For 58 years — since 1968 — SeaWorld's summer fireworks over Mission Bay have been part of what it means to live in San Diego. Generations of us grew up on them. We've watched from our backyards, our balconies, the beach, and the water. Every summer night from Memorial Day to Labor Day, families stopped what they were doing, stepped outside, and shared something together. That's not a marketing gimmick. That's a tradition, and it belongs to this city as much as it belongs to SeaWorld.

This year it's gone, replaced by a drone show. We understand the concerns that drove the change, and we take Mission Bay seriously — it's our bay too. We swim in it, fish in it, and raise our kids on it. But eliminating a 58-year tradition entirely is not the only answer to those concerns, and the residents who love these shows were never really asked.

We're asking for a better path than all-or-nothing:

• Bring back the nightly summer fireworks as a core part of the SeaWorld summer experience.
• Pair them with real mitigation — enhanced cleanup, cleaner low-residue pyrotechnics, and timing and siting that work around sensitive nesting seasons — so the tradition and the bay can coexist, the way they did for decades.
• Give residents a seat at the table before permanent decisions get made about a tradition this many San Diegans care about.

Drones are impressive technology. But for a lot of us, they don't land the same way — they're one more screen in a city full of screens. Fireworks made us look up together. Even SeaWorld's own leadership has said the goal of the nighttime show is guest enjoyment and attendance — and many longtime guests simply don't feel the drones the way they felt the fireworks. We're asking the people with the power to decide — SeaWorld, the Coastal Commission, and the City — to find a way to bring them back.

If summer nights in San Diego meant something to you, add your name.