St. Albert residents will ring in the new year with explosions next week during the annual year-end fireworks display at Mission Hill.
The City of St. Albert’s New Year’s Eve fireworks show is Monday, Dec. 31, at Mission Hill. The show, which costs the city about $20,000, presents a flamboyant fusillade of rockets and spark-spitters meant to send off 2018 with several thousand bangs.
Mission Park will be closed all day Dec. 31 and until 1 p.m. on Jan. 1 so crews can set up and tear down the show, said City of St. Albert spokesperson Amanda Arbour.
Once again managing the aerial bombardment is area resident and pyrotechnician Rob Kowalyshyn, who along with about 10 other members of Aerial Fireworks will be busy setting up hundreds of multi-shot mortars on Mission Hill Sunday to prepare for the show.
The show will begin at 8:30 p.m. sharp, weather permitting, Kowalyshyn said. He wasn’t entirely certain what would be in the show when reached by the Gazette earlier this month – it depends in part on what’s available from China – but said to expect a lot of Christmas colours and the usual barrage of “titanium salutes” (which produce a bright flash and a big bang) at the end of the 15-minute show.
Kowalyshyn urged guests to stay behind the safety tape at all times, as his crew will immediately cancel the show if anyone steps beyond it. The tape demarcates minimum safe distance from the display, which will likely rain down sparks and debris on anyone too close. You actually want to be back a fair ways from the safety tape to see the show properly, he noted – he recommends the bottom of Mission Hill.
Arbour advised guests to come downtown early to find a good spot and to dress appropriately. St. Albert Place will be open during the display, but the church, tennis court, École Father Jan, and Northern Alberta Business Incubator parking lots at the base of Mission Hill will be closed.
While the City of St. Albert has posted a link to a video of the 2014 New Year’s show that was shot by an unknown party with a drone, drone instructor and drone regulation expert Sterling Cripps advised against trying to do so today.
“As far as I know, it’s prohibited.”
Transport Canada regulations forbid anyone from flying a drone that weighs more than 250 grams at night without a special flight operations certificate, Cripps said. Even if you had a certificate, it’s very unlikely that it would allow you to fly near a fireworks show due to the risk of a collision with a rocket, which could send flaming drone bits and phosphorous raining down on a crowd.
Flying a drone at night without a special flight operations certificate can earn you a $3,000 to $25,000 fine, depending on whether you’re flying for recreational or commercial purposes, Transport Canada reports.
Drones that weigh less than 250 g aren’t regulated, but it’s still a terrible idea to fly them at night or near fireworks, Cripps said.
“I don’t think anyone insures for that kind of foolishness.”
If you plan to set off your own fireworks in St. Albert on New Year’s Eve, don’t, added Kowalyshyn – he and his team are the only ones with the legal permit to do so.
The fireworks show can be seen for free from most of St. Albert. See bit.ly/2QLtd59 for details.
