Used in 12th-century China to frighten off evil spirits, fireworks today are met with almost universal delight. But creating a large-scale display isn't easy: it requires intensive manual labor, huge setup costs, specific "recipes" to make the fantastical shapes you see in the sky, along with a choreographer to time the music. The Grucci family of New York has been creating fireworks displays since 1850 for everything from presidential inaugurations to Olympics to, of course, the Fourth of July. Here's how they do it:
Published July 1, 2009
