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‘Big Daddy’ Vranes is doing his thing again July 4 By Buffy Pollock Updated: Jun 30, 2022 12:02 PM A A The Vranes family and friends head out into the Twin Creeks neighborhood asking for donations to put on the 17th annual “Matt’s Twin Creeks Fireworks Show” in Central Point on the 4th of July. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Matt’s Twin Creeks Fireworks Show in Central Point is an annual family production While some towns don’t even throw down for a single, solitary fireworks show on Fourth of July, residents in Central Point are spoiled with two. The city of Central Point sponsors an annual fireworks display at The Expo on the east end of town, just off the freeway. The show draws a crowd from cities around the Rogue Valley. Just as that show gets underway, however, onlookers simply glance the opposite direction, beyond Highway 99, and see an equally impressive display of mortars booming over the west end of town. That is Matt “Big Daddy” Vranes, “doing his thing.” Preparing for his 17th year of setting off thousands of mortars over his Twin Creeks neighborhood, Vranes is still calling on tricks of the trade he began picking up as a young pyro growing up in San Bruno, California. San Bruno was a diehard place for Independence Day festivities, at a time when surrounding towns wouldn’t allow fireworks, Vranes said. So he and his childhood friends got together to orchestrate a fireworks show and invited everyone to watch. Ordinary fireworks “seemed kind of lame,” according to Vranes, so his own show evolved from piecing smaller, different fireworks together “for a bigger effect” to, in recent years, thousands of mortars meticulously planned and timed. Two decades later, the father of four and his wife, Jennifer, spend hundreds of hours prepping and planning for “Matt’s Twin Creeks Fireworks Show” aka “Big Daddy Boom.” By all accounts, they couldn’t cancel at this point even if they needed or wanted to. Costs to put on the show have skyrocketed, reaching $18,000 to $20,000 between mortars, insurance and other expenses. Undeterred, the family heads out with a few dozen kids, passing out flyers — as they did Tuesday — reminding neighbors to come watch the show and, if they can, help out, said Jennifer Vranes, “just a little help!” Jennifer Vranes said canceling the show, due to cost or for other reasons would incite a small-scale riot of local patriotic folk. “It’s more expensive than ever, between the fireworks and insurance and everything we have to pay for, but everyone loves it so much that the show just has to go on,” she said. “It’s a favorite tradition for our family and a lot of families in Central Point — and around the valley. One year we tried to cancel it because it was getting so expensive. We thought, ‘What are we doing? Let’s just cancel it!’ And the neighborhood was up in arms. They said, ‘No way! How can we help? Let us help raise the money.’” While the show started out as a fun neighborhood event, Matt Vranes said the size of the show draws an impressive crowd. “It started as, basically, a neighborhood fireworks show that we started putting on for our neighbors, and now everybody knows about it, so there are just two really great shows happening over the city,” he said. “We keep it safe and fun, and we make sure we all have a great place to enjoy the Fourth of July together.” Of the nearly $20,000 price tag, mostly out of pocket for the Vranes, the couple have had donations of “a few hundred bucks” trickle in for this year’s show. Matt Vranes said they still use the same flyer each year, designed by neighbors who love the show. He would be hard-pressed, donations or not, to give up on the annual show. “The Realtors in our neighborhood offer that up as part of the deal for selling people on moving here,” he said with a laugh. “They tell potential buyers, ‘There’s a great fireworks show right here in Twin Creeks.’” Jennifer Vranes said it’s fun to think that one local family could put on something so big. “I think people assume the city or at least the neighborhood is paying for it,” she said. “Nope! It’s put on by just one family.” To donate, see donatefireworks.com On Venmo, @donatefireworks This year’s shows, on both ends of town, start at dusk. Entertainment will accompany the show at The Expo, and the Vranes family will have food trucks and a DJ beginning at 7 p.m. On Facebook see facebook.com/TwinCreeksFireworksShow/ Reach freelance writer Buffy Pollock at [email protected].