Celebration 'pops'
WSU skies ablaze
Jessica Schreifels
Issue date: 7/15/08 Section: News
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"I figured, hey, I want one of those (cannons)," Freshman said.
Since then, he's participated in many different shows through Taylorsville, Layton, and Deer Valley, and has stopped every year at Weber State University with the group to light the cannons for the Lindquist Family Symphony Pops and Fireworks during Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, performed by the New American Symphony Orchestra.
"We like this one the best," Freshman said. "It's the safest one with the pond, and you can hear the music well. We are shooting these cannons to music."
Freshman said members of the group make the cannons.
David Roybal, 25, a spectator who's been going to the event since he was a kid, said one of his fondest memories involved the cannons that the group shot off 10 years ago. He said he knew someone who let him come onto the island that was lined with 17 cannons at the Ada Lindquist Plaza and thought it was cool to be so close to the cannons going off.
"One year, I got to sit on the island when the cannons went off," Roybal said.
The Lindquist family celebrated 30 years of putting on the Pops Concert on Sunday, which is a tradition for many families in Northern Utah.
"It's a way they (the Lindquists) wanted to bring the community of Ogden together," said Marsha Richter, WSU special project coordinator. "It's one of the biggest events in the area. A lot of loyal fans come from every place."
A 60-minute concert began at 9 p.m., with the Symphony playing show tunes, old favorites, and classical music. An hour later, the fireworks lit up WSU campus, lit from the parking lot of the Browning Center.
Thousands of spectators lined up blankets around the duck pond and throughout campus to watch the free fireworks and listen to the symphony, which was broadcasted live on Weber's radio station, KWCR 88.1 FM.
Food and beverages were also available at the event, and the WSU Bookstore gave away popsicles and sold pops concert t-shirts for $5,
WSU's construction sites did not compromise concertgoers' experience, said Richter.
"Everything is basically the same," she said. "Dixon Drive has always been closed. Some areas don't have grass, but everything is open like before."
After the event was over, police officers were required to usher traffic at every exit of WSU while cars jammed through the parking lots and roads on campus.
"I love it" said Roybal. "But the worst is people honking and the traffic on the way out."
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