Coastal Commission Pressures Big Bay Boom to Go Drone

By Lori Weisberg / San Diego Union-Tribune / Feb. 6, 2025

San Diego’s annual Big Bay Boom will go on as scheduled this year, but California Coastal Commissioners put port officials and the event’s organizer on notice Thursday that they need to start looking at ways to rethink the use of fireworks during the Fourth of July celebration in order to protect the bay and nearby wildlife.

The commission agreed that not only does the scale of the show need to be downsized, but it may need to transition in future years to a drone-only show that could potentially substitute aerial colored lights and synchronized displays for conventional fireworks. While coastal planners had previously been in discussions with Big Bay Boom organizers about moving sooner to a drone show, the staff acknowledged that the port and its partner, the Armed Services YMCA, would not have enough time to make such a major pivot so quickly.

Instead, the port, in the near-term, will have to trim by 15% the legally permitted number of pounds for all 2025 fireworks shows on state tidelands, including the Big Bay Boom and regular shows at the Rady Shell and USS Midway, among others. By 2026, an additional 5% reduction will be required. As a practical matter, however, the Big Bay Boom and other shows will not have to scale back this year or next. As currently configured, they already fall well below what is permitted in the port’s fireworks ordinance.

More significantly, the port will have to undertake a study exploring the possibility of replacing fireworks with an aerial light show or using drones to complement a scaled-down fireworks event, beginning with the Fourth of July in 2027. The study, in part, will be required to look at previous drone shows conducted in other cities, as well as one that took place at Petco Park last April following a Padres game.

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