The First Expedition
Field Notes from the Firing Line, Part Two
The First Expedition documents Alethea Mehdipour’s first full J & M Displays fireworks shoot near Bonner Springs, Kansas, through Laverna the Rockin’ Raccoon’s field notes on pyrotechnics, live event production, fireworks safety, racks, shells, quarry heat, and the work behind a fireworks display.The raccoon has reviewed the evidence.
Part One was the long fuse. Part Two is where the raccoon enters the field and immediately discovers that the field is made of rock, dust, heat, explosives, and poor shade availability. The first full J & M Displays expedition took place on July 2 near Bonner Springs, Kansas.
This show was shot at a rock quarry. A hot one. On a cliff-edge.
The raccoon arrived early and waited outside the quarry because new habitats should be observed before they begin making demands. Also, the raccoon was nervous. This has been logged.
The quarry was huge. Not large. Huge. The kind of place that makes a human feel very small and an Elvira Jeep feel like an insect with paperwork. Industrial. Dusty. Remote. Far from everything. A landscape chewed open by machines, then handed back to bugs, birds, heat, and whatever questionable survival instincts brought the raccoon there in the first place.
The crew and trucks arrived. The habitat opened. Everyone signed in. Then the convoy moved deeper into the quarry. Past the normal world. Past the easy exits. Past the places where one might reasonably expect fireworks to happen. Way back. Up on a cliff edge.
The raccoon reviewed the location and filed it under: Suspiciously appropriate.
We had trucks. Boxes. Racks. Shells. Questions. Safety talks. New humans. Experienced humans. And Sean McLaughlin, providing structure in the middle of a rock habitat where the sun appeared to have personal grievances.
The crew had several newer humans. Some were in their second season. Some were on their first real shoot. The raccoon appreciates a habitat where not everyone pretends to know everything. Pyrotechnics is a poor place for pretending.
Sean explained what to do. Then he explained why it mattered. The raccoon has filed this under good training. Possibly excellent training.
The first task was not dramatic. No one handed the human a firing system and invited her to command the sky. The first task was load-in. The raccoon can handle a load in. Unload the boxes. Unload the racks. Stack the equipment. Move the pieces of the system into place. This is how spectacle begins.
Not with the boom. With labor. With sweat. With cardboard. With humans carrying things from one location to another because the sky does not get loud by itself.
The boxes looked like boxes. This would have been less interesting if the boxes had not been labeled as explosives.
The smaller shells looked strangely innocent. Almost like coconuts. The raccoon would like to note that coconuts are not usually filed under controlled spectacle. This is why field research remains necessary.
The racks were not decorative. They were the bones of the future sky.
Rows of mortar tubes. Grouped. Angled. Placed with intention.
The audience would eventually see color, height, spread, timing, and shape. The crew saw structure. Tube size mattered. Angle mattered. Pattern mattered. Placement mattered.
The raccoon has reviewed the evidence and reached an early conclusion: Before the sky becomes beautiful, it becomes organized. And there is a lot of sky to organize.
Unfortunately, it was also hot. Not warm. Not summer.
Angry.
The heat had opinions. The heat had leadership qualities. The heat was present at every meeting and refused to be voted out. The crew took breaks. Drank water. Used sunscreen. Moved canopies along the rows as the work moved. Shade became equipment. Survival became part of the system.
At dusk, it started sounding wild. Animals. Bugs. Distance.
Dust. Heat. Cardboard. Explosives.
A strange little orchestra for a raccoon standing on a cliff edge with a camera, questions, credentials pending, and the growing suspicion that she had entered exactly the right habitat.
The first full expedition was not glamorous. Glamour is rarely where the useful evidence lives.
This Field Note is mostly visual because sometimes the photographs explain the system better than a paragraph can.
The audience would eventually see fireworks.
The raccoon saw the system being built.
Photo Field Notes
The Quarry Habitat
The Set-Up:
The Coconuts
The Equipment
The Spectacle
Field Note Complete
The first full expedition did not begin with fireworks in the sky. It began with a quarry. A cliff edge. Rental trucks. Boxes labeled explosives. Shells that looked too innocent for their future plans. Racks arranged with intention. Angry heat. Canopies moving like survival stations. Safety talks. A training lead who explained the why. And a crew of humans building a fireworks display one piece at a time.
This is the work the audience rarely sees. Before the fireworks display, there is structure. Before the finale, there is labor. Before the boom, there is a system.
The raccoon entered the quarry with a camera, questions, credentials pending, and the growing suspicion that she had entered exactly the right habitat. The audience eventually saw fireworks. The raccoon saw the work that made the sky possible.
If you missed Part One of Field Notes from the Firing Line, read it here:
https://slightyferalmedia.blogspot.com/2026/07/look-on-my-facepyrotechnics-live-event-production.html
Next Field Note:
Part Three is coming soon: If It Could Happen, It Did Field Notes from the Firing Line, Part Three
Full Photo Gallery
The full Pyrotechnics Day 1 gallery is available here:
https://mymidlifecrisiscreativeinc17.pixieset.com/pyrotechnics-day1/
The raccoon collected more evidence than could reasonably fit inside one Field Note. This is common. The sky was loud. The camera was busy.
Field note complete.
The sky left evidence. The raccoon collected it.
Slightly feral.
Entirely capable.
Credentials pending.
— Laverna the Rockin’ Raccoon 🦝🎆
Slightly Feral Media
Published by My Midlife Crisis Creative Inc.
Filed as:
Field Notes • Pyrotechnics • Fireworks • Fireworks Display • J&M Displays • Live Event Production • Special Effects • Stagehand • Bonner Springs • Kansas
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