FIFA World Cup likely to strain city resources for event, staff say, after Celebration of Light cancellation
Vancouver Park Board commissioners have voted to advance planning on a one-day fireworks event centred around the city’s English Bay Beach this summer.
The event, whose date hasn’t yet been finalized, was proposed by Mayor Ken Sim earlier this year after the longstanding Celebration of Light fireworks event was cancelled due to a lack of funding.
Sim’s motion pushing for the new fireworks event saw an allocation of up to $2 million in city funds, and argued the event would draw millions of visitors and provide much-needed free celebration.
But the park board — which is responsible for overseeing English Bay — heard at a Monday meeting that the upcoming FIFA World Cup and a tight summer event schedule meant that planning for the event is likely to be strained.
WATCH | $2M one-day fireworks event greenlit:
If you were hoping to watch some fireworks this summer, you will get at least one night in Vancouver, thanks to a vote by city council Wednesday. It’s a push by the mayor to to fill the gap left by the cancellation of the Celebration of Light fireworks festival. The CBC’s Pinki Wong has more from supporters and opponents of the new spending.
At the meeting, park board staff said in a motion that longstanding Festival of Light fixtures — like grandstand seating along English Bay or private luxury suites — wouldn’t be included for the event.
While some food trucks will be present, there will be no drone show or installations in adjacent parks either.
They added that, given the city doesn’t directly produce events and the “already compressed timelines alongside a demanding summer schedule,” the event’s planning would be outsourced to a third-party vendor called BrandLIVE.
WATCH | Businesses lament end of Celebration of Light:
Vancouver businesses say the loss of a major summertime event, the Festival of Lights at English Bay beach, will lead to a major downturn in revenue. Organizers of the Celebration of Light fireworks festival said it can’t go ahead without long-term government and private-sector support. CBC’s Meera Bains reports on the impact.
“Staff have considered the many aspects of this proposal, and it follows very much in line with what we’ve done for the past couple of decades in terms of fireworks festival delivery in the city,” said park board staffer Octavio Silva in a presentation on Monday.
“So we’re quite confident that it can be implemented successfully.”
Silva said it’s estimated that it would take two days to set up the event, and two days afterwards to clean up, and the local West End neighbourhood would be notified when that happens.
Celebration of Light cancellation
The Celebration of Light event, which had been held at English Bay Beach for three decades, ran three nights of fireworks shows over the summer, each one represented by a different country.
Organizers said the event was indefinitely cancelled last November, citing dwindling provincial and federal funding and private sector investment.
While commissioners voted to advance plans for the new one-day fireworks event this summer, some argued that committing city funds to the event came despite dwindling money for important issues like lifeguards and front-line services.
“I think that that dichotomy is disappointing,” said commissioner Laura Christensen at Monday’s meeting.
“I would have liked to see city council step up a little bit more in supporting, you know, things that I think are more critical to our city than a firework show.
WATCH | Vancouver and the ‘No Fun City’ nickname:
The cancellation of Vancouver’s annual Celebration of Light fireworks festival brought back one of the city’s least flattering nicknames: “No Fun City.” We may have found what could be the earliest use of that phrase — an article written in the year 2000 from The Province newspaper. It was ironically also about the fireworks show being in jeopardy. And it was written by our very own CBC reporter Jason Proctor, who tells us about the article
Sim’s motion noted the $2 million was a “one-time, event-specific funding decision,” and it includes a commitment to lobby the province and federal government for more funds to resume the Celebration of Light.
Sim has said the city provided about $1.6 million a year in services to help run the Celebration of Light festival.
The mayor and the park board have clashed about funding on numerous occasions over the last four years, especially in light of a budget last year that featured a property tax freeze and staffing cuts.
Commissioner Jas Virdi, who is with Sim’s ABC slate, argued the event would promote tourism and Vancouver as a whole.
“There’s only positives, and the biggest thing is it’s non-ticketed so everybody can come and enjoy that event for free,” he said.
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