I met with David Sharpe of Blue Star Pyrotechnics, representing Canada in the 39th Edition of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition for their first time.
Blue Star are based out of Toronto and were founded twelve years ago and this will be their first ever competition. The company specializes in wedding fireworks and events such as Canada Day – for which they directly shoot around 12 large displays and send another 13 or so out to other pyrotechnicians. David had been on the crew of the Hands show in 2023 (celebrating their 150th anniversary) – but that show had suffered various issues, possible weather related (see https://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/2023/07/29/canada-27th-july-hands-fireworks/). Let’s hope the weather fully cooperates for the rest of the setup and display-day.
David said that he had been working on the design of the show for more than a year and that it was a dream come true to compete in Montreal. He said he has a bank of musical that he has been keeping in mind for a long time, should the occasion ever arise to use it. Finally, the dream has come true.
On the technical side, the display is being fired by four PyroDigital Field Controllers (with one more as backup) together with 282 16-cue modules. Ramps 1 and 2 will have the usual five positions together with four platforms close to the edge of lake. The original idea was to use five, but ramp 4 will serve that purpose. Ramp 3 has 17 positions plus an extra position at each end for the large nautical shells (150mm calibre) that are going to be used. All five of the floating pontoons forming ramp 5 will be in use as well. There will be a total of around 3900 cues and it will be David’s first time using the PD firing system (though teammate Alain Bouthillier has plenty of experience).
Products are sourced from largely Canadian suppliers including Hands, Mystical and Vulcan and David said he had managed to acquire some coveted “original” Zaragonza shells, including several in 300mm and 250mm calibre. There will be over 60 large shells on ramp 1 in total. David said the Canadian suppliers had been particularly helpful with the logistics of obtaining the products he needed and were also able to help him import a special container of low-level effects from the US, including cakes and slice cakes from Spirit of ’76. One special item will be the several hundred “Fanta Sea Jelly Fish” from Winda fireworks
David said he had made extensive use of Finale3D, not just for visualization and scripting but also for inventory management and report generation. He told me that Drew Espenshade of the company had been very helpful in modifying the report generation features to support David’s needs.
The theme of the display is entitled Coming Soon: A Fireworks Blockbuster and this cleverly hints at the fact that each piece of music is from the trailer of a film. David said he has been inspired by a film’s trailer to go and watch the movie when it’s release (hence the “coming soon”) and he was responsible for both choosing the music and editing the soundtrack. He said he had sent renderings of the display to the laser company so they could insert their parts and gave them instructions as to the colour theme to use. They sent back renderings of the show with the laser parts inserted and David said he was satisfied with what they had produced but hopes the display itself is judge on the pyrotechnic merits alone.
There should be many interesting effects used during the display, particularly with respect to how the lake is used … but this is for the audience at La Ronde to see and enjoy on Thursday. Let’s hope the weather cooperates!
