By GABE JORDAN

gabe.jordan@gaflnews.com

CORDELE — A group of five pyrotechnicians will invade Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park this morning and prepare to “make a great big racket” beginning at 9:30 tonight with the annual “Fireworks on the Flint.”

Pyrotecnico’s Jim Burgess and his team will begin scouting the park around 10 a.m. to determine the safest location from which to launch approximately 600 custom-made shells during the show.

“We’ll launch everything manually, without the aid of computers,” Burgess said. “The pyrotechnicians enjoy running a computer-launched show because they get to watch the display that way, but it’s even more fun when they shoot it themselves because they are personally involved with the fuses and the timing of the explosions.”

Two team members will do most of the shooting for the show, and a third will be on standby for the grand finale, Burgess said. Two others will assist throughout the show and during the preparation that will begin this morning.

Burgess said the “Fireworks on the Flint” show is one of his personal favorites because the setting near the beach area at Lake Blackshear is so picturesque.

“This is the fifth year I’ve been involved in the show in Cordele, and I love it,” he said. “It’s like two shows in one because you get a beautiful reflection off the water.”