Hi guys, I'm new in this club, just started admiring fireworks and would like anyone who has some time to fill me in on some info, for example, all these great companies that compete in montreal, is their a prize, money or do the compete for the trophy alone. How is this judged, etc..just any info youy can spare.
Thanks guys,
Kiper

Kiper,

The competition structure is simple. There's no money involved for the prizes for the winning team(s). Instead, all the money is spent on buying the supplies. I think each team is given an estimated $75, 000 to purchase the materials. The competition is structured with 8-9 firms, along with a closing show and sometimes an opening show at the beginning, which is a non-competitor, representing different countries in order to win the gold Jupiter (the trophy). Then there's silver and bronze. In my opinion, the fact that there's no money involved for the prizes makes sense because it defines the honor and prestige of the competition. Our fireworks competition is the largest of its kind in the world, where 500,000 people can possibly attend when the weather is perfect, as the statistics indicate.

As you now, the fireworks competition is pyromusical, therefore there's many criterion that the judges look for, like synchronazation with the music and fireworks, choice of music, overall appreciation, quality of the display, originality and/or creativeness. So you see, it's quite tough to win! Pretty much every year, we have many firms that come very close to winning status, so it's hard for the judges to choose the winner!

As for the companies that compete at Montreal, well, there's many, including many new ones this year. The ones that are seen quite frequently at Montreal are Marutamaya (Japan), Sunny International (China), Igual or Caballer (Spain), IPON (Italy), Weco (Germany), Ampleman (Canada), just to name a few. You can get a fair idea of which ones played in the history of the competition in Paul's reports.

For more info on how the competition works, just go to this link. You can learn more by also looking at the other adjacent links on this site:

http://www.montreal-fireworks.com/setup.html

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Trav.

Trav,
Thanks a lot, I'm starting to understand how it works. Are there many other competitions held yearly worldwide or is the Montreal competition the only one there is. I am interested in knowing if there is any qualifying phase, you say that there are 8-9 competing firms, surely there are more interested in taking the gold home. Sorry about my ignorance in this subject, I am genuinly interested in learning about this world.
Thanks,
Kiper

kiper,

It's obvious that there's many more fireworks competitions all over the world. Paul attended the Symposium in Valencia, Spain back in October of last year. I'm sure that there's many competitions in Spain alone! I'm aware that there's some popular fireworks competitons in China, too. There's one in Liuyang, I believe.

Of course, we've got many here at home besides the one in Montreal. Here's the ones that I'm aware of:

Les Grand Feux Lotto Quebec, Montmorency Falls, Quebec City
Les Grand Feux du Casion, Lac Leamy, Gatineau
Celebration of Light, English Bay, Vancouver
Symphony of Fire, Ontario Place, Toronto
Les Grands Feux Molson du Canada, Lac des Nations, Sherbrooke

I've been to one of the displays at Montmorency Falls 2 years ago. It was pretty nice.

As for your last statement regarding the competing firms, keep in mind that there's usually 8-9 firms representing 8-9 different countries that compete anually, so therefore there are many firms that compete each year, in a variety. Once again, you can see all the firms that have competed in the competition's history if you click on the 2004 reports and then click on previous years. Also, remember that there has been many firms that have competed here since 1985. I've only named some of the ones that are well known in my previous post.

Finally, I would once again like to emphasize that the Montreal fireworks competition is the biggest of its kind in the world and I would be more than happy to invite to come to see it! It would be something for you to remember and experience.

If you need more info based on our competition please don't feel "ignorant" to ask!

Regards,

Trav.

Quick note:

There is no competition in Toronto. The Symphony of Fire ended in 2000.

Really?

Thx for the notice, anonymous.

kiper, just ignore that Sumphony of Fire in Toronto. The others are still existing.

Regards,

Trav.