here after so long, it’s like family, and it’s home.”


Camille Caldera was a Globe intern in 2022.Follow her on Twitter @camille_caldera.