Rantz: It’s time to cancel Seattle’s New Year’s fireworks show

It’s time to cancel Seattle’s New Year’s Eve fireworks show at the Space Needle. We won’t miss it because we can’t see the fireworks anyway.

KING 5 broadcasts the event at the Space Needle, and the program unfolds the same way each year. Evening Magazine hosts vamp their way through awkward, unrehearsed and apparently unscripted commentary about resolutions, the best moments of the year, and anything else they can to fill time until the 18-minute drone and fireworks show begins.

Yet you can’t actually see the fireworks on the New Year’s Eve broadcast because of Seattle fog and smoke coming from the colorful explosions. Viewers get several minutes of poorly edited music behind live video of what amounts to vaguely colored fog. If you didn’t know it was New Year’s Eve, you might assume there was a hipster vaping convention at the Seattle Center.

Even in person, seeing more than a few fireworks before the fog and smoke take over is difficult. The pre-fireworks drone show- which is exciting to watch – is the only visible piece of the New Year’s Eve show.

None of us should be shocked by this consistent outcome. It happens annually because it’s normally foggy this time of year. Plus, the combination of cool air and hot fireworks explosions creates an inversion, which causes the smoke to linger.

So, what’s the purpose of a New Year’s Eve fireworks show you can’t see? We don’t even get a quality broadcast because of technical issues plaguing the annual KING 5 Seattle broadcast.

It’s like a higher being keeps trying to send a clear message: stop with the New Year’s Eve fireworks from the Space Needle! We should listen.

This is what every Seattle Space Needle New Year’s Eve fireworks celebration looks like. Vaguely colored fog and smoke. pic.twitter.com/2vSxUCOD9b

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) January 1, 2024

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