PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend’s third annual Old School 4th of July fireworks are a summer staple for families in Jefferson County, but the show wouldn’t be possible without local volunteers.
The annual fireworks show enjoyed on the Fourth of July is put on entirely by a handful of volunteers, led by recently retired local dentist David Chuljian.
However, Chuljian isn’t the first in his family to run the show.
“I grew up in Port Townsend and my dad used to shoot off shows as well,” Chuljian said. “So, I’m second generation pyro.”
Chuljian inherited both his father’s love for fireworks and his dental practice. Chuljian’s father, G.T. “Chuck” Chuljian, founded his practice in 1947 and passed it along to his son in 1990.
David Chuljian retired from that practice in March but plans to continue as a pyrotechnician.
Chuljian has worked shows around the North Olympic Peninsula and across Washington state. He helped put on a few shows in Discovery Bay in the early 2000s and worked on the 2013 Fourth of July fireworks in Port Angeles, but has also helped on shows in Tacoma and Chehalis.
In 2014, for the first annual Port Townsend Old School 4th of July celebration, Chuljian did his first show as the lead pyrotechnician.
Chuljian, along with roughly six other volunteers, started setting up Tuesday night’s show at 10:30 a.m. They blocked off an area of the beach in Fort Worden and began setting up wires, tubes and plenty of fire safety equipment.
According to Chuljian, because no one is getting paid, the entire budget of $9,000 can go toward purchasing lots of fire power.
“No one is being paid and I own the equipment,” Chuljian said. “So we have a full budget of $9,000, plus $1,000 out of pocket.”
Chuljian said with that budget they are able to put on a show similar to the 2013 show in Port Angeles, which cost $13,000 because all the pyrotechnicians for that show were paid.
Chuljian said he expected this year’s show to be about as big as the one he set off last year.
“We have the same number of tubes and the same number of cakes so I can’t imagine we’d be smaller,” Chuljian said.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
Volunteer Bob Frampton holds one of the larger mortars used in this year’s Old School 4th of July fireworks show at Fort Worden. (Cydney McFarland/Peninsula Daily News)
