After a two-year drought, Gator Growl will explode back onto the scene with fireworks.
The Nov. 4 show will bedazzle the sky for the first time since the Steve Miller Band played at Gator Growl in 2008.
Fireworks were added because there was a "lack of powerful environment during the show," said Aaron Heger, the producer of Gator Growl.
Responses from a survey administered in spring show students and alumni want the fireworks back, he said.
"It's the students' show, The Gator Nation's show, and we are trying to give them what they are asking for," he said. The fireworks were originally taken away from Gator Growl because with the new multi-million-dollar video boards, "no parties felt comfortable with a fireworks presentation," Heger said.
In a backward twist, lack of Growl attendance in the past few years made the fireworks possible for this year's upcoming program.
Without students and alumni filling the seats of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, it made it possible to place the stage in the student section of the stadium facing the alumni section, where all attending Gator Growl will now sit.
Heger said he feels the stage change makes for a "more comfortable viewing environment."
With the stage in the student section and away from the new video boards, fireworks become less of a safety concern.
Gator Growl is looking into any hazardous areas and making sure they are taken care of, he said.
"We have never had any sorts of issues in the past, and we don't expect to now," said Brittany Roth, technical director of Gator Growl, about the fireworks.
That said, fireworks present a tricky environmental challenge for the area around the university.
"Whether it's the gunpowder used to set them off or the chemicals and metals that are in them, there is definitely a lot of particulate that enters the atmosphere," said Ashley Pennington, outreach coordinator at the UF Office of Sustainability. "Some of it gets left behind, falls on the ground, falls into water bodies, and parts of the actual fireworks container that don't necessarily burn up in the air could also end up in those spaces."
By the end of Summer B, a band should be announced, said Cait Feroleto, director of public relations for Gator Growl. The band will most likely be a rock band, since the community would not want a hip-hop artist brought in, she said.
Heger said he would like most to bring in Maroon 5, though the Goo Goo Dolls would be a more likely choice.
A Gator Growl light projection shines over the crowd during a previous homecoming celebration. The event, known as "the largest student-run pep rally in the world," will have fireworks this year.
