Urbanna’s lighted drone show on July 5 was unique, the first one in the area. Hundreds of drones formed large animated figures in the sky over Urbanna Creek. It was almost magical the way they made a plane, a tank or a lighthouse, then dissolved into chaos and reformed seconds later. A boat became a crab whose claws moved like it was feeding. An airplane dissolved into Marines raising the American Flag on Iwo Jima.
During the show, one spectator said the drones were better for the environment and didn’t scare dogs — like the boom of fireworks.
But the boom was what one retired Army officer wanted. He wondered out loud why the Urbanna fireworks were cancelled. The reason — no insurance. (Deltaville Ballpark did, however, present its annual fireworks show Saturday night, thrilling the hundreds on hand to watch.)
Buffer
Fireworks that are launched into the air require a safety buffer area. A three-inch shell would need a 600-foot buffer — the length of two football fields.
The last fireworks in Urbanna were in 2023. Things changed in 2024 when the Urbanna Town Council was working with a fireworks company that asked if the landowners had insurance for fireworks. They did not.
Council talked about renting a large barge and launching fireworks from the Rappahannock River. It was even proposed that the town buy a barge, but that idea floated for only a few moments.
The bottom line, the town council exhausted all possible venues for fireworks.
