Drive-In Fireworks at RELLIS to Become New Tradition
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Drive-In Fireworks at RELLIS will return next year for another Fourth of July celebration, thanks to the success of Saturday night’s show at the Bryan campus.
An estimated audience of 10,000 people, taking 3,100 parking spaces, witnessed the fireworks show live. Hundreds of more vehicles had to be turned away because they arrived as the fireworks started. They watched from the sides of Highway 47 and Texas 21.
KBTX also televised the show, while WTAW broadcast the music synced to the fireworks.
The fireworks vendor reported that the music app was downloaded more than 53,000 times, crashing the server before the show. Fortunately, the server was up and running before the 9:15 p.m. start of the fireworks.
The event was co-sponsored by The Texas A&M University System, the Chancellor Century Council, KBTX-TV, WTAW radio, the city of Bryan, and The Eagle. With more than 2,100 acres and lots of parking, the Drive-In Fireworks Show was able to accommodate a large crowd despite COVID-19 by parking vehicles in every-other space.
“After countless emails asking to do it again, it looks like we have started a new tradition,” said Chancellor John Sharp with The Texas A&M University System. “The biggest fireworks show in the Brazos Valley will just have to get bigger and better next year.”
Chancellor Sharp thanked the co-sponsors for making the event a success.
By next year’s July 4th celebration, the Army Futures Command will be opening its George H.W. Bush Combat Development Complex at the RELLIS Campus. Chancellor Sharp said it has been determined that a fireworks show won’t interfere with the U.S. Army’s facilities behind the security fence at RELLIS.
About The Texas A&M University System
The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation with a budget of $6.3 billion. The System is a statewide network of 11 universities; a comprehensive health science center; eight state agencies, including the Texas Division of Emergency Management; and the RELLIS Campus. The Texas A&M System educates more than 151,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceeded $1 billion in FY 2019 and helped drive the state’s economy.
Contact: Laylan Copelin
Vice Chancellor of Marketing and Communications
(979) 458-6425
(512) 289-2782 cell
lcopelin@tamus.edu