Preparations are underway for Addison’s Kaboom Town! celebration to take place on Saturday night. The event draws more than 500,000 people to the town annually.
“This event is huge,” said Jasmine Lee, director of special events in Addison. “It’s on a lot of national Top-10 lists for July Fourth celebrations, so it attracts people from across the country and even from other countries have come out.”
Addison Circle Park is the 12-acre epicenter of the festivities and watch party. The celebration is citywide, with watch parties at many of Addison’s 180-plus restaurants and 22 hotels.
“We’re excited that so many of them are back open in full force and hosting these watch parties – bring people out to celebrate and see that they’re back in business and running again,” Lee said.
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Organizers said Kaboom Town! is even more special now after the cancellation of it last year due to COVID-19. There is a 75% capacity limit for the watch party at the park, which equates to about 19,000 people.
“2020 was hard on everyone from individuals, to restaurants, to our hotels. It hit everyone hard, and everyone is so excited to be coming out of that and to some sense of normalcy,” Lee said.
This year's show includes more than 4,000 shells, which will be shot from the south side of Addison Airport. Chad Stanley, general manager of Pyro Shows, said their smallest shells are about 3 inches and will fly 300 feet above.
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Their team began setup and preparations for the show Thursday.
"The largest we’re shooting are 6 inches, so that’s about the size of a miniature basketball," Stanley said. "The two-minute finale is really nice to close things out. We always open big and stay strong."
On Saturday morning, vendors began to set up their trucks inside the park in preparation for the guests later in the afternoon. Alina Trandafir, the owner of Cristi & Ali, has been selling food at Kaboom Town! for about a decade.
"We’re known for our gyros, garlic parmesan fries, delicious fried Oreos," she said. "I’m super excited. People are actually coming out and having a lot of fun. Events have been the best they have ever been."
A highlight this year is a patriotic Freedom Flyover featuring warbirds from the Cavanaugh Flight Museum, aerobatic planes and other surprises.
“If you recall back a year or so ago when the Blue Angels did the flight around for the hospitals and things like that, that just got us thinking – let’s do something like that,” pilot and event organizer Mike Gallaway said. “We’re coming out of the pandemic, let’s have a Freedom Flyover, something to get people motivated, something to watch ahead of the fireworks.”
And with watch parties at dozens of nearby hotels and restaurants, organizers said there’s no better way for a community to come together than by supporting their local businesses.
The fireworks and the inaugural Addison Airport Freedom Flyover can be seen from anywhere in town, and guests are encouraged to make plans to attend one of the many watch parties across Addison.
Online tickets have sold out, but you can still guarantee a spot in the park is by booking an Addison hotel package. Packages include a complimentary blanket and guaranteed admission for up to six people. Several of Addison’s hotels are offering special discounts for Addison Kaboom Town! Click here for information on hotels with discounted rates.
The Freedom Flyover begins at 7:30 p.m., and the fireworks begin at approximately 9:30 p.m. Tune in to STAR 102.1FM to hear the fireworks music simulcast.
The fireworks display will also be streamed online.
