THUNDER BAY – Keep your eyes on the sky.
With fireworks shows a thing of the past in Thunder Bay, city officials on Monday announced it is planning a two-night Summer Sendoff spectacular, complete with different drone shows on both nights, to cap off their annual Live on the Waterfront concert series this summer on Aug. 27 and Aug. 28.
It’s something Northwestern Ontario has never seen the likes of before, at least not locally, said Karen Kadolph, director of events for the City of Thunder Bay.
“This is a really unique opportunity that the airport brought to us and an opportunity to partner on it,” Kadolph said. “We’ve been looking at drone shows the past couple of years, looking for an alternative to fireworks, so when the opportunity presented itself, it’s something you go with.”
The city last held fireworks in August 2023, but prior to that they hadn’t held a summertime show since 2019, before COVID-19, later announcing they would no longer do fireworks on Canada Day, a move several communities across the country adopted, at least temporarily, in recognition of the country’s poor treatment of Indigenous peoples.
“This is a really unique event,” Kadolph said at the event’s launch, held at the Thunder Bay Airport, who are sponsoring the event.
“I’m an events nerd, so the logistics of this are really exciting for me. It’s a ton of planning. But when you’re planning events, you know this is something that huge crowds are going to come out to. People are going to want to come and see this.”
The goal is to bring something really different to Northwestern Ontario.
“We haven’t had anything like this in our area and we hope that everyone will come out and watch,” said Kadolph, adding there is the potential to draw people from throughout not only the region, but also northern Minnesota.
“That’s the goal. We would love to have as many tourists come as possible,” she said. “We will be promoting this as far and wide as we can. We do want people to come. First and foremost, we want the community to come out to come and see this, but we do want the tourists to come.”
The show will be tailored to a Thunder Bay audience. Kadolph and her team have already sent local images to Drone Show Canada, who will design the show, with input and approval from city officials.
About 400 drones are expected to be utilized during the show, lit up with different colours to form images in the night sky.
Kadolph said the best viewing will be from Marina Park, and said further details about parking and possibly a shuttle service, as well as the musical entertainment for both nights, will be unveiled closer to the date.
Thunder Bay Airport president and CEO Graham Ingham said it felt like an exciting way to get involved with the community and region at large.
A drone show was the perfect way to make a splash.
“We wanted to do something different. Everybody does fireworks shows. They’re getting a little old and tired now. They’re a little noisy. You can do far more exciting things with drones than you can with fireworks,” Ingham said.
Thunder Bay Mayor Ken Boshcoff, who wants the city to embrace the city of festivals label it once had, and run with it.
“This show is truly inspirational,” he said. “It’ll help the tourists come back. The community itself can always use these events.”
