BANGOR – The Fourth of July fireworks display on the riverfront delivered on the organizers’ promises – it was bigger, brighter, louder and longer than it has been in recent years.

Applause echoed off the riverbank as the show opened with a fast and furious display of color. The reds and greens didn’t have a chance to fade before the golds and blues burst over them.

“I’ve lived in Bangor since 1969 and it’s the best I’ve ever seen,” declared Debbie Parent after it ended about 10:10 p.m. “It was worth the three-hour wait and taking a vacation day at work to be here.”

Rick Briggs, president of Blue Hill Pyrotechnics, the company that has organized the annual fireworks shows in Bangor for at least 10 years, last month promised that the 2003 display would “be the biggest that I know of in the history of the city.”

The show, which began about 9:30 p.m. near the waterfront, included more than 2,500 aerial shells and a 750-shot finale presentation, according to Briggs. It took a crew of 24 trained shooters to produce it.

What made the big show possible was a $15,000 donation from WABI-TV toward the fireworks display. It was matched by $15,000 contributed by the community. WABI is celebrating its 50th birthday, the first television station in Maine to reach that milestone.

Many spectators staked out spots near the riverfront early Friday. Patsy Oversmith of Hampden and Krista Mallory-MacDonald of Bangor began planning this year’s tailgate party last year. Their party was attended by nearly 30 friends and family.

Scott MacDonald grilled “teriyaki duck sauce chicken” in the parking lot at South and Railroad streets. Next year’s plans include a portable toilet, joked Oversmith.

The television station’s heavy promotion of this year’s display and the good weather brought a bigger than average crowd to the waterfront, according to Bangor police. It also caused major traffic jams on both sides of the river when the exodus began after the last burst of color faded from the night sky.

The Bangor Police Department expected to have a total of 20 officers – eight more than usually work a Friday night – on duty in the city, Deputy Chief Peter Arno said Thursday. A majority of them were to be detailed downtown for the fireworks display and to help move traffic out of town in an orderly fashion.

Sgt. Perry Antone of the Brewer Police Department said his department also had scheduled extra officers to handle the parade Friday morning, the shutdown of the Joshua Chamberlain bridge, and traffic after the fireworks display.