After a three year hiatus, the first interview of the 36th Edition of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition. Due to some logistical challenges this year I was not able to speak to the designer, Patrick Brault, on the firing ramps at La Ronde.
First competition under a Canadian flag in 2012, Sirius Pyrotechnics was created after Miguel Caballer contacted Patrick Brault to be the Canadian distributer of his products. Patrick had been on the original La Ronde crew working on the competition when it started in 1985 and went on to be a founding member of Concept Fiat Lux (which subsequently merged with Ampleman to form GFA who then also recently restructured with Bob Deng of Lidu becoming CEO).
The name Caballer is an important one in Valencia, Spain, where there are many branches of that family involved in fireworks. With more and more complexity in shipping dangerous goods from China (and Europe) to North America by boat, various artisans and chemists who had been involved in the Antonio Caballer group in Spain (founded in 1877) setup a factory in Mexico in order to make large caliber shells for the North American market, using Spanish formulae and techniques. Miguel Caballer had worked in the Antonio Caballer factory in Valenica, but subsequently he was deceased and the Spanish factory closed. The Mexican facility is carrying the torch for its Antonio Caballer ancestry. Patrick had told me that he had fired the last of the original Spanish stock at his display in Montreal in 2012.
Fast forward to 2022 and Sirius Pyrotechnics essentially is a Mexican fireworks company with a full manufacturing facility and a large proportion of the products that will be used in the display come from there. The rest are imported from China.
This year’s display is technically more complex than the previous one fired in 2012 and features 90 32-cue firing modules. Ramp 2 features five firing positions with over 900 4″ shells and almost 1000 3″ shells, of which more than half are titanium salutes! Lovers of large calibre shells should be pleased that there will be around 75 8″, 10″ and 12″ shells! Ramp 3 and two pontoon positions on ramp 5 will have a multitude of one-shots and mines, totalling well over 1000 and there will be plenty of cakes including nauticals.
The theme of the soundtrack is “Bells and Drums” and there is a diverse range of music to support this. According to the official display description in Mexico there are often parades on Sundays through the streets to the sound of bells and drums and, similarly in Montreal on Sundays, we can hear the sounds of church bells. Thus the display “celebrates the colours and sounds of Sundays—in Mexico and Montréal.”
The weather is forecasted to be perfect – pleasantly warm with light breezes and low humidity!