Joe Boldt has been bringing the fireworks show to Sonoma for forty years. Anna Pier sat down with him at the Al Mazza Fire House on Second Street West to hear all about how he does it, how he got into it, his work as a Volunteer Captain, and the 250th celebration.
You live in Sonoma? Born and raised. I went to Flowery, Altimira and Sonoma Valley High. When I was a boy, my grandparents had a house where McCaulou’s is now, and the whole shopping center – across the street from Firehouse Number 1 on Second St West – was a pear orchard. I remember being a kid on my bike, watching from behind the police department the volunteer firefighters setting off the fireworks on the field at General Vallejo’s home. It was a Norman Rockwell scene. I said to myself, “I’ve got to get into that.”
And so you did. Yes, but it wasn’t a direct path. After high school, I went to automotive school, and worked for 23 years for Dodge dealerships. Since ’08 I have been fulltime Shop Supervisor for the entire Sonoma Valley Fire District. Anytime there’s an incident – a fire – I follow the rigs in another department vehicle, as the maintenance person. But I also might jump on a truck…