As for having a forum members' get together, I'm definitely for it. I'll be on Notre Dame / de Lorimier, just like in the old days. I would have attended the Symposium proper, but I can't take the time off work unfortunately.

Does someone plan to go on Notre-Dame/de Lorimier Wednesday night? I'm thinking about it and I'm a little bit reluctant, since the show is schedule late (10pm) and we have few information about duration and quality that we should expect. Transport to come back at home would also be an issue if the show is delayed. Before making a finale decision, I would like to know if anyone has more information about the show or plan to go in front of La Ronde.

Fred

P.S.: Also, does someone know more about Friday display?

From CNW/Telbec:

Opening of the 10th Edition of the International Symposium on Fireworks

MONTREAL, Oct. 15 /CNW Telbec/ - Today is the opening of the 10th Edition of the International Symposium on Fireworks which take place in Montréal from October 15 to 19. This symposium took place for the very first time in Montréal in 1992, an initiative of Canadian Research Laboratory on Explosives in collaboration with La Ronde and it soon became the world's premiere international gathering of the pyrotechnic industry. The emphasis of the
Symposia is on the presentation of papers and the discussion of topics dealing with the safety, scientific, artistic, and regulatory aspects of fireworks and other pyrotechnics associated with fireworks displays.

The Symposium comes back in Montréal to celebrate its 10th edition and the local committee is composed of the director and the technical director of L'International des Feux Loto-Québec presented by TELUS, Martyne Gagnon and Paul Csukassy. The honorary chairman is Jean Bissonnette who had been inspector of Natural Resources of Canada during more than 23 years and has
greatly contributed to the development of Montréal's competition. "It is important to realize that no other form of entertainment can give so much fun and admiration to thousands of spectators at the same time, says Jean Bissonnette."

During this event, firms are invited to showcase their products as well as their design to the whole industry represented in Montréal. These presentations will be displayed from La Ronde, this coming Wednesday and Friday, October 17 and 19 around 10 a.m. Please note that La Ronde is not open during the week.

About the Symposium: The International Symposium on Fireworks Society (ISFS) is a non-profit organization registered in Halifax, in 2000.

Hi Fred,

the Wednesday displays are supposed to start at 10pm - I don't know what time for Friday but I would imagine it will also be 10pm.

As far as I know the Wednesday display will include Dancing Fireworks, but I'm not sure who else. Since Royal Pyrotechnie is the Canadian importer of Dancing, I'm 100% certain that their demonstration will have been choreographed by Yannick Roy. It's also well known that Patrice Guy works for Glorious Group and so there's a strong likelihood that he design their demo. I'd also imagine that we'll see at least one Italian display on Wednesday too.

For the Friday display, this will almost certainly be pyromusical and Panzera will definitely by doing part of this show. I'm also fairly certain that Piroechnia Caballer will also be doing the Friday show as they're one of the main Symposium sponsors this year. If I find out anything more, I'll let everyone know.

I'll be down at Notre Dame / de Lorimier at around 9:30 on Wednesday. It would be great to meet others from the forum down there!

Paul.

I will certainly be at Notre Dame & de Lorimier by 9:30 at the latest.

I will be there on Wednesday for sure. I will be heading over after my class ends at 8:15. Hopefully I will be dragging some of my friends with me. Im so excited for these shows.

A rather small crowd (six of us where I was standing) turned out in almost perfect conditions to enjoy two displays this evening. We were actually better placed than the Symposium boat due to the lack of wind and some smoke accumulation. The first display was by Dancing Fireworks and was very impressive and certainly appreciated by the faithful few! I'm not sure who put on the second display but am assuming it was one of the Italian companies listed in the Symposium program. Smoke did spoil this display to some extent but it was still well received with an exciting finale. Since there were six companies listed as giving demos, that means that Friday evening should have four displays. If they're anything like tonight's, we're certainly in for a treat!

Paul.

I agree... I wasn't sure what to expect, but this 20min show turned out to be really good. Better than the Pyjama shows anyway... lol. It was somewhat simple in design, but the effects and the quality of the pieces were excellent. I enjoyed more the first display! And the finale of the second one was excellent (loved the salutes!!). I think it was more intense than the finales we saw this year lol.

I'm very excited for Friday. A one hour display would be amazing...! It was really nice meeting everyone tonight, Tyler, Paul, his wife and everyone else.

Bonsoir

Nous étions deux spectateurs intéressés par les feux d'artifices lancés de la Ronde à ce gros party privé de la pyrotechnie.
J'étais sur la rive sud en bordure du fleuve le long de la piste cyclable.

Je ne sais même pas le nom de la firme qui a présenté le spectacle.
Comme j'étais en manque..de feux je me suis installé et je me suis laissé remplir les yeux sans même le goût de juger quoi que ce soit..juste regarder pour le plaisir de regarder et aimer cà.

Et c'était beau pas assez long à mon goût mais beau sous un ciel dégagé...

Je serai là Vendredi probablement dans le bout de Notre Dame et Delorimier.

Bonne nuit amis pyromaniaques.

Roger

I'm quite appreciative of the small commentaries so far, so thank you, Enkil, Paul, and Roger, for sharing your comments! I'm also equally delighted to know that the weather cooperated, despite the smoke accumulations present. I'm looking forward in seeing Tyler's videos as well.

Sounds like I missed a nice night, especially now knowing that the finales were exciting and that the effects were relatively good... Just curious, but were de Lorimier and Notre-Dame closed to traffic? (I doubt it)

Take care, guys, and thanks again for the brief comments.

Trav.

I heard the symposium participants were a tough crowd to please...

I'm not there so I cannot say anything about the show. Just got feed back from someone who's there...

I guess when you are around people who's into big productions they have high expectations.

Like in Berlin, they were very very critical.... Would love to see the video...

The six of us were actually in a much better position to see the displays, being directly in front of the firing ramps, compared to the Symposium folks who were somewhat upriver on a boat and were thus not at the best angle to see. Also, the smoke headed in their direction too.

No roads were closed to traffic, but some police cars did appear towards the end of the second display and a few cars had stopped on Notre Dame to watch. Our group was actually further east than de Lorimier as there was an area next to the railway tracks that afforded a better view.

As for the design of the displays, we have to remember that they were product demonstrations. The first one, for Dancing Fireworks of China, was fired by Royal Pyrotechnie (since they are Dancing's Canadian importer). This display was well choreographed and allowed the different products to be seen without being repetitive or boring. I don't yet know who did the second display. This one, I'm pretty sure, was Italian, but I was surprised not to see any studatas or other multibreak shells. However, there were some very nice blue skymines that transitioned to gold tourbillons.

I'm sure Tyler will post the videos on YouTube soon!

Paul.

I'll be looking forward to those videos funny how most pyros can identify which country made the fireworks! hehehehe!! Any italian company offers extra special finales most of the time!! I wish i was there! hehehe!! From what group would the 1 hour fireworks come from?

Friday will have displays from four companies:

Glorious Group
Panzera
Pirotecnia Caballer
Pirico or Morsani (one of these fired last night)

Word on the street is that Patrice Guy has choreographed a huge display for Glorious - with the other three I'm just guessing that we could be in for up to an hour of fireworks (hopefully!). That said, at the 2003 Symposium, the Tuesday night displays at Sueca lasted almost 90 minutes and the display on the Thursday night was 25 minutes from Lacroix-Ruggieri and 30 minutes from Pirotecnia Caballer for a total of 55 minutes. Just a pity the weather forecast is somewhat grim at the moment.

Paul.

Well I was there last night and I clearly saw some of you guys but didn`t know if I should of said hi or whatever. I`m a bit on the shy side so I just sat there playing on my cell phone instead lol.

I thought the shows were pretty good. It was kinda funny seeing all the cars try and stop and watch and then the cops come and move them away over and over again.

Reflections_of_earth, the reason why we could tell it was an Italian company was because they blew up the Italian flag about 15 times last night