While much of the talk surrounding this “Stars and Thunder Festival has been on the artists performing—and the cost associated with the festival—not much has been revealed about the fireworks displays we will see over the next eight days.

And fireworks alone (are exciting, and seven countries will be competing in a first-of-it’s-kind competition of international proportions.

The competitors are (in order from Day 1 to 7):

  • Team France (Fèérie Feux D’artifices—who was up on the Hollinger berm Friday morning, more on that later)
  • Team Italy (Ipon Fireworks)
  • Team Finland (Oy Pyroman Fireworks)
  • Team Ukraine (Dance of Fire)
  • Team China (Hefung Fireworks Ltd.)
  • Team Brazil (Fireworks do Brasil)
  • Team UK (Titanium Fireworks)

Team Canada will put on a display on Canada Day, from David Whysall International Fireworks Ltd.  But as the provider of the fireworks for everyone—minus any additions each team may have made individually—and the host, they will not have their display judged and are not eligible to win.

Anyway, local media got to take a look at Team France and other fireworks officials at work Friday morning on top of the Goldcorp Hollinger Pit berm.

Not only to talk with officials and get some access into how things will work, but it also provided quite the view of the city and Hollinger Park that not many people get to see.

(We took some great shots of the Timmins skyline, photos are below.)

Much of the work has been done already, according to Andy Adams.

He’s working as a technician for Whysall, and says it starts by getting scripts from each of the teams.

“We kind of translate those (scripts) into a language that the firing system understands,” he adds, “And then prepare all that and bring it all here and start setting it all up.”

Adams admits the working conditions can have their challenges—one being that it’s not as flat as they’re used to on grass, a tarmac roadway or rooftop.

However, he’s looking at the bright side and making the most of the environment in front of him.

“I never (got) to visit a gold mine before, so that’s a first you know,” he said with a smile, later adding “At the end of the day, it’s about delivering a show, delivering a performance.”

Part of that show will be a music soundtrack choreographed to the display. As for the actual fireworks, each display is said to last approximately 18-20 minutes and are spread across the berm approximately 200 metres.

And it’ll go on rain or shine. Adams says however, wind will play a factor.

Agreeing with that sentiment was David Whysall, who is owner of the fireworks company holding his namesake.

The 50+ year veteran—whose done shows in places like Vietnam, England, Malaysia and Guatemala—says they’ve taken precautions though.

“We don’t want debris falling into the crowd, not that most of the debris is going to hurt them, it’s just pieces of paper, but sometimes you can get lit debris so we need to make sure,” Whysall answered, “Everything is angled away, into the pit so there should be no problem unless we get a strong wind towards the crowd.”

“In that case, we’ll see what we can do.”

The challenge isn’t lost on Whysall either. He admits doing eight major shows like this in eight nights would be very difficult. But the variety of styles interests him.

“We’ve done may international competitions before, but never an organized one,” he added, “It’s good to see seven international teams with their various styles and each team has given us a spectacular show and I’m sure the people of Timmins and beyond will enjoy it.”

Adams agreed: “You’re going to see a heck of a lot of stuff in the sky over Timmins over the next few days here.”

Check out their program HERE.

We’ll have more coverage of the Stars and Thunder Festival at every angle throughout the week. You can also keep up to date with us through social media.

Filed under: Local News, stars and thunder