Collin van Uchelen invited VocalEye to join him on a special tour of the Honda Celebration of Light firework barge in English Bay, where we met Fireworks Producer, Kelly Guille and the designer from the Netherlands Team.
Our adventure began with a dramatic tug boat rescue when the tide went out and stranded our carrier. I was in awe of the strength and fearlessness of these boatmen, who were also tremendously kind and helpful. We were also accompanied by members of the Police Department and the Fire Department and were in excellent hands every step of the way.
The fireworks barge is made up of 2 barges, each 50 feet wide and 200 feet long, joined together to create a 400-foot long sandbox filled with firework explosives. Team Netherlands was busy installing shells for their Opening Night at the Celebration of Light. It was a very exciting excursion! Big thanks go to Fireworks Producer and Pyrotechnical wizard Kelly Guille and his awesome assistant Kristy for so generously sharing their time, expertise and lunch with us during their busy set up time.
I took some photos with my phone, but you can get an even better sense of the barge and the effects from Kelly and the Global BC News team who were out on the barge just a few hours before us. Check out their behind-the-scenes interview below:
And here is Team Australia’s high-flying 30-second tour of the barge:
