Lake Isabella July Fourth Fireworks Show an Unexpected Delight

In a secluded forest, you may be surprised to find that the best-kept secret fireworks show has become the hottest thing around. Well, we all know that fireworks are hot. Yet this fireworks display is totally free. So what could be hotter?

Free fireworks spectaculars have largely become a thing of the past. Yet, that’s not the case in the Kern River Valley of Kern County, located in the Sequoia National Forest, at Lake Isabella. And this community is inviting you to visit the tourist attraction.

The community hosts its Fireworks Show annually on the Saturday closest to Independence Day. It just so happens that this year’s July 4 is on a Saturday. Depending on the clouds and moon, it is best to arrive at the lake before 9 p.m.

Despite the fact that the show is in the forest, because the fireworks are launched from a safer location and explode over a large lake, authorities have allowed the show annually, even though it is during wildfire season. The Forest Service has crews on hand during the show to ensure fires don’t start.

“There’s always a concern when there’s a chance of starting a forest fire,” said the organizer for the show, business owner Steve Spradlin. “But they seem to think that Engineer’s Point, where we have the launch site, is safe for the community and safe for the forest.

“We have the perfect location for that shoot. And it’s been made better by the dam construction. We’ve gained some height and certainly a more level playing field to use as a launch site. It’s the perfect place.”

According to Spradlin, organizers pick and choose the variety of designs and shells for this grand show. The patriotic event normally includes sparklers and explosions with sequence and formations.

“You get to enjoy the features of every single shell that we shoot off. And you have time to enjoy it before the next one covers it up,” he said.

The committee planning the display each year, called Patriotic Americans for Fireworks, makes a typical show, in the Kern Valley, with shells that range anywhere from three inches to eight inches in diameter.

Spradlin explained that the three-inch shells could typically reach a height of 300 feet. An eight-inch shell can reach a height of 800 feet. Previously the committee has added two 10-inch shells. Other years the organizers instead added more five-inch and six-inch shells to the show.

The planners assure that the show is continuous enough to be interesting without any dead sky between the shells. The show always lasts for at least 20 minutes and can be seen from a distance as far as the town of Bodfish. And Spradlin thinks the timeframe is kind of an optimum time for the display to last. At the end of the main body of the show, the organizers pick up the pace with a main finale near the end of the show. Then they build expectation before putting out the grand finale, “with a Disneyland- like effect,” Spradlin explained.

The fireworks show organizers believe it’s easier for visitors to attend and spend the weekend up in the Kern River Valley if the show is on the Saturday closest to Independence Day, which is why the show is always on a Saturday. And with so many lodging options to choose from, including many campgrounds, motels, and Airbnbs, it’s not difficult to find accommodations. Word to the wise, on the topic of lodging, is to plan in advance of any holiday.

 

Event organizers set up the fireworks before a previous Lake Isabella
July Fourth Fireworks Show.
PHOTO BY PATRICK RAY, KERN VALLEY SUN

 

Sopectators watch the fireworks over Lake Isabella during a past Fourth of July show.
PHOTO BY AARON CRUTCHFIELD

 

However, there is more to the valley than fireworks. In other words, visitors will never be bored, with a Major Art Center in Wofford Heights, gift shops, and a tattoo artist. Nor would anyone object to shopping the mom-and-pop antique, clothing, and specialty stores in Kernville.

Check out the nightlife with bars, grills, and saloons featuring entertaining musicians in Lake Isabella and all the surrounding towns. Top-notch eateries, which even children would find enchanting, include friendly and welcoming service throughout the valley.

For recreation lovers, rafting on the nearby Kern River is a thrill-seeker’s dream. Hiking, bike parks and paths, and skateboarding are also satisfying to enjoy in the Kern Valley. And swimming and inner tubing at the river can be tranquil and safe, in certain areas, at the right time of the year. Swimming, boating, and canoeing at the lake are activities also very available.

Spradlin explains that the committee’s Round Up at the Pump at the Shell gas stations and the cash register at True Values in town, along with strategically placed Donation Canisters, take all year to pay for this lavish flash of sky colors along with other fundraising efforts such as auctions and raffles. Locals count on the tourism the attraction brings to the mountain community, located an hour’s drive each way from Ridgecrest and Bakersfield.

Patriotic Americans for Fireworks interested in celebrating the birth of the nation, and the freedom that Americans and visitors enjoy, make so much effort to assure your family receives another show this year. Fundraising continues all year round. “People are very considerate and interested in the fireworks and they’ll donate typically every time they come in, for the full year, trying to help us out, trying to give a show for the whole community,” said Spradlin. “We get thousands and thousands of people here. That’s for sure.”

Zambelli Fireworks is the same company that the planners have used for 25 years.

Spradlin and his friends decided it was important enough to the community to raise the funds. “We get a lot of people that respond and acknowledge and thank us.” He said, “People respond and it’s a very giving community, very patriotic.”