Vancouver Fireworks Celebration of Light 2009 Cancelled
Here we go again with the “No-Fun-Couver” slogans.
I don’t get it. 2M people over 4 nights come to watch, and they can’t cover a $4M budget?
I guess if we had a better behaved youth population, you know ones that dont get drunk, stampede and stab each other in large crowds, we could pull it off. It’s the HUGE policing costs that drag down this budget.
I spent New Year’s Eve in Times Square one year. Didn’t see one incidence of misbehaviour. There were no arrests at the inauguration of President Obama. Yet we cant blow 20 minutes of fireworks without a paddywagon loaded on each street corner.
Sad. Sad. Sad.
Here’s the press release from today:
The HSBC Celebration of Light, produced by the Vancouver Fireworks Festival
Society, will be wrapping up its affairs ending 18 great years of Vancouver fireworks and the biggest offshore fireworks competition in the world.…This year the not for profit society has been unable to retain and add enough sponsorships to meet the event’s $4 million annual in kind and cash budget.
“It has been an exceptional 18 year event – the largest of its kind in the world – and it is a credit to our many exceptional sponsors that we kept the event going year after year. However, the current financial situation makes it impossible for us to continue…” says Brent MacGregor, Chair of the Vancouver Fireworks Festival Society.
Mayor Gregor Robertson expressed disappointment that the Celebration of Light will not proceed, as it is such a great family event and noting that the City was prepared to continue its support for the event.
…With approximately 350,000 – 400,000 spectators per night, for each of the four nights of the show, the event had an economic impact of over $37 million annually in direct visitor spending.
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Tags: events, press release
Don’t they do this every year? Well I hear that each year it won’t go on but they always manage to find funding for it.
Sucks I won’t be able to see it from my balcony this year in our new place.
I think the threat of “recession” has made this one pretty permanent.
Funny though, with all this recession talk, high end restos are still full.
No fireworks in the pre-Olympic year? I love them, but haven’t had a chance to go down and see them for a few years. Oh well.
Obama’s inauguration policing/security budget was much higher than $4M.
I’ve always seen the fireworks as a huge missed opportunity. They could easily turn the beaches into a festival atmosphere and offset the cost of added security through merchandising. They could gate the areas… it wouldn’t be hard at all. The Vancouver fireworks is the only such display I’ve seen where you can’t easily buy those fireworks glasses.
What is it about that city that hates doing good business?
Although I know the positives of the fireworks celebration, for me, last year it totally lost its appeal for me. First of all, my friend and I were sitting on a log, near the edge of the beach, and people kept streaming through us, just pushing past on either side of us, sometimes even jumping over us, unknowingly kicking sand in us. Then when we finally got sick of the constant stream of people over 2 hours and moved tightly together, we had people argue with us about us being rude, when they could have easily taken the path that goes down to the beach only about 20 feet away. And then there was the trauma of going home. It was so crowded it didnt feel safe. If there was a sudden stampede, so many people could have been hurt and that just wasnt fun for me.
it has nothing to do with the youth population, its the improper funding and I have seen other people screw stuff up with these events… firstly youth don’t cause the traffic congestions… they hardly drive to these events. Secondly they do not get drunk… unlike adults who do and they ruin this event for all of us
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