Red, White and Boom Spirit in the Sky will light up downtown Columbus tomorrow while marking its 22-year celebration.

The event will be broadcast by NBC 4 from 9 to 11 p.m. Jean Nemeti, director of programming and community relations for NBC 4, said the station has been broadcasting the fireworks for many years.

“The original broadcast of Red, White and Boom … was an unprecedented three-hour live telecast in 1991.”

NBC 4 will also Web cast the fireworks live on their Web site beginning at 9 p.m., Nemeti said. This is the second year for the Web cast.

WNCI Radio Station will also be participating in the festivities.

“There’s a lot of stuff going on that day,” said Jenny Horn, WNCI promotions director.

This year’s event will introduce a new feature. At 9:55 p.m. there will be a moment of silence in honor of the “Choir of Heroes,” a group of fire, police and military members who will be singing the national anthem, Horn said. The choir will feature more than 15 people from Central Ohio.

In May, the group was solicited by WNCI and later gathered to rehearse and record the national anthem for the show.

Horn said she is not sure whether this feature will continue in future Red, White and Boom shows, but organizers wanted to do something special this year “to recognize all those heroes of Sept. 11”.

This year’s security for the show will be tight but Sarah Irvin, media director for Red, White and Boom, said it is to be expected.

“Security in general is always going to be heightened.”

Columbus police will be on alert, Irvin said, but security was never lax in previous shows. She said the Columbus police have always really watched the event.

This year’s celebration will also feature a fly-over by four F-16 fighter planes and four simultaneous exploding cannons.

“It’s going to be very loud,” Horn said.

The second annual Taste of Boom will return to the Arena District this year. The event will allow visitors to sample a variety of foods from local restaurants. According to the Web site for Red, White and Boom, Taste of Boom will begin at 11 a.m. and will be held on Nationwide Boulevard, from Front Street to West Street.

The Taste of Boom event was so popular, according to Irvin, that several other areas have decided to model their own events after it. There will be “Capitol Boom” at the Hyatt on Capitol Square and “Brewery Boom” in the Brewery District added to the celebration this year.

Several buildings in downtown Columbus will be taking “patriotic initiative,” Horn said. The buildings will be decorated with lights and draped with flags to show patriotism.

The fireworks display has been considered to be one of the largest shows in the Midwest. Sunset Fireworks, Ltd., has worked on events such as the Chinese New Year and with companies like Disney and Universal Studios, Irvin said.

Susan Harvey, president of Sunset Fireworks, Ltd., said the number of fireworks they set off changes each year depending on the budget, but for this show they will be setting off about 6,000 pieces.

“It’s probably about four days of studio time to design it,” Harvey said.

The fireworks are also designed around the soundtrack for the show, said Harvey. WNCI has created a soundtrack to go along with the fireworks display, said Mike Collins, executive director of Red, White, and Boom.

All of the fireworks are set off by computer, said Harvey.

“It’s a very patriotic theme.”

Collins said organizers have been working with Sunset Fireworks Ltd. for many years and he expects this year’s show to be the best.

“They have some surprises for us,” Collins said.

About 500,000 people are expected to attend the event, Collins said. That is about the same number of people as in previous years.

Irvin said the fireworks display will begin at 10 p.m. and last for about 26 minutes.