Anyone who watched the skies during the holidays last year would have seen hundreds of the buzzing, blinking, battery-operated bugs moving synchronously.
The drone-entertainment industry, which barely existed five years ago, is also looking up — especially as technology improves, and event producers in Colorado discover alternatives or add-ons to the messy, potentially dangerous yet nostalgic thrills of fireworks on holidays like July 4 and New Year’s Eve.
“Safety and sustainability are always a big concern, and that was one of our founding principles of starting this business,” said Tom Dolan , owner of Denver’s Brightflight Drone Shows. “The other one is customization. Imagination is the only limitation at a certain point. If somebody wants a 300-foot-tall Blucifer [in the sky] with [images of] planes landing at Denver International Airport in the background, we can pull that off.”
Brightflight runs 80 to 90 drone shows per year in Colorado, and Dolan expects that number to go up in 2026. His client list, which ranges from Visit Denver to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, is growing rapidly as they discover the joys of drones, he said.
More drones can mean fewer traditional fireworks, even as the adrenaline-pumping “boom factor” of fireworks still dominates most civic displays, according to a report from tech-design company Jaycon. But while fireworks companies adamantly defend their safety records, some event organizers — and audiences — are increasingly embracing drones.
That includes cities such as Aspen, in the fire-sensitive high country, but also the cities adjacent to vast stretches of land east of the Front Range, like Parker.
“With the growing pattern of warmer, drier summers, we remain hyper-vigilant about wildfire danger in Aspen,” wrote Wesy Armour-Cook, special events assistant manager for the city of Aspen, in an email to The Denver Post. “Our town sits at the top of a valley, which makes evacuation incredibly challenging should a fire ignite within city limits.
Choosing drones allows us to offer a fun, high-impact finale to the day without the risks that come with fireworks,” Armour-Cook added. “Keeping Aspen environmentally responsible and accountable is always at the forefront of our decision-making.”
Drones can be friendlier all-around for viewers and event planners, said Eric Raya Steinbeiss, the Civic Center Conservancy’s director of community partnerships and activations. Raya Steinbeiss programs the annual show, Indy Eve, taking place this year above Denver’s Civic Center from 5 to 10 p.m. on July 3.
Professional fireworks shows, which can cost anywhere between $300 and $1,200 per minute depending on the number of launches, have burned the rubber membrane on the roof of the City and County Building during the Indy Eve event at Civic Center park in previous years, Raya Steinbeiss said, adding that drone shows are cleaner.
They’re also comparable to fireworks in cost, ranging from $15,000 to $50,000 or more for a large display, depending on size and complexity. That gives programmers a good idea of what they’re getting with either choice, Raya Steinbeiss said.
“A lot of people don’t realize all the debris fireworks can create,” he said. “We found so much of it on the roof of the City and County building that we had to pay to clean it up. The building manager is very, very happy that it’s not happening anymore because it did cause a lot of damage.”
That’s partly why Indy Eve — downtown’s biggest Fourth of July event — switched from fireworks to drones for the first time in 2024. It’s not just environmental sustainability or mess to worry about, but cost effectiveness, safety, and longevity.
“They’re also just sensory-friendly,” Raya Steinbeiss added. “Drones allow more people to enjoy it, and it’s more considerate for kids and pets. We saw a huge positive response from the show last year, so we’re happy to bring it back.”
Software allows drone programmers to artistically animate fleets of synchronized machines, which cost about $800 to $1,000 each and carry a battery life of 15 minutes. They sport bright, RGBW LEDs capable of displaying more than four billion colors, according to Verge Aero, a Philadelphia company that produces hybrid drone displays. They’re typically owned and serviced by the companies that are hired for the displays, not the cities that hire them.
Colorado’s market has matched the high-tech spectacle’s ascension. The company Hire UAV Pro has staged advertising campaigns, concerts and public drone displays in spots such as Westcliffe, Boulder, and at the Gaylord Rockies Resort across more than 100 events. Open Sky Drone Light Shows also operates big events in and outside of Colorado, with prices starting at $15,000 per show.
Brightflight Drone Shows dominates the holiday skies in Denver. The company runs not only the Indy Eve drone shows, but holiday displays paid for by Visit Denver that can be seen throughout central Denver, including at the popular Christkindlmarket at Civic Center.
Ninety-five percent of everyone who watches them are seeing them for the first time, estimated Brightflight’s Dolan. His company is only two years old but has enjoyed rapid advances that allow him to add up to 100 drones to his shows every few months.
Those shows cost between $10,000 to $15,000 for private audiences or corporate retreats, and $50,000 or more for displays that can span 500 feet in view of tens of thousands of people. They operate over sports fields and other empty, secured areas — just in case one of the drones fails.
That means shows that were formerly 300 strong are now composed of 500 flying machines creating dense, moving images in an array of hues and styles. Imagery includes not only Christmas and Fourth of July icons, but copyrighted public artworks such as “Mustang” (a.k.a. Blucifer), “I See What You Mean” (the Big Blue Bear), sports logos and more.
But the rush to drones obscures the pleasures and benefits of fireworks, say some producers, and the reality is that they can co-exist in creative ways, in some cases even combining with one another in a single show.
“You can get the best of both worlds, but not everybody can afford both, so you have to choose,” said Jim Oetken, owner of Yarmouth, Iowa-based J&M Displays, which operates dozens of Colorado fireworks displays out of its Keenesburg office. “Drones didn’t give the wow-power of people wanting fireworks, but they’re something new that people are having fun with. Fireworks have been around forever, and will continue to be.”
This year, FlyteCo Tower is selling $40 tickets to the top of the 11-story tower (formerly Stapleton Air Traffic Control Tower) to watch the surrounding fireworks displays with an unobstructed view — a first for its Independence Day operations. But any nearby drone shows will also be visible.
“Revelers will be able to catch essentially all of the firework shows across the Denver area, including Aurora, Westminster, downtown Denver,” FlyteCo said.
In Aurora, the city’s fire rescue team this year lifted restrictions for buying and using fireworks between June 15 and July 4, having consulted safety research from the University of Colorado. (Fireworks that explode or leave the ground — that’s most of them — are still illegal across much of Colorado.) Aurora has also maintained its contract with Pennsylvania’s Zambelli Fireworks for this year’s Fourth of July Spectacular at the Aurora Municipal Center. Zambelli’s track record for safety and professionalism is proven, according to the city, which didn’t make its event organizer available for comment.
But safety should always be the No. 1 concern, regardless of the type of show, said Jessica Zambelli , whose company produces roughly 2,000 fireworks shows each year across the U.S.
“It takes days of precision work,” she said. “And adding the drone component requires hours of choreography and programming. It is a massive effort in planning, prep and safety checks to bring the storytelling to life with fireworks and drones.”
In Estes Park, on the edge on Rocky Mountain National Park, the city-run fireworks display is launched over the largest body of water in the valley, Lake Estes, from a sand bar as fire district personnel patrol the area.
“Providing a professionally organized fireworks display like the Town’s can help reduce fireworks at private locations that may be illegal, unsafe or cause fire danger,” the city said in an email to The Denver Post.
More than 10,200 emergency room visits across the country in 2022 were the result of fireworks-related injuries, and 73% of those visits happened between June 17 and July 17, according to a report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The National Fire Protection Association estimates that fireworks spark upward of 19,500 fires each year in the United States.
There were fewer than a half dozen injuries from professional drone shows last year, according to news media estimates, and no deaths, although a high-profile mishap at New Year’s Eve show in Orlando prompted the FAA to shut some drone shows down nationwide. However, the comparisons are uneven given that the majority of fireworks injuries result from personal use, not professional displays, whereas drone users typically operate individual machines.
Brightflight’s Dolan tests his drone shows over an empty, unspecified field in Broomfield to prevent just such an accident. He’s excited about the rapidly advancing technology that will soon turn drones basically into pixels in images and surfaces for flying 3D structures.
“As drones become more and more of a household concern, you’ll see more competition,” he said. “But there’s a large barrier to entry, with cost and obtaining permits and forms from the FAA, so for now you’re essentially seeing a movement that’s in its infancy.”
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