MILTON-FREEWATER — Christopher Price, huge igniter in his gloved hand, watched fire streak high into the sky and explode into a crazy kaleidoscope of colors and patterns. As the aerial shells boomed and bloomed, scattered and spun, the licensed pyrotechnician was deep into bliss territory.

Some shells produced pure noise, while others manifested as willowy cascades of light, streaking comets or giant, fading globes. The fireworks display capped Thursday night’s Weston-McEwen High School graduation at the Milton-Freewater Drive-In Theater.

Price, a 2002 Weston-McEwen graduate, contacted Rachael Olson of the school’s graduation committee on May 13 to gauge interest in a fireworks display. He introduced himself as an alum and the owner of Bing Bang Fireworks in College Place, Washington. Would she be interested in a six-minute fireworks display for graduation at a reasonable price? The idea of COVID-19 messing up the seniors’ final few months bothered Price and this was his way of helping.

“I feel like the kids got robbed,” he told her. “I just want to do something for the 2020 grads to make it special.”

Olson loved the idea, but had no idea where the $1,500 would come from. She said she’d put it out to the community.

“Within two hours of placing the requests for donation on Facebook, we had over $500,” Olson said. “I was completely shocked. “In less than 24 hours we had exceeded our goal of $1,500, with pledges totaling $1,610.”

Eventually, they raised $2,000. Price promised to give them their money’s worth and more.

“This will be a sweet show,” he said Thursday night as he and his crew waited to go. They could hear muffled sounds from the drive-in theater, honks and cheers that floated to the field where they had set up just west of the big movie screen. Someone at the ceremony kept the team apprised of time remaining by text. The shells, 250 of them in varying sizes, sat in a row ready to ignite.

A trio of factors brought Price to this moment: a lifelong love of fireworks, a brush with death and, of course, the TigerScot blood that runs through his veins.

The addiction kicked in as a boy accompanying his grandfather to the fireworks stand. He loved to watch them and later to light them, but as an amateur. Price worked and still works as an IT administrator for Baker Boyer Bank and co-owns Price Computers. He studied to became a licensed pyrotechnician after surviving a kidney-liver transplant last year. Having faced his own mortality, he saw a second chance to chase a dream. He earned his license and is now a contractor for Alpha Pyrotechnics, of Ellensburg, Washington, doing pyrotechnic work at corporate events, private parties, weddings, sporting events and other gatherings. Price loves it.

“You’re painting the sky with color,” he said. “The sky is the canvas.”

The group waited patiently. Someone razzed Price about the Weston-McEwen mascot. “What is a TigerScot?” Price laughed. They chatted about the wind and lightning off in the distance. They visualized what they were about to do. They stayed positive about the delay as the ceremony ran long. “The darker the sky, the better the show,” Price said.

Three people would light fuses with another keeping track of the timing. A canvas tarp covered one block of shells to be used in the finale.

“We always cover the finale,” Price said. “That way if a spark drifts that way, it doesn’t go up.”

A text message dinged. It was show time. The three lighters put on helmets and goggles and grabbed their igniters. Others on the team spread out to serve as spotters in case burning debris fell to earth and touched off fires. A fingernail moon hung overhead.

“Be safe,” someone said in the darkness. “God bless everyone.”

“If something goes wrong, lay down and kiss the dirt,” someone added.

The show exploded into existence with several big bangs. As the lighters moved down the row of shells, one team member kept them apprised of how many minutes were gone. About 10 minutes in, the finale fizzed and popped and streaked. Another masterful painting in the sky.

This one, Price said, was a shout-out to the Weston-McEwen graduates of 2020.