John Mikrut is known as the “Fireworks Guy” for his spectacular fireworks displays at Princeton, Walnut and other local communities.

You can now call him a national champion.

Mikrut recently won Sky Wars, the premier national fireworks competition in Innsbruck, Mo., crowned as the 2025 national champion in the pro division.

The show has been two years in the making, Mikrut said, since 2024 was canceled due to hurricane Helene. He competed against Frank Terzino of North Carolina and James Baxter of Minnesota.

The Sky Wars field is 500 feet wide by 1,200 feet long, and has an attendance of over 14,000 general admissions, and over 1,000 pyros.

It all started with a National Anthem fireworks show that Mikrut describes as “out of this world,” and a 21-gun salute. The night consists of eight fireworks shows, a drone show and a fireball show with no less than 500 gallons of gasoline, Mikrut said.

The first three competition shows are 1.4 consumer grade fireworks, which Mikruit describes as “all the stuff you can buy in a tent,” along with consumer proline fireworks, which requires a safety course. They are limited to a budget and 7-9 minute time frame.

Next is an unlimited show where the pyrotechnician can do “whatever he/she likes,” Mikrut said. A drone show, consisting of 1,000 drones, followed with choreographed images in the sky and fireworks attached to the drones.

The professional display competitions are judged by five experienced judges on pyro musical concept, synchronization, soundtrack, technical design and execution, Mikrut said.

Mikrut’s show was 15 minutes long with 4,412 cues (fireworks).

Mikrut had a team consisting of 21 people from several states, bringing in a 26-foot U-Haul along with two more enclosed trailers filled to the brim with equipment. They started set up on Monday, Sept. 22 and completed setup at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27.

“One hour before showtime, the team helped with setup on the display field from connecting wires, loading shells into mortar tubes and making sure everything was setup accordingly,” Mikrut said.

“All 4,412 shots were labeled to specific cues to run off a wireless Cobra Firing System. I spent several months designing the show on a program called Finale 3D. After the script was completed, I export the file and load it into my firing remote, and when it’s all set up, all I have to do is hit start on the remote, and everything goes according to the script.”

Next year, Mikrut plans to go back and compete against the 2022 and 2023 champions with all new music and a completely new design, he said.

“I highly highly recommend buying tickets to this show. It’s exactly like they say, it will ruin your fireworks forever,” Mikrut said.