My interview with Gary Caimano of Western Enterprises is here.

Paul.

Participating for their first time in Montreal, Gary told me they had received a call last November and are coming to the competition with fresh eyes, having never witness a show here nor watched any videos.

This is a bit surprising because I have always heard that prospective contestants have to attend at least one display at La Ronde before being invited to compete. I am afraid that such "fresh eyes" may not clearly see what kind of competition they are engaged in.

His display design “book” was the thickest I’ve ever seen with hundreds and hundreds of pages of diagrams and notes!

But I suppose that this should reassure me.

This is a very interesting interview. I think Gary Caimano is very effective to sell his show and to fuel excitation. Let see what he and his team are going to do!

Fred

I am afraid that such "fresh eyes" may not clearly see what kind of competition they are engaged in I didn't get that feeling from Gary - his visualization of what can be done with the firing ramps was compelling and interesting - it was like listening to someone choreographing a dance performance so I'm not too concerned. His passionate description of the theme was very interesting to witness.

Interesting, though, that Western are using the same finale piece as Pyrotecnico did in 2008!

Paul.

haha I thought exactly the same ... Let's see if it's a huge display, creative and well executed, cause this year the level is not exactly what I was expecting ... Next year those who chose the companies should be more cautious and try to keep the level of the competition. I don't want to be negative but the competition is being a bit tasteless,and the most prestigious competition deserves the most prestigious displays, not only one or two good displays out of ten.

Let's see what Western Enterprises, Goteborgs , Firewoks Spectacular and Brezac can do ...

Can't wait to see the the truly Montreal fireworks level again .

Hey Paul, what's about the Popular Mechanics interview (per your Facebook news page) ?

Were they interviewing technical people from La Ronde team and happened to ask you a few questions, or was it a planned interview with you alone ? Was it even related to fireworks ?

I'd like to know when this edition of PM will be available. Please keep us informed.

I'm sure that western is capable of having a good montreal competition display from what i have seen in their past performance in hsbc and les grands feux (videos). I agree with rovira that the level of the competition this year is unexpectedly not that high, but i think that this is due to the poor scheduling of the participants, it looks as if the participants were divided according to the expectations of the one choosing first 4 = not so good, last 4 = the best ones. Well this is just my opinion.

Vander

Were they interviewing technical people from La Ronde team and happened to ask you a few questions, or was it a planned interview with you alone ? Was it even related to fireworks ?

Another thread hi-jack! PM are there covering the US entrant and interviewed the main technical people at La Ronde as well as myself. My interview lasted most of the afternoon and was conducted on several roller-coasters. I'll keep you all posted about when it will be in print.

Paul.

Another thread hi-jack!

Hey, I'm not the one who grouped the two interviews (Western and PM) together on my Facebook posting Therefore, it's not that much unrelated

To get back on the main subject : this display looks promising ! It's not because it's Western's first presence on the site that we should be worried, as they seem to be able to put up such big displays and still be successful.

The amount of preparation shows that Gary Caimano is very serious about his entry. Who knows, maybe this company will win a Jupiter (whatever it may be) on their first presence on La Ronde's firing ramps !

Well, I'm looking forwards their show. Let the (real) season begin !

I'm positive that the debutant American team is fully capable of producing a Montreal-style display, and with power.

As for the weather, it's actually a little tricky, more so in terms of evening wind speeds. I'll provide some preliminary details in a bit.

Thanks for information, as always, Paul.

Trav.