He said a drone show allows for unique displays that the stadium has put on after other events, and switching to drones addresses concerns about air quality.

“A 30-minute firework show, the air quality that we have, and that our neighbors have, and our community has for days leading after, that is not ideal,” Weiden said.

The drones will take off and land inside the Rose Bowl stadium and attendees will view the show from the parking lots, Weiden said.

At a City Council meeting last month, a resident raised the concern about air quality post Fourth of July impacting the health of her son and causing a nearby school to stay inside on July 5.

Councilmember and RBOC board member Steve Madison responded that the plan was to not do traditional fireworks this year and opt for a drone show.

“Especially this year, mayor, I think there’s a view that that would be in bad taste,” Madison said, referring to the recent Eaton fire, which destroyed much of Altadena, portions of Pasadena and neighboring Sierra Madre.

Weiden said the fire did not play into the decision to switch to drones. The fireworks shows performed at the Rose Bowl have been planned in coordination with the Pasadena Fire Department and therefore have been safe, he added.

“We’re just trying to be prudent and trying to be good stewards of the environment that we’re in,” Weiden said. “That’s what really sets us apart as a venue, is our beautiful setting that we have here. We’re just continually trying to do the right thing to make sure we’re preserving that, while still providing people with a great entertainment show.”

The cities of Alhambra and San Marino said this week that they will be hosting fireworks shows as part of Fourth of July celebrations. Sierra Madre said bubble fireworks, which are not traditional fireworks, would be part of the celebration.

Arcadia, South Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge did not respond with its Fourth of July plans.

Rick Flagan, professor of chemical engineering and environmental science and engineering at Caltech, said fireworks, both at public events and at private residences, increase the concentration of elements including potassium, chlorine, sulfur, aluminum and copper into the air.

Flagan’s research has focused on particles in the air and on developing tools to measure what’s in the air. Caltech’s elemental analyzer, located in Pico Rivera, which is part of a national network of sites, provides real-time information on particles in the air that could be inhaled.

“It’s a spike in the data every year,” Flagan said. “You don’t have to see the timescale to figure out when is the Fourth of July. You see it in the particles in the air.”

Paul Souza is vice president of Pyro Spectaculars, the company putting on the drone show this year. The company has previously put on fireworks shows at the Rose Bowl, on the Fourth of July.

“Both are art forms. The audience can expect something magical because it’s mysterious,” Souza said. “With the fireworks, it’s the reveal of a controlled explosion and with the drones it’s the reveal of a picture that at one point wasn’t in the sky and just suddenly shows up.”

Souza said a crew of about 10 to 15 people will put on the show, expected to last between 10 and 12 minutes. Plans for the show have not yet been finalized, but Souza said the show would include somewhere between 500 and 1,000 drones.

Regular admission is $8, children younger than 5 years old can enter for free. Parking on Friday will be $15 and is free on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are now available for purchase.

Each days events will run from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.

“The Rose Bowl stadium and the grounds belong to the residents of Pasadena, and so I think what’s really neat about the Fourth of July is it’s one of our longest-standing traditions, where people in the community get to come together and be together on the Fourth of July at the Rose Bowl and enjoy a fun event that can maybe be a diversion from all the craziness that’s going on in your life whether it’s fire related or others,” Weiden said.