St. Albert residents should turn their eyes and ears to the sky this Saturday night as the city rings in the new year by blowing up the old one.
The annual St. Albert New Year’s Eve fireworks display launches from the Meadowview Ball Diamonds on Dec. 31. The free showcase of aerial kabooms celebrates the start of 2023, and costs the city some $20,000.
This is the second time the show has been launched from the Meadowview diamonds instead of Mission Hill, said city events and facility scheduling supervisor Kristen Schopper — a move made in the interest of public safety.
Running this year’s show is Rick Simpson of Aerial Fireworks, who has been putting on pyrotechnical displays around Edmonton since 1989. He asks residents to stay clear of the Meadowview diamonds on Dec. 31 so he and his crews can set up the many mortars and launchers needed for the show.
Simpson said he will start the display with a test rocket to determine wind direction and intensity. If the weather proves safe for launch, he will start the show. Computers will time the launch of each shell and rocket for maximum effect, with the biggest bangs and booms coming toward the end of the barrage.
Simpson said this year’s 18-minute show will be pretty similar to the one last year. Expect fans of sparks and projectiles from those squat, multi-barrelled barrage cakes, big mortar shells which burst into hearts and smiley faces, and, his personal favourite, the brocade crown horsetail — a mini-rocket which creates a showers of sparks shaped like a horse’s tail when it explodes.
Schopper said guests can watch the display from anywhere in St. Albert, but particularly from Lions Park at 21 Sir Winston Churchill Ave., Millennium Park at the end of Tache St., Morgan Park northwest of Grain Elevator Park, and the Red Willow Trail behind St. Albert Place. The Meadowview diamonds will be closed to the public on Dec. 31. Street parking will not be available on Mission Ave. during the show.
