Matt Loraine of Melrose Pyrothechnics, Inc. has been producing the Fourth of July Fireworks show in Fort Wayne for more than 30 years. He started helping out with his father when he was just 12 years old and took over the operation in 1990.

Loraine says he still gets excited every year, “We’re celebrating our country’s birthday. It was John Quincy Adams who said that this day should be celebrated with illuminations, parades and cookouts and we’re doing that. Happy Birthday America!”

Every year people flock downtown to pick out their favorite spot as Loraine and his team put on the big show from high atop the Indiana Michigan Power Center. The show will start at 10 p.m. Monday night, or after the conclusion of the Fort Wayne TinCaps game if it runs long.

WANE15 dug through the archives to find some of the ways people celebrate America’s birthday each year. One attendee said, “It’s kinda like Christmas. We love the Fourth of July. We start planning months in advance.”

Another says Parkview Field is the place to be, “What’s more American than baseball? We may as well celebrate America at a baseball field.”

Loraine and his team put in a lot of hours months in advance preparing for the fireworks display, but he says it’s all worth it. “The most rewarding thing will be when the final shell goes off, we’ll all go to the edge and the cheers will rise up and you can actually feel them coming up the building with the wind. Just hearing the crowd hooting and hollering and cheering is the biggest reward ever.”

No matter where you choose to watch the show tonight, it’s easy to see why the downtown Fort Wayne Fireworks show is Positively Fort Wayne.