As the wheel neared completion, there was some concern that the quickmatch below the wheel might hang up on the tower as the wheel rotated in the breeze prior to firing. With this in mind, we decided to tie the quickmatch up to the bottom of the wheel. BIG mistake!

What it did was put the match that ignited the letters and wheel drivers too close to the match that ignited the girandolas. The result was that rather than turning for 26 seconds before the girandolas lit, they lit almost immediately. The effect was still a real crowd pleaser, but not what was intended.