Posted: Aug 5, 2009, 9:06 PM
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with glowing hearts
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Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: █♣█ Vancouver, British Columbia
Posts: 12,779
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Well, I've been relatively out of the loop since the event was saved in the spring. But I have been recently in touch with some people, and the restaurant sponsors are really doing it out of their own good-will. The Keg's owner absolutely loves the show, and they really want to help keep it going.
Next year's event is dependent on other sponsors staying with the event. The Keg may stay in, but it's pointless if the older sponsors jump ship....but I highly doubt they'll jump ship.
If they had more sponsors, ideally the organizers would make the shows a little longer (5-minutes longer for 30-minute shows), higher quality productions (the show was slightly watered down during the Benson & Hedges to HSBC transition because of a lack of funds: Benson & Hedges paid for the ENTIRE multi-million dollar bill while HSBC only sponsors $400,000 and relies on other sponsors and the city to step in to fill the funding gap), and/or if they ever struck sponsorship gold (which isn't likely) they'd add in a fifth night to the show (with the City's blessing of course).
Of the three Symphony of Fire shows around the world (Vancouver, Toronto, and Cape Town), Vancouver's show is the most resilient even with our funding issues. The Toronto event, now with the largest sponsor being Ontario Place, is largely watered down and I believe one night shorter: it's only 3 days with one opponent competitor (opponent, Canada Day fireworks on July 1st, and then the grand finale). And the Cape Town time show is gone I believe, but came back briefly for one year in 2007 I think.
Montreal's L'International des Feux Loto-Québec is the event that Vancouver organizers always look up to. It has stable funding, being both a private and public event: the fireworks are launched at La Ronde, which is Montreal's amusement park (owned and operated by Six Flags). People pay to get into the park for front row seats to the fireworks (with actual seats to sit on), while public watching areas are located outside the park. La Ronde of course pays for the fireworks, but so do sponsors like Telus (you'd think they'd be helping out our show in the city they are headquartered in!) and Marriott Hotels, and of course there's the front row ticket revenues.
The quality of Montreal's show is incredible as a result, not to mention it's three months long! It's also an international fireworks competition, with each night being designed by a different company from a different nation. There are also non-competing days (the first show and the last show/openinga nd closing shows) It lasts from June to August, 3-4 shows each month, for a total of 12 nights!
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