Celebration of Light returns to Vancouver Saturday
Posted July 19, 2024 6:12 pm.
Last Updated July 20, 2024 10:10 am.
On an unassuming barge off English Bay Beach is the nerve centre of three massive fireworks displays that will light up the skies of Vancouver for this year’s Honda Celebration of Light.
Portugal, Malaysia, and the U.K. are competing in the three-day event, which is scheduled for Saturday, July 20, Wednesday, July 24, and Saturday, July 27.
“Teams can choose whether they go heavier into shells and which diameter they use, or whether they concentrate their budget on small items, more intricate scenes. It’s really up to the team and that’s what makes this so special,” said Kelly Guille, a pyrotechnician and fireworks director of the Celebration of Light.
He says that means the displays don’t look like typical Canadian displays.
The Portuguese team is up first. On Friday, during a media tour of the barge from which the fireworks are set off, the team worked alongside local pyrotechnicians to prepare thousands of fireworks, some shells as big as 300 millimetres.
“That will go approximately 1,000 to 1,500 feet and break as the biggest break you’ll see on show night,” explained Guille.
To make the dazzling displays possible, hundreds of pounds of explosives are packed into tubes and fired straight up into the air. Each display will be 25 minutes long and set to music.
It’s a highly coordinated orchestra, and from the audio booth, technicians will have the best seats in the house.
“So as you’re seeing lifts from the shore and little flashes, we’re 20 feet away, and it is just a wonderful, exhilarating, experience,” said Guille.
There’s an air show ahead of the display, and new this year is a drone show, similar to the one at the Dragon Boat Festival last month.
That’s just an appetizer though.
“A 25-minute, spectacular fireworks show, I don’t believe is ever going to be replaced by drones,” said Catherine Runnals, president of Brandlive.
Fireworks road closures
Organizers estimate that, in total, 1.4 million people will come out to watch the fireworks this year.
The influx of spectators flooding into the downtown core does present some challenges, especially for traffic. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to line the shore of English Bay for the show, with even more people lining the waters off Kitsilano.
Road closures will be in place on each day of the fireworks.
Transit, meanwhile, is expected to be running at peak levels to get people where they need to go.
Police, fire, and paramedics will be out in full force, and 911 call centres are expected to have more bodies on to cover any extra call volume.
The show begins at 10 p.m. on each of the nights.
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