22-Sep-14 – With its Great Chicago Fire Festival two weeks away, representatives of the theater company Redmoon came up from the Pilsen neighborhood on Friday to reassure commercial operators that its “Grand Spectacle” will not burn down their river.

At 8 p.m. on Saturday, October 4, Taylor Kinney and Jesse Spencer, stars from the NBC television show Chicago Fire, will ignite cauldrons that will then be lowered from bridges to watercraft on the Chicago River. The craft will ferry the flames to three moored platforms supporting structures that represent iconic architecture of the city prior to the 1871 fire.

Handling the gas-powered fire effects will be Pyrotecnico, a family-owned fireworks company started in 1889, now based in Pennsylvania. The company performed fireworks shows for the Super Bowl in 2003 and the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

According to Redmoon, the Fire Prevention Bureau of the Chicago Fire Department has observed all of the festival’s fire-related tests. Each operator of a pyrotechnic device will be trained, licensed, and have control over ignition and extinguishment of their device.

“Those bases are really well covered and a huge concern to Redmoon, of course, every time we have done pyro in our history,” said Alex Balestrieri, director of Redmoon for Hire, the business arm of the otherwise not-for-profit organization, at a meeting of the Chicago Harbor Safety Committee.

There will be fire effects on three 24 x 48-foot barges and other vessels. A modified “pontoon steam ship” will have a cold-looking propane blast effect.

“Fire buoys,” burning relatively small amounts of propane, will be pulled by 22 kayaks.

(Above) The pontoon steam ship docking near West 18th Street. One of the barges (center) that will be used in the Grand Spectacle, along with a house (right) that will be set on fire. A fire buoy being pulled by a kayak.

Final preparations start September 29

Currently, the three barges, centerpieces of the Grand Spectacle, are being constructed at the former location of Crowley’s Yacht Yard on South Halsted Street near the south branch of the Chicago River.

But on the morning of Monday, September 29, they will be moved into position on the main branch, crossing under 16 bridges that will need to be raised.

They will be moored on the south bank of the river, one east of State Street near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, another east of Wabash Avenue near O’Brien’s Riverwalk Café, and the third east of the DuSable Bridge at Michigan Avenue.

(Above) A map of the spectacle, with the flame icons representing positions of the floating houses that will be set on fire.

Each barge will have marine lights and a live attendant guarding it around the clock.

The barge east of Wabash, said to have large moving parts, may have to be tested by moving it to the middle of the channel. If they decide to do that, it will happen on Wednesday, October 1, at 6 a.m., with the barge returned to the south bank by 10 a.m.

Then early on Friday, October 3, all three platforms will move into first positions in the middle of the Chicago River, each mid-way between two bridges. They will remain there through the performance on October 4.

The river will be closed to boat traffic that day from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., from Dearborn Street to Columbus Drive.

The Grand Spectacle will start at 8 p.m. and last about 90 minutes. The barges will then move back to the south side of the river and stay there until the next scheduled bridge lift on October 8.

Spectacle culminates summer of neighborhood events

Over the summer, Redmoon has been collecting images and stories of Chicagoans with “grit and resilience” and these will be integrated into the October 4 spectacle.

Also going on that day will be a bazaar with small kiosks staffed by vendors from 15 Chicago neighborhoods. They will be located, starting at 3 p.m., on Wacker Drive sidewalks between State Street and Michigan Avenue, along the Riverwalk, and possibly on the south plaza of AMA Plaza on the north side of the river.

(Left) Expect circus performers on both sides of the river, such as this fire spinner. (Photo obtained from Redmoon.)

Music and poetry will be performed on Pioneer Court east of Michigan Avenue on the north side of the river from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., along with urban dance at a location still to be determined.

Redmoon expects “tens of thousands” of people at the Grand Spectacle. The show can go on in light rain but not high winds. If that happens, they will try again on Sunday, October 5, but there is no alternate date after that.

The festival will cost between $1.2 million and $1.8 million, covered mostly by private sources including The Boeing Company. The City of Chicago is helping with $100,000 and Redmoon has received a $250,000 grant from ArtPlace America.