By Michael P. Walsh
Special to the Voice
West Haven Youth Soccer League President John Vinci flipped a light switch to launch the Savin Rock Fireworks Spectacular on July 5.
The moment Vinci flipped the switch, fireworks blasted off Bradley Point and exploded over Long Island Sound, dazzling thousands of patriotic revelers along West Haven’s 3 miles of public beaches with a display of brilliant lighting and booming sound effects.
The half-hour pyrotechnic show, presented by the Savin Rock Fireworks Committee, was postponed from July 3 because of thunderstorms.
Vinci, the city’s 2022 Italian American of the Year and an ardent fireworks supporter, was joined onstage in front of West Haven’s prominent Savin Rock landmark by master of ceremonies Brian Hayden.
Hayden, a program coordinator at the Department of Parks and Recreation, greeted the Savin Rock crowd and thanked city departments and committee members, including co-Chairwomen Sandy McCauley and Marianne Drapeau, for helping to organize the large-scale event.
He then led the crowd in a spirited countdown — “5, 4, 3, 2, 1!” — before Vinci flipped the switch and triggered an assortment of rockets that flew and burst over Bradley Point in a shower of colored sparks.
Just offstage, Vinci’s family — wife Joanne, son Chris, daughter-in-law Colleen and grandson Christian — looked on as the fireworks went off with a bang.
Before the display, families and friends danced to horn-powered party hits performed by Rubber City on the Savin Rock stage.
During the afternoon, people enjoyed a craft fair on the east side of the Rock while bands — five in all — from West Haven’s Rock House School of Music performed onstage.
As the music played, a fleet of food and dessert trucks lined the westbound lane of Captain Thomas Boulevard, near Dyke Street, and dished up burgers, hot dogs, pizza, fried dough and tacos, as well as ice cream and kettle corn.
Police closed Captain Thomas Boulevard and Ocean Avenue, from Kelsey Avenue to South Street, for several hours to give the festivities a block party feel.
The city has not hosted the fireworks on July 3 since 2019 and will try again next July 3, organizers said.
The display is the city’s largest one-day event, attracting tens of thousands of residents and visitors to the West Haven shoreline each year.