| There is something about explosions of colour in a night sky that creates excitement and captures the imagination of even the most jaded of curmudgeons. Beginning on August 18, Calgary’s GlobalFest will present one of Canada’s largest fireworks competitions and at the centre of it all will be the returning champions from Hong Kong.
This will be the third year at GlobalFest for Mike Bohonos and his second with Hong Kong’s Pyromagic Productions. After an impressive showing last year his team is certainly one of the favourites in this year’s competition. His team’s display will run longer than those of his competitors as it will be a slightly scaled-down version of their enormous Hong Kong shows that have a running time of 22 minutes. The team plans to use some impressive fireworks including nautical products that will make use of the lake in Elliston Park where the festival takes place.
"Last year we won it and this year again we’re hoping to win it. We’re hoping we’re bringing a winning show," Bohonos says, "but all the competition is great out there."
Bohonos has always been interested in fireworks. As a child he loved to watch displays and when he became a teenager he got into shooting small fireworks as many teenaged boys do. He began his fireworks career with the fire department and from there moved up to larger and more elaborate equipment and displays until finally he ended up buying and running an Ontario-based fireworks company that he worked for.
As well as owning his own company, Bohonos works for Pyromagic Productions in Hong Kong, a company that he became involved with during a training course 10 years ago. Bohonos says that working in Hong Kong is different than working in Canada because of the huge scope of the shows and the massive cultural importance.
"For me career highlights are doing Chinese National Day and Chinese New Years in Victoria Harbour (Hong Kong). Those were huge, huge shows," he says. "You get millions of people around the harbour and millions of people watching it on television for Chinese New Years."
Preparation for a show like the one at GlobalFest can take up to two months of working on and off right up until the day of the show. As technical director Bohonos is in charge of looking after the setup and making sure that everything is where it should be.
Though technical directors are behind the action and out of sight of the crowd, Bohonos says that the reaction of the fans is what it is all about. "Even sitting on a barge in the middle of Victoria Harbour or at GlobalFest you can hear the crowd cheer and that’s what I do it for," Bohonos said.
Though Canadian shows are generally smaller and more restricted than those in foreign countries like Hong Kong, the GlobalFest competition is one of the largest displays west of Toronto. Due to its spacious lakeside location at Elliston Park and the fact that it is a recognized international competition, GlobalFest is permitted to display fireworks that are up to three times the size of anything seen at the Calgary Stampede. This will make for a series of incredible displays, not the least of which will be that of the Hong Kong team.
GlobalFest co-founder and competition director Martin Landy says that the teams competing in this year’s competition were chosen from a large number of international hopefuls. Teams are chosen based on thorough research and their reputation within the industry. Landy adds that returning champion Pyromagic Productions is one of the top elite teams in the entire industry.
"They’re probably one of the top two companies in China and internationally they’d be up in the top 10 or top 15," says Landy. "They won hands down last year and they’re bringing a show that’s going to kick butt compared to what they did last year."
GlobalFest 2006 International Fireworks Competition runs August 18, 20, 22, 24 and 26 in Elliston Park, with performances nightly at 7:00 p.m. See www.globalfest.ca for further event details as well as information on GlobalFest cultural pavilions and film festival.
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Fast Forward Weekly and GlobalFest are offering you and a friend a chance to attend one evening performance at the 2006 International Fireworks Competition.
To win a pair of tickets, e-mail the answer to the following question to win@ffwd.greatwest.ca by Sunday, August 13: "What team was the overall winner of last year’s competition?"
Winners will be notified by e-mail on Monday, August 14. |
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