The Fireworks Finale from Jericho Beach

Last night, I went out to Jericho Beach here in Vancouver, BC, Canada to take in the grand finale to the HSBC Celebration of Light fireworks festival. Yes, the same fireworks competition that brought about a very confusing pizza deal. The fireworks show — there’s four of them in total over a span of two weeks — brings in thousands of people to Vancouver’s beaches, most of whom congregate at English Bay near Stanley Park.

We decided to avoid the crowd as much as possible, so we steered as far away from English Bay as possible, instead watching the fireworks from the other side of the water. Jericho Beach is located a stone’s throw away from the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus, my alma mater. It was decidedly less busy and more family-oriented. People brought out portable barbecues, frisbees, footballs, and all sorts of fun things to do before the actual show started at 10pm. As you can see from the photo above (yes, taken by me), we also got to witness a rather picturesque sunset.

For those who don’t know, the HSBC Celebration of Light — formerly the Benson & Hedges Symphony of Fire — is an annual fireworks competition. This year, we saw entries from Spain, China and Canada. I didn’t go to any of the other three shows, only attending the grand finale where each of the countries gets about 6 minutes to show their best, followed by a big ass finale where they just unleash whatever is left on the barge. Without further ado, here a couple of pictures, followed by a short video. I’m in love with the fireworks mode (plus 12x optical zoom) on my Canon S3 IS.

UPDATE: I just learned that the Canadian team — Archangel Fireworks Inc. — was the 2007 winner.