Boom on the Bridge, the annual music festival and fireworks show in Bridgewater, is more than a grand spectacle, its organizers say it’s a prime example of Beaver Countians’ unity and resilience.
More than 50,000 are expected to attend starting on June 27 and ending on June 29, when fireworks are launched at 9:45 p.m. from three barges in the middle of the Ohio River. The display is larger than those in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Detroit. Prior to the fireworks finale, river towns including Rochester, Monaca, Bridgewater, New Brighton, and Beaver will host related events all weekend.
Country music chart-topper Chris Lane will headline an impressive music lineup across three stages, with the main stage at Veterans Memorial Bridge between Bridgewater and Rochester Township. Additional acts include Commonheart, Bindley Hardware Co, Low Gap, Squonk Opera, Johnny Angel and the Halos, Byron Nash Duo, Z-Town Street Band, and many others to be announced.
The three-day event is free, courtesy of PUSH (People United in Shaping and Helping Beaver County) and Beaver County Parks and Recreation.
For Nathan Kopsack, PUSH’s vice president and a founding member, Boom on the Bridge represents one of the many ways Beaver County has unified in the decades since the steel industry collapse and a resulting population exodus created a county-wide financial and identity crisis.
In 2005, PUSH started providing scholarships for local continuing education students to inspire young citizens to live, work and invest in Beaver County. Five years later, PUSH learned that Ambridge’s annual fireworks show was in peril, so it invested in a barge to launch fireworks from the Ohio River, invited citizens to watch, and Boom on the Bridge was born.
“Ultimately, this was our way to get municipalities to work together and show people what we can do,” Kopsack told BeaverCountian.com.
Several municipalities and Beaver County Parks and Recreation have joined efforts with PUSH, making each year since the first Boom on the Bridge bigger than the last. All proceeds from Boom on the Bridge go toward local PUSH scholarships. Kopsack estimates that since PUSH’s beginning, the organization has awarded at least $100,000 in scholarships to local high school graduates.
Lance Grable, the recently appointed new president of the Beaver County Chamber of Commerce, is a big proponent of PUSH and its efforts to inspire Beaver Countians to work together.
“I love this county. I challenge you to spend two days here and leave without saying, ‘My God, I love this place.’ So to me there’s nothing more important than doing great things like this for businesses and people in the county,” said Grable, who also serves on PUSH’s executive board.
“What they do is really spectacular.”
courtesy PUSH Beaver CountyEditing by BeaverCountian.com contributing editor Lori Boone.
