NEW ORLEANS — The skies above New Orleans glimmered with pyrotechnic panache Sunday, and local residents have actor Will Smith to thank for the patriotic Fourth of July display.
Smith, who has been filming “Emancipation” on location in the Crescent City, recently donated $100,000 to cover permitting, public safety, equipment fireworks and more for New Orleans annual “Go Fourth on the River” celebration after learning city officials had nixed plans for the 2021 display, WWL-TV reported.
Below are the first lines of my on-air story for @wwltv tonight and I will not apologize:
— Devin Bartolotta (@devinbartolotta) July 3, 2021
Welllll this is a story all about how the 4th of July got turned around...
Fireworks were canceled,
no big show here..
Until Will Smith’s people
called up David Spear.
Riverfront Marketing Group told WWL-TV that the extravaganza’s planning typically takes months but came together in just 72 hours, thanks to Smith’s generosity.
“When the folks called me, they said, ‘Will Smith wants an A-plus show.’ said, ‘Well, he’s getting an A-plus-plus show. This is gonna be spectacular,’” David Spear, of AFX Pro LLC, told the TV station.
In fact, Spear said New Orleans’ 2021 “Go Fourth on the River” will be about three times larger than the average year’s celebration and is definitely the biggest of his 42 fireworks displays planned around the South this week, WWL-TV reported.
“We’re gonna step on the accelerator when 9 o’clock hits, and we’re not gonna remove our foot from that accelerator for 18 and a half minutes,” Spear said. “It is gonna rock, and it’s gonna be loud. And all the sound reverberating off of the skyscrapers downtown - it’s just magnificent.”
Smith moved production of “Emancipation” from Georgia to Louisiana in early April after Georgia passed a new voting law that prompted a federal lawsuit saying the overhaul was intended to deny Black voters equal access to the ballot, The Associated Press reported.
A fireworks display produced by "Go 4th on the River" will take place in New Orleans along the Mississippi Riverfront at 9pm Sunday, July 4, 2021🎆🎉
— Mayor LaToya Cantrell (@mayorcantrell) July 2, 2021
The gift of city fireworks was made possible by actor and producer Will Smith, along with his company Westbrook👏⚜️ pic.twitter.com/oWI8b8YOap
Meanwhile, the city of New Orleans issued the following statement to WWL-TV:
“While he [Will Smith] and the production have been in town preparing to film, [he] has fallen in love with the City of New Orleans and wanted the citizens and visiting tourists to enjoy the annual celebratory firework display.”
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