2023 !mpact Award Recipient: Pyrotecnico

The Pyrotecnico story began over 125 years ago in Italy by founder, Constantino Vitale. Immigrating to America in 1922, Constantino set up shop in New Castle. The business took off, primarily selling fireworks from a catalog to local community organizations. Constantino’s passion for fireworks was reflected throughout the local community as many took second jobs supporting Vitale’s booming business. With the onset of World War II, community needs changed, and the company produced TNT ignitors for the military instead of fireworks. Adapting to community and market demands would become a key factor in the continued success of the Vitale family fireworks business.

Pyrotecnico has worked with over 10,000 different organizations in the past 10 years including producing the fireworks and special effects for the last three NFL Super Bowl halftime productions in Tampa Bay, Los Angeles, and Glendale Arizona. Beyond sporting events, Pyrotecnico produced displays for clients such as the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and music festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza. Pyrotecnico was awarded with the 2008 Gold Jupiter Award representing the United States at the international fireworks competition,  L'International des Feux Loto-Québec.  Currently, Pyrotecnico is part of summer 2023 world tours by Beyoncé, The Weeknd, and Post Malone.

CEO Stephen Vitale, great-grandson of Constantino, began working for the company at age 13.  He credits his family and lineage for instilling a strong work ethic. Pyrotecnico now spans over five generations and currently operates nationwide.  The family-owned business produces over 3,200 fireworks shows across the country each year.

Stephen believes, “Geographically and strategically, we’re in a great location, and we have a lower cost of living and doing business compared to many other areas of the country.”

He feels strongly that fireworks provide a great benefit to society. He shared, “Fireworks bring families and groups of people together to see the magic. We can make a strong impact in a community. It sounds simple and quirky, but we at Pyrotecnico create ‘oohs and aahs.’”

The company is also committed to building strong leaders in our county, and Pyrotecnico often provides first-time jobs to young people.  As Stephen explains, “We like to give young people a ‘peak under the hood’ to learn about the variety of professions at Pyrotecnico.  We’re not just fireworks.”

While the pandemic shut down most live events for a prolonged period of time, it also enabled Pyrotecnico to acquire seven (7) companies over the past three (3) years and expand its regional and national presence. In 2022, Live Events, LLC was formed as a full-service event production company, including end-to-end entertainment production for special effects and firework displays, sound, light, and video solutions, and entertainment logistics.  Pyrotecnico remains headquartered in New Castle, as does the parent company Live Events, with 65 full time employees, 48 of whom reside in Lawrence County. Hundreds more full-time employees and over a thousand freelance technicians work for the Live Events family of brands in the company’s twelve (12) other offices across the United States.

Stephen’s commitment to the company and community remains strong. He adds optimistically, “Lawrence County is special and people in the area need to start feeling this.  I’d like to see our 48 local employees grow to 480 over time.”