Vietnam, Brazil and Italy will be the three countries competing in this year's Celebration of Light fireworks display in English Bay that will be held July 28, Aug. 1 and Aug 4.
"This will be the 22nd year of the festival which is one of the most loved events in B.C.," said John Reynolds, chairman of the Vancouver Fireworks Festival Society.
Reynolds announced the timetable Wednesday near the Inukshuk at English Bay on Beach Avenue.
He said Vietnam's July 28 pyrotechnic display would be the first time the Asian country had staged a fireworks event outside of its borders.
"It will be a landmark event for them," said Reynolds.
In the recent past the annual fireworks display — said by organizers to be the largest offshore fireworks display in the world — has teetered on the edge of collapse as it has been difficult to find sponsors.
However, this year's title sponsor is Honda Canada and the company's executive vice-president Jerry Chenkin was on hand to say Honda Canada was happy to sponsor an event which was such a "brilliant part of Vancouver's summer season,"
Honda will sponsor the event for three years, said Reynolds.
There is no doubt that the fireworks festival is among the top annual attractions for residents and visitors in the city and it routinely attracts enormous crowds of spectators who line the English Bay shoreline in Kitsilano and across the bay in and around Stanley Park.
It also attracts hundreds of boaters who anchor out in English Bay for a ringside seat.
This year's festival will once again feature the Red Bull Airshow which provides a prelude of aerial acrobatics just before dark.
Over the three days the Celebration of Light will likely be watched by more than 1 million people.
Such is the attraction for fireworks.
So it should be no surprise that reality TV has come up with a series dedicated to those pyrotechnicians who light the blue touch paper then retire to a safe distance.
The Discovery Channel is presently showing PYROS based on Montreal's, Groupe Fiatlux-Ampleman, which if its promo is to be believed are a fun-loving group of daredevils wrangled by their boss "the beautiful but tough Maude Furtado" who blow things up for a living.
The first segment of its eight-part series aired earlier this week.
Read more:
Vancouver fireworks festival gets new sponsor and three new contestants 
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
The banners on the left side and below do not show for registered users!
