HERMISTON â Some stood near the warmth of fires in the parking lot of the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center in Hermiston, eating, drinking and sharing stories under the light of a nearly full moon on a clear, crisp and windless New Yearâs Eve. Dozens more sat in their cars nearby, waiting for the fireworks that would mark the end of a truly arduous year. Two men stood perhaps 100 yards away, in the dark beyond the Festival of Lights, preparing nearly 100 fireworks that would âblow out the old (year) and bring in the new one,â pyrotechnician Tom Ramsey said.