Facing huge financial challenges, the organizers of the Quebec City competition have already announced the site of Chute Montmorency is no longer an option to continue the event. The city has announced this week that no financial support is allowed for the 2012 season, which will be cancelled according to several local newspapers:

http://www.lapresse.ca/le-soleil/actualites/la-capitale/201206/04/01-4 531714-la-ville-de-quebec-ferme-la-porte-aux-grands-feux.php?utm_categ orieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_B13b_la-capi tale_577_section_POS2

http://www.journaldequebec.com/2012/06/04/la-ville-dit-non

Definitely, it is time to leave the city... ;-)

Fred

Sad to say, after watching "Pyros" this evening, I can see why. Too much water in the air, too many problems with the weather and smoke accumulation. Still sad, though, to see an international competition come to an end.

Paul.

I attended this ultimate, postponed display last August, which celebrated Luso's victory (not mentionned in last night episode of Pyros). I did a review of this 35-minute show on this forum:

http://www.montreal-fireworks.com/forum/index.php?action=vthread&forum =4&topic=2587

Strangely, I don't remember (and I didn't report) about the interruption caused by a shell burst into a mortar, tackled in "Pyros". But for sure, such episodes make me realize challenges pyrotechnicians have to take up (even during a display) that we don't even suspect as a viewer. Along the same line, last week episode featured some material from the British display at La Ronde in 2012; a few minutes following the start of the show, the technical director Paul Csukassy got a phone call that two people were still on the road between the main firing ramps! What a stress!

Back to the Quebec competition, the water fall was, for sure, a major problem. But I don't believe it caused the cancellation of the event. More important, I believe, is the competition from other nightime (and free) entertainment opportunities in Quebec City since 2008, especially Le Moulin à images and the outdoor performances of Cirque du Soleil, both centrally located in the heart of the city.

The Montreal competition has also suffered, I think, of the increasing competition between summer events which didn't exist or were not as popular in 1985 (Jazz, Francofolies, Juste pour rire, etc.). I suppose the larger number of people living in the Montreal area, the presence of more corporate customers, and the "support" of an amusement park to add to the fireworks event have helped to keep the Montreal competition alive.

Finally, we have to note that Canadian fireworks festival are challenged these years. The Vancouver competition has been cancelled in 2011, then bring back alive at the last minute. A similar pattern now happens in Quebec City.

Fred

I think some of the things we see in "Pyros" are somewhat created to make for a more exciting TV show. For the shell that burst in the mortar last night, they said it was 12" ... but I can't believe they'd use a 12" shell as a pre-show "announcement". It looked more like a 6" or 8" to me that burst the oil drum that was containing the sand around it. If a 12" had blown in the mortar, there would have been a heck of a lot more damage.

For the "people between the ramps" during the British show, again, I'm not 100% convinced that really happened - but it made for great TV!

I heard from Patrick Brault (who's now running Vancouver and GlobalFest in Calgary), that the Vancouver shows have a contract for at least 3 years, so that's good news.

Paul.

The Montreal fireworks competition should be safe until at least 2014 due to both Six Flags and Loto-Quebec extending the sponsorship contract, correct?

Trav.

The Quebec City Fireworks Competition is over. "Les Grands Feux Loto-Québec" will come back later this summer, in a new location. This non-competition event will be made of six 20-minute shows at 10:30pm, following the current outdoor nightime spectaculars "Le Moulin à images" and the Cirque du Soleil outdoor show. Fireworks will be launched from a floating platform in the Bassin Louise (Quebec Old Port).

http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/Quebec/2012/07/10/001-grands-feux-a venir.shtml

Fred

The article says there will be companies from Canada, the US and Spain. I wonder if anyone knows who these will be? Are the organizers of this festival associated with a Canadian fireworks company?

Paul.

I may be wrong, but I think Frank Furtado has been associated with this event, as well as Benoît Berthelet. The latter and Frank's daughter both work in Groupe Fiatlux-Ampleman, as we extensively saw over the past few months in "Pyros".

I have two hypotheses at this point. First, it is possible that American and Spanish companies are involved in 2012 because some contracts or partnerships have already been established with them, so it may be a way to fulfill such engagements or to get some support for a short notice delivery, without guarantee that foreign pyros will be involved for future editions. A second hypothesis is a non-competition event with displays performed by different companies, like the Winter Fireworks Festival "Feux sur Glace" in the Old Port of Montreal.

Fred

Le Soleil now has a report about this story:

http://www.lapresse.ca/le-soleil/actualites/la-capitale/201207/10/01-4 542457-les-grand-feux-de-retour-au-milieu-du-fleuve.php


Maude Furtado is the director of the new event.

The website status is currently "under construction":
http://www.lesgrandsfeux.com/

Fred

Interesting - they quote a Martin Roy - who, it turns out, is the same Martin Roy that used to be head of PR at La Ronde!

Not obvious how they will make money out of this competition/event given the site it's going to be held at.

The updated website now indicates the companies involved in the event: Groupe Fiatlux Ampleman (Canada), Melrose Pyrotechnics (USA) and Pirotécnia Igual (Spain), each doing two shows.

http://www.lesgrandsfeux.com/index.html

Fred

One day before Montreal schedule is released, here's the latest announcement regarding Les Grands Feux Loto-Quebec !

Click here