BANGOR – Blue Hill pyrotechnics put on a 25-minute fireworks spectacle Tuesday night with dogs barking, children playing with sparklers and the young-at-heart lying back in lawn chairs.

An estimated 800 shells exploded 500 feet above the Penobscot River, illuminating the sky and reflecting in the water as kids shouted “Wow” and “That’s awesome.”

One family arrived on Joshua Chamberlain Bridge to reserve their spot for viewing at 8:30 p.m.

“No matter where you’re sitting, in front or the back [of the bridge], the view is great,” Kelly Brozyna, 42, of Orrington said.

Close to the Bangor-Brewer town line, Brozyna and 11 of his family members laid out blankets and set up chairs.

The family had had a full day of Fourth of July events, having attended the parade earlier in the day and remembering why a lot of people had the day off.

“I think patriotism is still very high. I saw it when the veterans walked by [in the parade],” Brozyna said.

The pyrotechnic spectacle worth $16,000 ended in exploding fireworks strings, which the pyrotechnic crew promised to be exceptional.

It was the obvious crowd favorite.

Brozyna’s 7-year-old son, Joey, said the finale was his favorite part.

“It shows all the colors that they did. They are the best kind of fireworks,” Joey said.

The Brozyna family and the rest of the spectators on the bridge paid a dollar for the view. The Bangor-Brewer Kiwanis, which sponsors the fireworks and parade, uses the funds to help pay for next year’s display.

“The money pays outstanding bills and the leftover is used for start-out money in the spring,” Brewer Kiwanis member Bill Newberry said.

He estimated that 2000 people would crowd onto the bridge for what he called a great view.

The show moved down to the waterfront site from the bridge in 1994 after several people were taken to the hospital with firework-related injuries the previous year.

Spectators were not allowed within 210 feet of the fireworks from the Sea Dog and 350 feet from Main Street. The site is a clearing along the Penobscot River in between the Joshua Chamberlain and I-395 bridges.

Insurance regulations require a 70-foot buffer per inch of shell diameter. The city of Bangor only allows up to 5-inch shells.

“The site is designed as a safety feature itself,” Alan Whittlesey, the lone licensed shooter on site, said Tuesday afternoon.

Ironically Whittlesey, a 16-year pyrotechnic, and his staff of eight don’t have the best seat in town to watch the spectacle.

“I give up the ability to watch the show, because I have to watch what is going on down here,” Whittlesey said, adding that he hasn’t watched a show in years.

But it is an experience that he does not want to give up.

“It is one of the few jobs that says ‘here is $16,000, go have fun.’ If you have fun, you will present a better program,” Whittlesey said.

“It is such a rush to work with stuff like this,” he said.

The show is also important because it gives young people memories, and if the crew does it right, spectators will remember the crew the next year.

Whittlesey said one of the great things about the job is “the ability to perform for thousands of people and keep anonymity,” knowing that people enjoyed what they saw and yet do not know who lit the fuses.