Just in case you wanted to post any predictions for the coming season (2017), between now and when the official 2017 schedule is revealed!

Cheers,

Trav.

I do believe that we should post our predictions VERY soon as the 2017 schedule may be released MUCH MORE early than in the past years.



Fred

The 2017 Season is going to be announced on September 14th - 2017 is the 375th anniversary of Montreal and the 50th anniversary of La Ronde so it's going to be special.

More news when I have it next week!

Paul.

I do hope for a "full" schedule of 9 or 10 displays in 2017. It may be possible thanks to potential new funding opportunities as part of the 375th anniversary (e.g., an argument to increase sponsorship from Loto-Québec that year, or through special partnerships for dedicated shows, etc.), but I try to keep my expectations as low as possible on this side.

I may also predict an extension of the recent "trend" of having an opening display as part of the Canada Day celebrations, with an opening display on Saturday, July 1st. However, the invitation to the press event emphasizes the 375th anniversary of Montreal and the 50th anniversary of La Ronde, NOT the 150th anniversary of Canada, so maybe it won't be the case.

Representatives of Pirotecnico (USA) and Sunny (China) regularly attend - at least one - display(s) per year at La Ronde, so they may be part of this 2017 edition. People of Dragon Fireworks (Philippines), the fireworks company Vander works for, attended two shows this summer, so it may also be invited as a new entrant. That being said, I wonder to what extent the full line-up of the 2017 competition will actually be released tomorrow.

I also hope for a "Feux des étoiles" dedicated to Montreal, possibly with a tribute to Beau Dommage.

Finally, we may have specifications regarding potential interactions between the Jacques-Cartier Bridge new lighting package and the fireworks shows.

Fred

Regarding the bridge lights, I recently sent an email to 375mtl.com suggesting them to add the countdown and display the flag of a representing country on the bridge prior to the beginning of a display. They shared these ideas with the organizers.

These may seem obvious ideas, but they may also not want to associate the bridge lights with the fireworks event for whatever reason.

I will post the press release at 11am today! Stay tuned!

Paul.

This is the news for season 2017!

Public will determinate countries who will participate next year via a contest: [url=https://laronde.com/fr/larondefr/linternational-des-feux-concours
]https://laronde.com/fr/larondefr/linternational-des-feux-concours
[/url]

Alexandre Despatie will be the new spokesperson for the International des Feux Loto-Québec and there will be a special fireworks opening ceremony with music of Ian Kelly.

Voici le communiqué de presse avec tous les détails: https://www.laronde.com/fr/larondefr/linternational-des-feux/press-rel ease

Le public sera également invité en novembre à voter pour les chansons qui seront du spectacle d'ouverture.

Full press release here: http://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/?p=1242

As Julien said, we can vote on which countries we want to see compete!

Paul.

Wow, that's certainly new! It is really neat that we can vote for the participating countries! I still wonder, though, if we will have a season with a smaller number of participants (and a continued late start date), but this should still prove to be an interesting season! I would also like to see the return of an Australian display (maybe by Foti's International Fireworks)!

I also really love Enkil's suggestion with respect to the bridge lights!

Trav.

Smoke, I like it, too! I thought the idea of showing a participating country's flag and the countdown under each "finial" structure on the bridge would be really cool and exciting.

How much influence would the contest have on the final decision making of selecting the countries and firms? I find it unlikely that they would pick Switzerland and Sweden again for the 2017 edition. It might be more of a promotional contest...

I was hoping they would announce a 2004 like edition.

I really hope that they seriously consider your suggestion, Enkil! I think it would be really spectacular if they were to show off each of the flags that way. Keep us updated with this!

I imagine that there would be some sort of set constraints in the voting process - maybe one of them would be that we cannot vote for companies that presented in 2016 (assuming that you can vote for representing companies)?

The 2004 edition of the Montreal fireworks competition was legendary. I'd also vote for IPON SRL of Italy!

Trav.

Yes, Sweden and Switzerland are included in the list:
https://www.sixflags.com/larondeen/linternational-des-feux-contest

I don't know if you heard about the media experience that will be featuring in many cities for Canada150 next year, SESQUI (sesqui.ca) but they registered a video this year of a firework live from the Biosphère! https://www.facebook.com/sesqui2017/videos/1175361932510639/.