Lake Wawasee Fireworks, the Wawasee250 recap
Summer of 2026
A flag on every pier. A morning in the park. Sixty-five years of boats on parade, warbirds overhead, and the largest fireworks show this lake has ever seen. Neighbors paid for it, neighbors ran it, and the whole lake showed up.
All summer, pier to pier
It started with a flag.
Before the first barge went in the water, the Wawasee250 flag went up. It flew under the Stars and Stripes on piers all around the lake from Memorial Day through the Fourth, and by July you could take a boat around Wawasee and read the whole celebration off the shoreline.
Every one went out by hand. The flags were bagged, bundled, and split into stacks tagged with the name of the board member who would carry it, and the board drove the lake for twelve days delivering them door to door.
1 film and 20 photographs
The delivery wall, 40 of the deliveries the board photographed
Neighbors on their own front steps and piers, flag in hand, drawn from the deliveries the board photographed between May 19 and May 30.
Friday, July 3, 9 a.m. to noon
A morning in the park.
Hundreds of members and their families opened the weekend at the public access site. Twelve new barges were christened at the pier, each one carrying its sponsor's name. The Zambelli crew fired a live demonstration and showed the kids how a firework actually works.
Faces got painted. Keepsake fireworks got designed and carried home. The shell that would go up the next night got signed by anyone who wanted to sign it.
2 films and 66 photographs
Saturday, July 4, all day
The lake put on its whole self.
The 65th Wawasee Flotilla went out at 12:30 on the theme America the Beautiful, 250 Years Strong, with Century boats marking their own hundredth year at the front of the line. Eagles on the pontoons, colonial costumes, bunting on every rail. At 1:30 The Skyliners came over the parade in restored T-34 Mentors, tight formation, right down the middle of the lake.
The rest of it was the ordinary glory of a July Saturday here. Dock jumping, wakesurfing, kids on the swim mat, boats rafted up three deep, and a shoreline that did not empty out all afternoon.
2 films and 45 photographs
Saturday, July 4, over the center of the lake
The largest show in the lake's history.
Eighteen barges, twelve of them brand new and built right here in Syracuse, anchored across seven launch positions in the middle of the lake. Twenty-four minutes fired by Zambelli, the same crew who design and launch Thunder Over Louisville, every shell timed to a score written for this one night on this one lake.
Two years ago the old fleet was failing. This community rebuilt it, and then filled the sky with it.
The full show, start to finish.
One camera, one take, twenty-four minutes. Best with the sound up.
3 films and 17 photographs
Commissioned for Wawasee250
Written for one night on one lake.
Most fireworks shows borrow their music. Ours was made for it. Sergeant First Class Noah D. Taylor, staff composer at West Point, wrote and produced the full twenty-four minute score, and every cue Zambelli sent up was timed to it. His America the Beautiful theme opened the show and came back in the finale to close the night out.
“This score was written for one night on one lake.”
SFC Noah D. Taylor
1 film and the full score
From the WPOA Board
About the significant delay
Straight-line winds moved several barges off station not long before the show. Resetting and re-verifying them safely took the rest of the evening, and the fireworks launched at 12:52 a.m. They ran the full twenty-four minutes.
We were too quiet while you waited, and that is on us. To everyone who stayed out there, thank you. To everyone who headed in and missed the display, our sincere apologies. Please enjoy the whole show video above.
Kay Young, President, on behalf of the WPOA Board of Directors
Two things change before next year
A permanent anchoring system
The barges were never the problem. An engineered anchoring system goes into the lakebed so the fleet holds its position no matter what the weather does.
A formal communications plan
One person responsible for updates, messages ready in advance, and a standing agreement with Willie 103.5 FM so the lake hears from us on the radio and online while it is happening.
With gratitude
The people who made it.
Our celebration of America's 250th would not have happened without your talent, collaboration, and commitment.
The show
Ralph McFarland and the Zambelli Fireworks crew. Nick, Cary, and Diamond Pier Pros. Swiss Perfection, who built the fleet in Syracuse. Wawasee Boat Company, Main Channel Marina, and Griffith's Marina.
On the air and behind the lens
Chris Cage and Willie 103.5 FM. SFC Noah D. Taylor.
Keeping everyone safe
John Kellogg, Tom Malott, the WPOA Sheriff Lake Patrol and the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department. Indiana DNR District 1, Derrick Lavoine and Tri-County Fish and Wildlife. Fire Chief Quinn Hunter and Turkey Creek Fire Territory. Syracuse Police, the Town of Syracuse, and the Syracuse Chamber.
The volunteers
Everyone at the check-in tents, on the shuttle boats, at the kids' tables, and on setup and tear-down. You were the best seat in the house.
The barge capital campaign and the 2026 Fireworks Fund
You built the fleet.
Twelve of this year's eighteen barges did not exist two years ago. Members and friends of the lake gave more than $455,000 to the barge capital campaign, and gave again to the 2026 Fireworks Fund, which passed its goal. Not one dollar of it was public money. That generosity built the boats that made this show possible and, on the night, made it recoverable.
Films and photographs by Peter Wallace, Wallyography.
See you next Fourth.
The next Lake Wawasee fireworks show is Saturday, July 3, 2027 at 10:30 p.m.