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Jake Walther checks out the fireworks arrangement before the Sunday night show.
Jake Walther (left) and Fred Burrell (holding a remote control) monitor fireworks at the Sunday night fireworks show in Caroline County.
Jake Walther watches the fireworks demonstration that he arranged for a private picnic in Caroline County Sunday night. Walther was paralyzed from the shoulders down in a motorcycle accident in 2005. |
BY BILL FREEHLING
The inspiration for a 15-minute fireworks spectacular in Caroline County on Sunday night was a full-contact rugby game played in wheelchairs.
Jake Walther was in a New Jersey rehab hospital in 2005 when he first saw "Murderball," a documentary that portrays a group of paraplegic rugby players.
That June, Walther was in a motorcycle wreck in Memphis that left him paralyzed from the shoulders down. His spinal column was knocked out of alignment, but not severed.
Before the wreck, the Stafford County resident had been a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus lighting technician, climbing 40-foot trusses and fearlessly dangling upside down to plug in spotlights.
In "Murderball," he learned the stories of other young men who had moved on with their lives after an injury confined them to a wheelchair. He decided he would do the same rather than assume a "woe is me" attitude.
"I've always been an optimistic person," Walther said. "Why am I going to stop doing what I love?"
One of his responsibilities with the circus had been indoor pyro-technics. As Walther slogged through the physical therapy that has let him regain some motion in his arms, he started thinking about putting on fireworks shows again.
Last year Walther, now 27, put on his first fireworks shows since the injury. In March he ordered about $3,500 worth of fireworks, which he keeps in a secure storage facility in Stafford.
On Sunday he set up and ran a show for about 150 people on the property of Dr. Patrick Neustatter off Pepmeier Hill Road in Caroline County. It was part of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fredericksburg's summer picnic. Walther attends that church.
Now he's starting a business offering fireworks shows for holidays, graduations, weddings, birthdays or any event in the Fredericksburg area.
"I just wanted to have fun and make a go at making money at it," Walther said. "If you do what you love you'll never work a day in your life."
Walther is a member of The Crackerjacks, a regional fireworks club, and the Pyrotechnics Guild International. He can't set up or light the fireworks himself, but he knows how to direct others so it's just right.
"You always gotta have one chief," he said.
Costs for the shows would likely start around $500 to $1,000 and go up based on the number of fireworks shot off and other factors.
Walther, who lives with his parents on Butler Road across from the YMCA, is still in the early stages of setting up his business. He has business cards and is working on designing a logo and Web site. He's also toying with a name; an early favorite is something with the word "Pyroplegic."
Walther continues to go to rehab four days a week to increase the strength in his arms. He can operate his wheelchair with his left hand, and he wears a Bluetooth phone on his left ear that he can easily answer.
He's hoping that phone will soon start ringing for future gigs. Four years after an accident that changed his life, Jake Walther is ready to start his career again.
"I feel like a 15-year-old with a lawnmower," he said.
Bill Freehling: 540/374-5405
Email: bfreehling@freelancestar.com
| Jake Walther can be reached at 540/455-1230 or jakewalther@live.com. |
