TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – About 6,300 people filled Turtle Creek Stadium in Traverse City on Saturday, home of the collegiate Northwoods League baseball team the Pit Spitters, to see Michigan’s first ever International Fireworks Championship, a huge fireworks event synchronized to music.

A beautiful evening with mild weather helped to kick off the competition where a spectacular fireworks show lit up the sky during the evening thanks to Team Germany (ToF Feuerwerk), Team France (Fêtes et Feux), Team Mexico (Fantastika Pirotecnia) and Team USA (Arthur Rozzi Pyrotechnics), who had all qualified to be there after winning other competitions.

MORE NEWS: Bedrock, GM Propose $250M in Taxpayer Money for Ren Cen Revamp

Gates opened at 6:00 p.m. for the event with pre-show activities before the fireworks competition including Amazing Tyler’s Balancing Act, face painting, music from TC-Central drumline, and Detroit circus performers.

To kick off the fireworks show for each team were the beats of the TC-Cental drumline, a countdown, and a big red box which some refer to as a “plunger” but others might recognize as an “Acme Detonator” which is what Wile E. Coyote used on the “Road Runner” show when he was trying to blow up dynamite.

The competition started a little after 8 p.m. and each team had 12 to 15 minutes to impress the audience and the judges to try to win two trophies. After they gave it their best “shot,” Team Germany ended up being the big winner, getting both the People’s Choice trophy and the Judge’s Choice trophy.

The audience used a QR code to vote for their favorite fireworks show and for the other trophy, three fireworks experts from Florida, California, and Texas chose their favorite based on music, theme, creativity and other criteria. Mickey Graham, Director of Sports & Events at Traverse City Tourism said that the Traverse City competition was different than some other competitions in that it created a level playing field by focusing on the artistic design and skill of the competitors using a point system. He says that would allow the spectators to see the imagination and creativity of the fireworks design.

The team from Germany (ToF Feuerwerk), who was sponsored by the Traverse City Cherry Capital Airport, said they had gotten the opportunity to visit the Traverse City area. One of the members of the team said when introduced to the crowd, “We took a tour around the lake and it was really beautiful…and the Sleeping Bear Dunes…I tried to go down but I’m too scared of it.”

When asked how they design a fireworks program, the German competitor said, “The first thing is always the music choice so we try to figure out music that fits to the event and the spectators, gives you an emotional ride through the whole soundtrack..that’s the first part and then we set up the fireworks to the music, to the journey of the songs.”

MORE NEWS: Otsego County Man Faces Poaching Charges

Many of the competitors said they started being interested in fireworks at an early age and some were the third generation of a family business.

The fireworks fans filling the stadium were from all over. Graham said that according to their analysis from the tickets that were sold, about 40% of the spectators were from 100 to 150 miles away and the rest were from the Traverse City area.

One such visitor to the event was Joe Ulinski, a University of Michigan fan – and also a fireworks fan. Ulinski is from Macomb Township and said he and his wife had to get a hotel room in Cadillac because the hotels in Traverse City had filled up after the tickets for the show were sold.

When asked why he drove from so far away, he said that he and his wife were big fireworks fans and talked about having gone to the big St. Clair Shores Fireworks show several times. He was excited about the Traverse City competition and said that a state Fire Marshall at the show had told it was going to be “incredible.”

Another spectator that Michigan News Source spoke to was from Pellston, who said that about 30 other family members came to see the fireworks show too. However, the fireworks fan who came from the longest distance away had come from the North Pole. Yes, Santa Claus was seen in the audience and standing near a vehicle chatting with some folks as the parking lot cleared out.

Graham said everyone had been surprised at how popular the event was after it had been announced. When they initially put the tickets on sale in June, which included about 4,000 tickets to fill the  stadium seats, tables and suites, it sold out in 40 minutes. Because there was such a big demand to attend the event, they took about a month to work on a plan and added more seats on the baseball field. Graham said that second batch of tickets sold out in under eight minutes.

The show, which took about 10 months of planning, seemed to go off without a hitch. Fire Chief Bill Parker from Blair Township told Michigan News Source that there were 35 personnel at the event including police, fire and EMS. There were also about 25 security personnel from Northern Alliance Security scattered throughout the facility, keeping things safe and secure and ushering away errant journalists from getting too close to the explosives (no names will be given to protect the “innocent.”)

There were many groups involved in producing the first-of-its-kind event in Traverse City including Traverse City Tourism, Blast! Events, Great Lakes Fireworks, the firefighters, the police, the local governments, EMS, Great Lakes Environmental, the sponsors, and the clean-up crew which, by the looks of things, had a big job cleaning up fireworks debris (ash) from around the park.

Everyone involved, especially the fans, are hoping that the fireworks competition turns into an annual event. At the end of the evening, the audience used words like “awesome,” “wow,” and “amazing” with kids and adults alike wanting to come back next year for another great show.