News : Set up begins for all-new, bigger-than-ever Boomtown

Mark Pingenot, left, said Boomtown is "always bigger and better."

Giant mortar tubes will fire large 12-and 16-inch shells.

Bar-Y Pyros crews set up fireworks display near the race track Friday morning.

Boomtown, said Mark Pingenot as he helped other Bar-Y personnel set up a display along the dirt race track at the Benton County Fairgrounds, is "always bigger and better."

How much bigger?

"I don't know," replied Pingenot. "Ask Chuck."

So, we asked Chuck, Yedlik, the Bar-Y owner and one of the organizers of the annual fireworks event in Vinton, how much bigger this year's show will be than last year's.

"I have no idea," he said, adding that his trailer is more full of fireworks than it was for last year's event.

Yedlik, when asked "What is new this year?" is known to reply, "It's all new this year because everything from last year's show got blown up."

Other members of the Iowa Pyrotechnic Association were busy on Friday, setting up their displays and/or digging holes for the tubes that will house and fire the large 12- and 16-inch shells. Some IPA members were on area TV stations as early as 5 a.m. this morning, talking about the annual Boomtown event and demonstrating some fireworks for the television cameras.