How about a Indiana Ohio Michigan Illinois shoot?

[jrallen13]

I have recently seen alot of interest in gathering for a group shoot in our area. The catch 22 is everyone is trying to get their own shoot going with a bunch of them all on top of each other about the same time. Just throwing this out their only a suggestion, what if we all got together found a "host" that would be willing to accomodate us and had a midwest pyro gathering or call it whatever and made it an annual thing similar to TOTP. I think we have generated enough interest just in the 3 threads I have seen to really make this thing fly pretty quick. We diffently have the man power and the experience from some of us who have been around for awhile to make this thing happen kinda an Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio shoot. Any takers or comments?

[Pyro47240]

Hey Jr,
I already got the details started in the thread 2009 group shoot please let's do it There! I requested that Independence start a shoot list!
I live the idea of the annual shoot! Great minds think alike!

[molicious13]

I think a midwest shoot is the right idea. If you use the word 'midwest' people will remember it/be more interested imo. And what about Minnesota? We are so totally left out of literally EVERYTHING around here. I mean, obviously we can't do the shoot here, but at least put the name of the state in the list

[Big No No]

I think a midwest shoot is the right idea. If you use the word 'midwest' people will remember it/be more interested imo. And what about Minnesota? We are so totally left out of literally EVERYTHING around here. I mean, obviously we can't do the shoot here, but at least put the name of the state in the list

I did a quick mapquest from St Paul and both TOTP and St Louis are closer than Angola or Indianapolis. See you in St Louis?

[jrallen13]

Well from the general consensus of the pm's I sent out it looks like this thing is a go. So first step is shooting location. Greensboro which is about 40 minutes south of Indy is a possibility, sounds like he has enough land but is diffently a little bit of a drive for most of the guys from the northen side it would be 4 hours from the indiana michigan border. I am working on some other possibilities now for a shoot site. I think we should do a one day shoot and kick ass bombfire after words. That sounds awesome, maybe do some grilling or deepfrying was also thrown out that could be pretty sweet as well. I will start a poll on either the 18th or 25th of October. Maybe do an October fest midwest pyro gathering. As far as Minnesota hell yeah you guys are welcome same goes for Wisonson, like I said a "midwest" shoot. As far as restrictions go I think Indiana would make the most since. I do alot with hotel owners I guarantee we can get a solid rate on a block of hotels in northen indiana. Might be a little chilly to camp in late October but then again maybe not. (All depends on the alcohol content) LAright guys lets get this thing rolling we only have a short time to throw it together.

1. Shoot site
2. Date
3. Attendance sheet (how many)
4. Hotel room block

[wne15]

My 2 cents:

I must start by saying I love the enthusaism for this project. Seems like a lot of you really have the passion to make this happen, and I salute you.

My concern continues to be the rush factor of it. I know somebody volunteered a possible shoot site, but have they made sure it'll fly there? The reason I ask is because we had a mini group do a shoot in my area where it was "legal" (and it is) but we still had a rouge cop shut it down. I'd make sure before planning ANYTHING that the local authorities are aware of it, despite of what you guys think is legal. I'd hate to see a group of us bring a huge stockpile and have a rouge cop with a hard on to bust some people shooting fireworks. I've seen it happen too many times to too many people on these boards.

Sadly, I wasted all my time off on demos and shoots earlier in the year so I'm out of time off to come in October (part of the reason I got excited when I saw talk of a possible July get together, giving all PLENTY of time to make arrangements.) But I do hope it does come together for you guys and it goes off well!

[jknepp1954]

whatever happened to chris69's shoot in Toeldo area?
And what happened to all the pm's you all sent me and i responded all back to you?
Too many ?'s - and not clear answers?
wne is right - make sure all legwork is done on this for legal reasons.
Toledo for me wasn't too bad - but below Indy? I don't know about that one.

From what i see - there are 3 people pulling 3 directions:
1. this one
2. http://www.pyrouniverse.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=17227 THE OCTOBER MIDWEST GATHERING
3. http://www.pyrouniverse.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=17112 chris69's Toledo area shoot

Joyce

[nater219]

I might be in, depends on my school schedule and where the shoot is at. Until graduation and state exams in May, I won't have a lot of time to devote to hobbies. It would be fun to make this work.

Edit after reading pyro's post: Closer to the 4th, I heard a cop dispatched in Allen County for fireworks complaint. It was not one of the days where shoots are banned in Fort Wayne city limits, but was in the county. I could see the potential for a rouge cop to "unclear" on the law, and shut things down. Everyone knows there's cops out there who get on power trips and the best thing I think you can do is humor em for the time being, then plead your case to a supervisor. There's no law to be broken shooting 1.4 in the middle of the country.

From my old days of promoting punk rock shows, it was always in my best interest to drop by the police dept and tell them what was going on. When I rented community centers and a lot of kids were around late a night the cops would always stop by. When I told them ahead of time, I never got shut down.

[nater219]

^^ Especially with prices going up, one epic shoot in the fall would be worth taking time off for. I'm with you on this one.

[wne15]

Let me start by saying the shoot site I recommended is my fathers house and I will not have any issues with him. As far as legal approval, the law states in Indiana that it is legal to shoot fireworks from 9:00 pm until 11:00 pm daily! Please review the following link!
http://www.in.gov/dhs/files/fireworks_factsheet.pdf

The other thing is that it's kind of in what you would call (BFE!) or out in the country. I been shooting here for 5 years and never have had the law their. However that was mainly on July fourth, but I still don't see it as an issue!

I don't think even if we had a rogue cop show up, they could shut us down because we are within our legal rights and not breaking any laws.
If i'm missing something would someone please elaborate?

Dude. so you and I know we are square, I'm not trying to call you out.

I live in BFE myself. I live in an area in which it is LEGAL to discharge. And I STILL got SHUT DOWN. Why? Because the cop was an asshole, plain and simple.

Even though I knew I had the legal right to fire them off, we shut down. Afterwards, I went straight to the top in my county to find out exactly why I was shut down. Bottom line from the sheriff was the cop was in the wrong, but he COULD have used a plethora of other stupid laws to nail me had I not shut down (disturbing the peace, etc.)

I'm not saying you live in an area where it is illegal or not. Remember, Indiana law protects only on Memorial Day, Labor Day, NYE, New Years day, and around the 4th of July. Its up to the CITY or COUNTY if they want to restrict on other days. So the link you provided does no good.

What I'm trying to say is if you are going to have a field full of pyros (and with the groups we have in these parts, you can bet your rear you'll have a sizeable group show) you better make sure that you are legal, and that means going to your county law enforcement (since you live in BFE) and your county lawmakers (since you live in BFE) to make sure there isn't a law in place.

Its a screwed up mess in Indiana as far as I'm concerned because what is worse than uniformed consumers WANTING to follow the law? A COP that is ignorant to the law trying to shut you down.

[St1dinoh]

i couldn't agree more with WNE on this one. as stated in the group PM thats floating around...ohio and michigan both suck as far as fireworks laws.

it's ok to get a handfull of people together who aren't driving far to do a shoot n scoot...but anything more than that is iffy.

driving more than 2 hours to attend a function and getting shut down will piss a lot of people off. so there needs to be a solid/firm understanding with the local AHJ's and HMFIC's to make sure Barney Fife isn't going to show up after i light off the first fountain of the night and shut down the shoot.

yes fireworks are "legal" in indiana.

but reading through the laws and politics thread for a few hours and you'll run out of fingers counting the number of indiana shows that have been shut down since the new laws have been passed.

this same thing can and probably will happen trying to pull off an off season fireworks show of this size without any kind of advance "warning" to the cops and fire department to get the thumbs up to do a nice sized show.

otherwise you are completely wasting a ton of time and money for all thoes involved.

weather you live in BFE or not, wherever this shoot is it needs to be cleared with the local authorities or this whole thing probably will be a massive disaster.

[backdrft76]

I'm all for this idea and I'm all for you guys planning this out and coming to a nice, agreeable consensus. We're all in this for the same reason - the love of Pyro!!

I just want to throw my 2cents out there if I may. I live in the Chicago area. So therefore, I am thinking of my neighbors to the north (WI and MN) and east (MI, OH, and dearly beloved IN). If it is at all possible, please try to consider everyone in the Midwest when choosing and finalizing your location. I think the Midwest event idea is a superb one and will get the most people showing up when all states are included and thought of when picking the location. I know we may be limited with what we have, but let's at least try. And I'm not saying we're not. Let's merge the 3 possible shoots into one big one and see how it goes. I think the fall time frame is a good one.

Hope I didnt piss anyone off!

[QMAN]

If we were to do a shoot next summer I have a coworker with a 30 or 40 acre pasture. I can't remember the exact size, but it was approximately that big and he said there was a pond on it somewhere. That would be totally adiquate. He has two homes, but I believe the one he was talking about was in Rochester, Indiana. Which is right on US 31 North of Kokomo. I got about a 65% yes out of him when we were talking today about it. He was trying to figure out if I was talking about 100 people with fireworks or Woodstock with fireworks. I know we would all love Woodstock with fireworks. I have never been to a PGI event I assume that would be about the closest one would get in the US. Anyways he said he we got site insurance for the shoot and limited it to 1.4g that might be a possibility, but he would need some more details. So put this location down on the short list as a possible shoot site. And I would suggest somebody come up with expenses that will incur at this event. Ie insurance, food, port-o-potties, whatever else....

QMAN

[Tennespeedy]

HAHA...I love the SIG. "Did you learn your lesson? No, I will go to Tennessee and get them next time instead of Indiana!"

[backdrft76]

HAHA...I love the SIG. "Did you learn your lesson? No, I will go to Tennessee and get them next time instead of Indiana!"

Tennessee was the best part of the annual family trip to Florida that we took when we were kids. We loved Tennessee not just for the natural beauty, but all the fireworks stores along the interstate. I can remember trying to count every one of them as we drove straight thru from IL to FL, writing down their locations and exit numbers. We would often hit TN at night, and I would force myself to stay awake in the car to see them, and beg my parents to stop if the stores were open. And then we came around a corner and saw "Tennessee-Alabama Fireworks". It was heaven! God, I miss Tennessee!!!

That bust scarred me for years. It wasnt until this year when I finally sprouted a pair of nuts and drove back into IN to buy my fireworks at retail. And then I found you guys. And then I found out about wholesale. And its been all downhill since then!! Thanks guys!!!

Sorry to stray from the topic! Lets shoot some fireworks!!!!!!!!!!

[rambo.kid]

Just wondering how hard it would be to get a one day permit for 1.4 would be. Where I stoot I have never needed one but always thought it was a pretty easy thing to get.

[Big No No]

JMO but I think everyone needs to slow their roll. I think a meeting at Lemas this fall to start planning is a good idea and hold a shoot in the spring. There is the St Louis and TOTP shoots allready in the fall both of which I usually attend and also the Lemas shoot in August and Kruse shoot Labor day weekend. There are no shoots in the spring other than demos, it would be a good time to try out new stuff and get some new ideas for our 4th shows. As far as pulling a permit that is a great idea, I am still remembering last year at Lemas when the cop pulled right into the middle of the shoot site during the finale. He was too late to shut us down but he was pissed. This year the cops were given the heads up ahead of time and no problems. These are just my thoughts.

[backdrft76]

JMO but I think everyone needs to slow their roll. I think a meeting at Lemas this fall to start planning is a good idea and hold a shoot in the spring. There is the St Louis and TOTP shoots allready in the fall both of which I usually attend and also the Lemas shoot in August and Kruse shoot Labor day weekend. There are no shoots in the spring other than demos, it would be a good time to try out new stuff and get some new ideas for our 4th shows.

No No brings up some very good points here!

[Barracuda]

My head is definitely spinning.
Chris69 is trying to get a small group of guys together. That is apparent.
There is a thread about a 2009 shoot that morphed into an October 2008 shoot.
Jrallen, I'm on this guys thinking here. Backdraft echoed it as well. If anything does ever happen, Northern Indiana makes the most sense as it allows the Northern midwest state pyros a chance to attend. It is also reasonable for Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan pyro folk to get there.
Credit to all on this, but I'm saying right now I won't be going to any of these events. I'm going to Lemas in October, so let's meet and talk there instead of slapping keys and spinning our wheels. Face to face discussion will be much more effective than keystrokes in planning.
We can' go from ghetto to glitz in a heartbeat.
Respect to all, but let's all convene on Lema's, make the day of it, plan, and replenish the stash a bit.

Cuda

[chris69]

I love all of the ideas here! Not trying to ruffle any sails...I was plannig a small Shoot & Scoot. Maybe I went about it the wrong way? I made it aware it would be small. I did fail to mention it was not permitted with the authorites. It will happen, looks like a date will dial in soon.
And weather its 3 or 15, I will have fun.

[indycamel]

I agree with Noah on April. The only issue is that is rainy season around here. We have St. Louis, TOTP, and not sure what the Kruse Labor Day shoot, so we have plenty in the fall already within driving range.

I think Northern Indiana is the appropriate spot and has the best shot for getting good attendance based on the number of pyros in or around that area.

[jrallen13]

Yeah I agree this thing got spun way out into left field real quick. I think hanging out for a day wherever and just throwing out some idea's and getting things organized with plenty of cushion makes a whole lot of since to me. I think meeting at brads in Oct. to hang out and come up with suggestions on organizing this thing would be awesome. It is what would be referred to as a round table meeting of the minds to plan an event. That sounds like a plan I vote for meeting in Oct. (If it's cool with brad that we meet at his place)

[Pyro-Man]

Yeah I agree this thing got spun way out into left field real quick. I think hanging out for a day wherever and just throwing out some idea's and getting things organized with plenty of cushion makes a whole lot of since to me. I think meeting at brads in Oct. to hang out and come up with suggestions on organizing this thing would be awesome. It is what would be referred to as a round table meeting of the minds to plan an event. That sounds like a plan I vote for meeting in Oct. (If it's cool with brad that we meet at his place)

Pretty sure I will be up visiting our friends who live fairly near Lema's one weekend in Oct (18th?)... Did some searching w/o finding an answer: Has the date been set for the "fall get together" No No mentioned?

I look forward to seeing you all at Lemas next get together sometime this fall. It will be just for the Pyro-U members to get together and talk about a future group shoot.

Additionally:

Our "little get together in March" went well down here in Southern IN with only, what, about a weeks notice? So much so there was talk of perhaps making it an annual thing... But, as some have already said, we really need to pull together if we want to have a nice Midwest group shoot. Indiana is the logical choice due to the friendlier laws, but there are lots of shooting sites that have been mentioned as possibilities in the recent (and not so recent) past....

I would add for consideration the reality of Time Zones to the discussion. The state law allows shooting from 9 AM to 11 PM... which translates for most of us to being essentially dusk/dark til 11PM. But 11 PM Central Time is an extra hour of shooting time over 11 PM Eastern Time. That hour might make a large difference in how many folks get to participate on shoot night...

If someone can get a nice shoot site in the NW (say LaPorte, Stark, Jasper, Porter Counties) or SW corner (Perry, Spencer, Gibson, Posey counties), where they are on Central time, that would make it more worth the trip, imho. Get pre-approval from the AHJ in one of those rural areas, set a date that doesn't conflict w/ other events, and you've got yourself a multi-state group shoot that has real drawing power. $.02 (This would eliminate the Dubois County shoot site "in my backyard" we used back in March, btw, as a preferred site - Dubois County moved back into Eastern Time in November of 2007)

[wne15]

I would add for consideration the reality of Time Zones to the discussion. The state law allows shooting from 9 AM to 11 PM... which translates for most of us to being essentially dusk/dark til 11PM. But 11 PM Central Time is an extra hour of shooting time over 11 PM Eastern Time. That hour might make a large difference in how many folks get to participate on shoot night...

If someone can get a nice shoot site in the NW (say LaPorte, Stark, Jasper, Porter Counties) or SW corner (Perry, Spencer, Gibson, Posey counties), where they are on Central time, that would make it more worth the trip, imho. Get pre-approval from the AHJ in one of those rural areas, set a date that doesn't conflict w/ other events, and you've got yourself a multi-state group shoot that has real drawing power. $.02 (This would eliminate the Dubois County shoot site "in my backyard" we used back in March, btw, as a preferred site - Dubois County moved back into Eastern Time in November of 2007)

This is just my opinion based on what I've seen on various media reports: I think you'd have better chances in the SW corner than the NW corner with the law itself being what it is. I've seen a lot of folks in the NW corner get shut down even when it was legal, but I don't see as much of that the further south you go. I think DennyMo made a comment as such on another thread a while back saying that the south end of the state is much more relaxed than the north for some reason.

[nater219]

Spring shoot would be even better for me with my school schedule. I think we should take the time to do it right, especially if we want to start an annual event.

I wish I could watch the event at Kruse. The car show and auction is great by itself, let alone another display. That's a big motocross weekend however and my services are needed there.

Whatever we decide, I hope to be in.

[Pyro47240]

OK I difinitly agree on the rogue cop comment, I could see that happening. So I will check with the locals authorities and confrim the county laws here. Then I will get back with you! I would also hate for a bunch of peeps to drive and us get shutdown, I would feel terrible if that happen and that's not what I want for sure! I want to have a nice event and I want everyone else to also enjoy themselves, so let me follow up. OK! Thanks for the input!

[jrallen13]

What about using the Laporte fairgrouds? Their was talk about hosting PGI their at one time. I remember reading awhile ago that they even did some testing their to see if you would be able to see the fireworks while seated under the roof in the grandstands. I can at least check into it.

[molicious13]

I did a quick mapquest from St Paul and both TOTP and St Louis are closer than Angola or Indianapolis. See you in St Louis?

Great, except that it's an almost three hour drive from where I live to St. Paul

And yes, you will see me in St. Louis

[Big No No]

Great, except that it's an almost three hour drive from where I live to St. Paul

And yes, you will see me in St. Louis

Mapquest from where you live and see if it's still closer to TOTP and St Louis or to Angola and Indy. Btw I would really like to see this shoot done in the north, it would be nice to have at least one "fun shoot" that is less than an 6 or 8 hour drive.

[molicious13]

What's up with all this talk about rouge cops? Are you talking about communist cops? Rouge is red in French. Perhaps you meant rogue cops?