Regional Talk > New England > Jaffrey NH Festival of Fireworks

Jaffrey NH Festival of Fireworks

Best fireworks in the area. A better show than Boston!! You can sit up close. It's phenominal. A bit of advice if you come up. Do not park inside the airfield!!! It will take you hours, yes hours, to get out. I did it once and learned an important lesson. There is plenty of parking outside the field and many people let you park in there yards or about $10 and it's a short walk to the airport.

reply to snowman714
It's an amazing show, I'd suggest everyone go at least once, if not more times in their lives.

While I agree that walking in can be cheaper if you're going to be going as 1-2 people, it has diminishing returns, as if you can get more than 3 people in your vehicle, it ends up being cheaper that way. This includes the average $10-20 parking outside the airport. Prices for parking outside the airport generally increase the closer you park.

Most of the walk from parking areas outside the airport is uphill, if you're going to carry in anything relatively heavy, it's sometimes easier to just drive in and wait out the traffic while exiting the airport, depending on your fitness level.

Tips:

1) If you plan on driving in, arrive earlier in the evening, as you'll be closer to the exit at the end of the fireworks. And there's usually lots of stuff to do and watch earlier in the day, starting around 5-6PM.

2) If you drive in, it's helpful to have chairs, coolers, blankets close-by carried in your vehicle. Sitting on the ground isn't a whole lot of fun, and if you're bringing kids, the blankets can help stake out your "spot".

3) Cell phone coverage is spotty to non-existent in most/all of the area around/inside the airport, plan on having known meeting points and times ahead of time, rather than relying on cell phones to call each other. If you have kids that you feel are old enough to be on their own, the buddy system is generally recommended. If you use or are going to need any sort of gps navigation, be aware that without cell coverage, navigation built into many cell phones does not work, highly recommend a standalone gps unit, TomTom or Garmin are both good choices.

Average time depending on where you are in the line of traffic if you choose to drive in, is between 1-4 hours, although they seem to be getting the hang of getting people out faster every year, plan accordingly.

More info can be had from the Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce events page: »www.jaffreychamber.com/events/

Whether you choose to walk in, or to drive in, I suggest bringing a small flashlight for each person in your party, it can be hard to find your vehicle, and/or find your way along the side of the road without it, there are no sidewalks in that part of Jaffrey.

Good luck and have fun, if you've never been, I guarantee you'll be back again and again, it's that good, and the fireworks are awesome choreographed to music

reply to snowman714
Thanks for the info and tips. We are going.

I think we are going to park inside as we will have kids. I love fireworks and hope this lives up to being the best.

reply to snowman714
Hey neighbor!! No really, we live in the same city

Anyway, does this place have restroom facilities? We are big firework enthusiast and may need to check out this show as well (especially since we are in a state where fireworks are illegal- WTF is up with that anyway?!)

Thanks

Hay, you in Fall river what part of the city? I'm near the high school.

Well i hope they have restrooms if 30,000 people are going to be there!! probably port a potties. (the wife hates them but if you got to go o well LOL)

We'll be leaving about 1pm on saturday to get there about 3pm with so many people there I figure it will take a wile to get in and stake out a good spot.It will be me the wife our 2 kids and 2 of their friends. We were thinking about a hotel but most will be book up around there, we have a Mini Van so plenty of room to sack out on the ride back.

The high school? Isn't there a few of them? New to the area, so unsure. I am in the upper highlands, near highland street

I would love to take my son to this, but wondering if it may be too much for a 3yr old (I mean with all the people and then having a possible very long wait to get out of the place)

president ave near the rotary were cvs and McDonalds are.

I brought my kids to all kinds of events when they were little, had no problems just got to keep a good eye on em. just bring some ear plugs

reply to snowman714
I've heard it's quite a show.

Whatever you do, don't go to the fireworks store, liquor store or buy cartons of cigarettes up there! And if you buy something, make sure you send a check to the Commonwealth for the taxes!

reply to ebgbjo
They have the portapotty things for restroom facilities. They usually have vendors that sell stuff such as cotton candy, fried dough, etc. And usually some souvenir type stuff, like t-shirts.

reply to ebgbjo

said by ebgbjo:

said by capecoddah:

I've heard it's quite a show.

Whatever you do, don't go to the fireworks store, liquor store or buy cartons of cigarettes up there!

Why not?

WAAAAAAY illegal, but we all do it, so join the crowd. Fireworks beyond a pack of matches are illegal in MA. "The New Hampshire Store" means liquor and wine. Buy it by the case. Cigarettes were cheap up there, but they jumped on the tax bandwagon. The I-93 Hooksett store is an icon. Some Jackass Commonwealth Senator that voted to tax liquor more, drove to NH to fill up his trunk.
We call it a Kennedy Run.

said by capecoddah:

And if you buy something, make sure you send a check to the Commonwealth for the taxes!

What??

No kidding. Massachusetts expects you to pay taxes on the stuff bought in the "Live Free or Die" State. Internet stuff too.

What if we are not residents of MA though, are we still expected to pay taxes on things we buy in another state? And how on earth can MA impose such a stupid law?

reply to capecoddah
A lot of states have a "use tax" where you're expected to pay the equivalent of your state's sales tax on things bought out of state. However, the way you do that is you declare on your tax return what you bought out of state and how much tax you owe. Needless to say, this is something of an honor system (because the state has no way of knowing that you bought something from NH, or from Amazon), and is not heavily enforced.
--
"Strive to change the world in such a way that there's no further need to be a dissident." Lawrence Ferlinghetti

reply to snowman714
It definitely is a great show. It is the best show in the Northeast. Once you go you will want to go every year. I have been working this show since 2005 and every year it is different with new stuff. One year was the song Heatwave were we flash heated the Jaffrey airport to the first verse of Heat wave. We used an affect that I won't go into details about here which created 2 70 foot fireballs that heated the surrounding air in the airport at a very fast rate. Everyone jumped back in their seats as the wave of heat reached everyone instantly to the verse of heat wave. Last year was our 20th anniversary of the show. Todays show is called Pyro Fantasia and is shot to mostly classic rock. There is so much product at the airport. I have been loading shells and wiring at the airport since early thursday morning but the mine field part of the show was being put together for the last couple weeks at the shop. This show is like no other since you have the shells high in the sky and an absolutely huge mine field stretching the whole length of the show loaded with mines, comets and bombettes that all shoot in different directions to the music. Gates open at 4 today. Everyone who is going enjoy the show I know I will. Well worth the time and money to go.

reply to ebgbjo

Re: Jaffrey NH Festival of Fireworks

reply to pj
Thanks to all who worked on the 2010 Jaffrey Fireworks show. it was awesome! This was our second year and is now an annual event for us. So much work went into it that I have to Say thanks & tell all how much it is appreciated by the members of the audience!

reply to snowman714
All I can say is WOW what a show!! The best fireworks I have ever seen Here are some pictures

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