I post here the complete article available on news section of the Howard and Sons Pyrotechnics' website. There are some factual mistakes about the Montreal International Fireworks Contest, but the fourth paragraph is very interesting.
Fred
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Howard's Set for Montreal International Fireworks Competition
Australia’s leading fireworks company, Howard & Sons Pyrotechnics, are in the final stages of preparation to proudly represent Australia at the 2005 Montreal International Fireworks Competition on Saturday June 18 June 2005 in Canada.
Invited this year by the exclusive, invitation only, L'international des Feux Loto-Quebec' in Montreal, Canada, it is the first time that Howard & Sons Pyrotechnics, an all Australian family owned company, has represented Australia at the Montreal International Fireworks Competition, highly recognised within the pyrotechnic industry as the annual World Fireworks Championships. .
From June 18, only 10 countries will be competing for the title of the world's most renowned fireworks display. The Montreal International Fireworks Competition was started in 1967 and has been a smash hit ever since. More than 5.7 million people attended the displays in the first season, setting a record in Canada for this kind of event. Crowds of enthusiasts from Montreal and tourists gather for this remarkable event..
The dazzling pyromusical exhibition, named, ‘Fusion Groove Dynamique,’ will blend colours, rhythms and effects with style and sophistication, to familiar tunes by Eddy Mitchell, Michael Bublé, Saint-Germain and Harry Connick Jr. Twelve months in the making, over 640 man-hours of precise pyromusical design, new product development, product manufacturing and special equipment fabrication, will all come down to a spectacular 30 minute fireworks display igniting over 10 tonnes of pyrotechnics, lighting up the Montreal skyline..
Andrew Howard, a fourth generation pyrotechnician and the display director is honoured to represent Australia at the competition. “We are very excited to showcase our company’s state of the art design in pyrotechnics in such a prestigious competition and in front our peers internationally. Both Christian Howard and myself are very proud to represent Australia as well as the long line of the Howard’s family in pyrotechnic art. Our late grandfather and father, Harry, and Les would have loved to be packing their bags and heading off to Montreal with us, but I’m sure their spirit is already there and they are making sure all our product and equipment is on site and ready for us to start setting up the show.”.
The Howard & Sons team are really pushing the boundaries of the art of fireworks with their display as they have some very stiff competition. “We are competing against the worlds best fireworks companies from France, Argentina, Sweden, Czech Republic, USA, Portugal, Spain and Canada all of whom have presented some marvellous displays before, have some great product and will be very hard to beat. In saying that, we have planned something very special. Our theme, jazzy soundtrack, comic French narration, innovative product exclusively manufactured and our unique firing technics will impress the judging panel and the entire audience and I can’t wait to see our show finally come to life.” Andrew explained.
Howard & Sons exclusivly use "Panasonic Toughbooks" to fire pyromusical displays and thank Panasonic for suppling additional Toughbooks for this display.
Source:
http://www.howardsfireworks.com.au