Vancouver’s massive three-night fireworks competition has declared an official winner for 2025.
Team Fireworks FX, representing Nova Scotia, whose show marked the Honda Celebration of Light’s finale on Saturday night, captured both the People’s Choice and Judge’s Competition Award.
Fred Wade, president of Fireworks FX, tells CityNews that winning is a “tremendous honour,” but says his team only set out to entertain.
“It was an honor to be able to try and entertain the people of Vancouver and surrounding areas. And winning is fantastic, but that’s not the reason we went. Our goal is to just make people happy,” said Wade.
He says preparing the dazzling display was a huge effort that started long before the first rocket launched.
Wade says he originally planned to feature Celtic music as an homage to his Maritime home, but his son suggested the successful idea to feature 11 songs by Indigenous artists instead.
“And I have to tell you, I got goosebumps listening to the soundtrack,” said Wade.
“Canadian artists that maybe don’t receive as much attention as they should to a huge audience of 400,000-500,000 people, I mean, that’s special.”
He says the response has been overwhelming, and he’s been “glued to his phone” reading about people’s reactions to the show.
But Wade remains humble about Fireworks FX’s role.
“Whether it’s your six-year-old’s birthday party or your parents’ anniversary or a half-a-million crowd on the West Coast of Canada, for us, it’s all the same: make people happy.”
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When asked if Fireworks FX would make a return, Wade said, “When the phone rings, we get an invitation: we’ll be there.”
Organizers say “well over 1.2 million attendees filled Vancouver’s English Bay” for the Honda Celebration of Light this year, but the event’s future is still uncertain.
According to the festival, costs have jumped by 20 to 30 per cent since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve cut everything we can cut. We’ve looked at everything we can do. There just isn’t a way to make this cheaper unless we cut it entirely,” producer Paul Runnals told CityNews last week.
He claims the three nights generate more than $265 million in economic activity for the province, but says the provincial and federal governments need to offer more support.
“Given these challenges, we can’t confirm whether the event will return in 2026,” said Runnals on Tuesday.
“What’s urgently needed is a sustainable and predictable funding model that recognizes the cultural and economic value of events like this. We’re hopeful we can sit down with private and government partners soon to discuss what that support could look like.”
—With files from Jack Morse
