From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is about the Vancouver Celebration of Light fireworks festival, for other uses see Celebration of Light (disambiguation)
The Celebration of Light (formerly known as Benson & Hedges Symphony of Fire) is an annual musical fireworks competition in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The first "Symphony of Fire" was held from July 25 to August 5 of 1990.
[edit] Overview
The event takes place in English Bay at 10:00 PDT on four nights over a two week period between July and August. Each of the four performances have at least two-day separation for preparation. Three to four companies representing their country perform a twenty-five minute firework display set to music. A grand finale is performed on the last day by all the competitors, except for 2006, because of the 4th competitor, the finale is shortened to 6-minute and without components from participating countries.
Music can be heard from large speakers set up on the beach or on radio simulcast by ROCK 101 (101.1 FM) during the event.
Over 1.6 million spectators come to the closest viewing points at the West End, Kitsilano, and Stanley Park to view the event, many of them coming from outside British Columbia. The traffic is closed in the West End and Kits Point each year starting with different time. Roads open again at 11:30 p.m.. The massive crowd leaving the city is known to start many fights and leave tons of garbage behind that the city cleans up with street sweepers before the next day. Vancouver Police, British Columbia Ambulance Service, and St. John Ambulance volunteers collaborate to provide assistance to deal with potential emergencies with the large crowds present at the Celebration of Light.
In 2000, the Celebration of Light seemed about to be canceled because of a new law preventing events from being sponsored by tobacco companies. At the time, the event was sponsored by Benson & Hedges under the name Symphony of Fire. HSBC, among other organizations, now sponsors the event.
In 2006, the number of teams competing was four instead of three, as it had been in other years. Mexico competed on finale night, with a shortended final show put on by all four countries following Mexico's show.
The 2007 fireworks was close to being cancelled, until last minute sponsorship contributions by London Drugs and the Concord Pacific Group were announced on March 5.
The barges in
English Bay from which the fireworks are launched.
[edit] 2007 Program
All shows start at 10:00 p.m Pacific Daylight Time. The winner will be announced after the Celebration Finale.
| Wednesday, July 25 |
| Country: |
 Spain |
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| Saturday, July 28 |
| Country: |
 Canada |
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| Wednesday, August 1 |
| Country: |
 China |
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| Saturday, August 4 |
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| Celebration Finale |
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[edit] 2006 Program
The 2006 winner is Mexico, who joins this competition for the first time.
| Wednesday, July 26 |
| Country: |
 Italy |
| Company: |
A.P.E. di Parente Romualdo |
| Theme: |
Magia Di Fuochi |
| Designer: |
Michele Parente |
| Website: |
www.parenteape.it |
| The Italian team's presentation is a peculiar and charming pyrotechnic show with wide variety of effects ranging from the sky to the water, dancing volcanoes, golden rain and a fantastic closure. Attendance was estimated at 400,000. |
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| Saturday, July 29 |
| Country: |
China |
A portion of China's 2006 Show
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| Company: |
Jiangxi Province Lidu Fireworks Corporation Ltd. |
| Theme: |
Yellow River Odyssey |
| Designer: |
Xu Delong |
| Website: |
www.lidufireworks.com |
| The Chinese team's presentation features specific colours in each of the five sections: blue, silver and crackling, green, green falling leaves and gold. The music is performed by The Philarmonic Orchestra of China, accompanied by pianist Xiang-Dong Kong. |
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| Wednesday, August 2 |
| Country: |
 Czech Republic |
| Company: |
Flash Barrandov Special Effects Ltd. |
| Theme: |
Rhapsody in Blue |
| Designer: |
Jaroslav Štolba |
| Website: |
www.flash-sfx.cz |
| The Czech Republic show is an evening full of jazz music in four sections: Classical jazz, Conspiracy jazz, Latin jazz and Traditional jazz. |
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| Saturday, August 5 |
| Country: |
 Mexico |
| Company: |
Lux Pirotecnia, S.A. de C.V. |
| Theme: |
Siente México: Feel Mexico |
| Designer: |
Jorge M. Márquez |
| Website: |
www.luxpirotecnia.com |
| Past and future values come together in a program full of joy. A musical score that includes pre-hispanic sounds, music in the history of carnival celebrations, traditional sounds mixed with innovative rhythms, and some of the best Mexican known values, friendship and fraternity are present in this show with the purpose to make you feel a little part of Mexico. |
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| Celebration Finale |
| Designer: |
Jaroslav Štolba |
| The Celebration Finale is specially designed to pay tribute to the HSBC Celebration of Light competition. The 6-minute Celebration Finale will not include components from participating countries. |
[edit] Previous Years
Because of the change in sponsor, records are difficult to find before the year 2001.
Fireworks display by Italy in 2006.
Fireworks during the Celebration of Light in 2004
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Sweden
South Africa
Australia
France
United Kingdom
