I just noticed on the home page that the 2003 schedule is gone. Does this mean you'll be posting the 2004 version this week? (Sorry to ask, the suspense is killing me lol!).

BTW, I know you're sworn to secrecy, but, that's ok, because I rather not know anything. Please let there be 2 Spanish firms.......Caballer or Igual!!!!!

Regards,

Trav.

If you read the last post I made in the "2004 schedule coming soon" thread, you'll see that I'll be posting the full calendar for this year at 1 minute past midnight on Thursday 29th January - until then, I'm sworn to absolute secrecy. All I can say is, that like last year, there will be 10 displays this year

Cheers,

Paul.

Until the 29th? That's next week Thursday. Only 6 days!

Thanks,

Trav.

Paul

now that the list is really

that means those countries have already prepared their display? right?

It's not quite the simple. The companies competing have actually known since November or earlier last year that they would be coming to Montreal. In fact, some of them have been working on their displays since even before that (since I know someone who went to one of the companies to offer some advice). The deadline for selecting product to display (shells, candles etc.) depends on the shipping dates. For antipodean and Asian companies (Australia, Japan etc.) this could be as early as the end of this month to ensure that everything arrives on time. This doesn't mean that the display itself is completely designed and choreographed at that point, but a good portion of the overall concept will be in place.

The final version of the display might not be completed until just before the competition itself since there is still flexibility in the detailed choreography. For example, large finales contain a lot of shells and these can be reassigned, or at least, a few of them can, to other parts of the display. One advantage of the visualization tools such as Visual Show Director is that it becomes easier to see which portions of the display are overloaded and where there might be "holes".

Cheers,

Paul.

Hey Paul, now that you think about it, these displays require huge amounts of effort and labour. Imagine they start that early and finish almost near the next competition! That's quite remarkable!

Even a great all out finale takes huge amounts of extensive work.

Paul, take for instance the Spanish finale of 2001 performed by Pirotechnia Igual, including the faux finale, how long would you say that would take to prepare? I find it interesting to know.

Trav.

I am always very thrilled when it is time to know the schedule of the Montreal International Fireworks Contest and actually, Paul, you are making a very good job to fuel the suspense! Thank you for this first piece of information: 10 displays. For the 20th edition, I would feel bad if this number has been smaller...

I will try to get an additional info from you: will we have 9 displays under competition with 1 off-competition show, or 8 fireworks under competition with 2 off-competition displays (opening and closing), like in 1999, 2000 and 2001?

Frédérick

All I can say is that there will be two surprises this year - if I answer the question about opening and closing shows, then that might give away one of the surprises ... or not ... I can't say But you're right, the good news is that there are 10 displays and I can also confirm that the dates will pretty much follow the pattern of the last couple of years.

To be honest, I've actually known the identity of the competitors since the beginning of November, more or less. But, given that they're all Gold Jupiter winners, that isn't a particularly difficult thing to guess anyway. That said, there have been more companies who have won the Gold Jupiter than there are available display slots for this year ...

All will be revealed very soon though. Perhaps I should put up a "countdown to the schedule" clock on this site!

Cheers,

Paul.

when u say there will be 2 surprises

r we going to know what the surprises r when we get the list?

If you can't see what they are when I publish the list, I'll write a message here pointing them out. I seriously doubt that I'll need to do that though

Paul.

First, I suspect that one of the surprise is that two firms from the same country will be in competition this year. I suspect that these would be from Spain.

Second, I guess that the second surprise is a 2-in-1 package: two displays for the opening night! A first firm in competition but, just before, a shorter display off-competition, by Panzera or something else like that.

Also, I have a dream but I think that it is not any of the two surprises: to see fireworks launched from the Jacques-Cartier bridge's structure for a display. That would be a great surprise for the 20th edition!

Frédérick

Hmm, perhaps I should have said there are three surprises

Paul.

I am just thinking about another surprising scenario. Perhaps the display (or one of the displays) shown outside the competition would be produced by a firm who has never won a Gold Jupiter but has already given a very good show. By that, I think especially to Pirotec Pirotecnia (Portugal), winner of Silver Jupiter in 2002 with their giant ring...

Paul, the suspense is unbearable!

Frédérick

That's a very interesting scenario you propose.

By the way, the correct name for the the company that did the Portuguese display (incorrectly listed as Pirotec Pirotecnia on the La Ronde site) is Grupo Luso, a consortium of four companies which includes Pirotec Pirotecnia as one of its members. Grupo Luso is also the home of a former employee of La Ronde, Melanie Cagnon, who worked on the fireworks competition for several years. Now Melanie lives and works in Portugal and is doing a fabulous job for Luso.
Luso have a very good website too: http://www.lusopirotecnia.com/

Cheers,

Paul.

To tell you the truth, Paul, the suspense is killing me the most, since I've been asking about it for some time now, but anyways. I still remember you always telling me to be patient! lol

Let me take a shot at a surprise, well maybe not..but I do know for sure that Canada and the U.S will be there! Don't tell me if I'm right or not, but I'm about 90-100%sure about these particular 2 and I'm pretty sure which firms they're going, and usually they're back to back.

Paul, I have a feeling that Holland is one of the surprises, not to mention the possibility that there could be 2 Spanish displays. I agree with Frederick about that.

Trav.