Another year without Canada Day fireworks in downtown Vancouver

Just in case you needed a reminder, there won’t be a Canada Day fireworks show in downtown Vancouver this year, once again for 2024.

The last Canada Day fireworks show at Canada Place was held in 2019 before the pandemic, and it hasn’t returned since, despite being a decades-long tradition, a mass crowd pleaser, and a major boost for tourism, the local economy, and local businesses. It regularly attracted 200,000 spectators each year.

When pandemic-related health safety restrictions were lifted in 2022, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority maintained its cancellation of that year’s event due to rising costs associated with safety and security. Instead, it redirected its resources towards the Canada Day daytime programming.

In 2023, to much surprise to the media and public, the port authority clarified that their Canada Day fireworks had been permanently cancelled.

While fireworks will not be going off at Coal Harbour in downtown Vancouver on Monday, July 1, 2024, the port authority is still putting on its “Canada Together at Canada Place” daytime-only event in the area between 11 am and 6 am.

But if you’re looking to celebrate Canada’s birthday unabashedly with a real proper bang, the City of Burnaby’s Canada Day 2024 festivities will culminate with a fireworks show in Central Park on Kingsway — located just east of Vancouver’s municipal border and highly accessible from Patterson Station on SkyTrain Expo Line. This is the closest Canada Day fireworks show to Vancouver.

Canada Day 2023 fireworks at Central Park in Burnaby. (City of Burnaby)

Happy Canada Day from Coquitlam! 🇨🇦

It’s a day to celebrate our diversity, while also reflecting on the past, and looking forward to creating a brighter future, together.

And I’ve got to say, few kinds of events bring out the kind of crowds that fireworks do. pic.twitter.com/lrfJJFJlIG

— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) July 2, 2023

Annual Canada Day fireworks traditions will also continue at Lafarge Lake staged by the City of Coquitlam, Castle Park by the City of Port Coquitlam, Bill Reid Millenium Amphitheatre at the Cloverdale fairgrounds by the City of Surrey, Semiahmoo Bay by the City of White Rock, and other locations in the Lower Mainland outside of Vancouver.

Click here for Daily Hive Listed’s full Canada Day 2024 Metro Vancouver fireworks events guide for precise locations, times, and other details.

Alternatively, the Township of Langley’s Canada Day 2024 festival at Willoughby Community Park will end with a drone light show at 10:15 pm.

At Victoria Inner Harbour in BC’s capital, a drone light show will precede the Canada Day 2024 fireworks show in downtown Victoria.

The next public fireworks event within Vancouver will be the 2024 Honda Celebration of Light international fireworks competition, scheduled for July 20, 24, and 27 in English Bay. For the first-time ever, each of the three nights will also feature a pre-fireworks drone light show.