Nova Scotia Fireworks: Please, light up the sky!

R and I have been watching the series Long Way Home with Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman (it’s fantastic, by the way) about riding motorcycles all over Europe. Ewan is from Scotland, and Charilie is from London. The Long way series has them riding all over the world (Asia, Africa, South America) but never a deep dive in Europe. The Long Way Home series is about exploring their home continent. Ewan talks about returning home to Scotland – expecially the last show which we watch tonight. Coincidentally, the fireworks show presented by a pyrotechnic team from Nova Scotia. I hadn’t thought about the connection between Nova Scotia and Scotland. That contextual lightbulb went off last night: Nova Scotia -> New Scotland, lol.

After seeing the fireworks show last year and witnessing Quebec’s performance last night, my mind quickly darted back to an illustration of equality vs. equity that highlighted the differences between the two terms. We’re viewing the show from our balcony, and obviously, there are a number of buildings between us and the beach on English Bay. In the 2024 show, the pyrotechnic teams lit up more of the sky so that onlookers from the beach and further back in the city could enjoy the show. Both the Quebec performance and the Nova Scotia show kept most of the fireworks close to the shoreline. Less than half of the fireworks really used the full scope of the sky.

Comparing the 2024 and 2025 performances reinforces the differences between equality and equity (as seen from the back row).

I hadn’t put much thought into how pyrotechnic artists construct their shows, but now, after seeing a few shows here in Vancouver, I can see some themes on what transforms a good show into a great show:

1. Duration of the show
2. Color of fireworks
3. Height of firework detonation in the sky
4. Width of firework in the sky
5. Shape of detonation
6. Timing of launch of individual fireworks
7. Timing to music

Between the two shows, I’ve got to hand it to Quebec. While I wish both shows had fireworks higher in the sky, the Quebec show had more colorful fireworks, more diverse shapes, and better synchronization of fireworks than Nova Scotia.