OOH! AAH! The sound of Greater Romans reacting to their next Fourth of July fireworks show may well become louder than ever.

Apparently the 2013 event is already being planned and will use rockets so large that it will be possible to see them going off, according to Richard Garland of the Rome/Floyd Park and Recreation Authority, “from anywhere in the city.”

That’s hard to imagine. This is a pretty big city in land area, if not so much in population. If everybody living from Stonebridge on the north to near Lindale on the south, Maplewood on the east to Garden Lakes on the west will be able to basically look for an open spot in the forest they call home and see this show, that would really be something. Heck, if such a show became an annual event it might even draw spectators from all over the region.

Harbin Clinic, which sponsored the display this year, will apparently be joined in 2013 by Parker FiberNet, whose David Parker happens to be a certified pyrotechnician when not speeding data along high-speed lines. He wants to use Jackson Hill as a launching pad. That would allow 8-inch shells toting up to 14 pounds of explosives to be fired whereas the current riverfront location is limited to 5-inch shells with 6 pounds of bang.

Frankly, anything that allows Greater Rome to make its presence known in a loud and visible manner is to be encouraged given it is sometimes difficult to tell whether state leaders even know this part of the state exists.