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Honda Celebration of Light fireworks opens with Team Yukon's fiery undersea adventure, including a giant squid

Kenneth Chan
Kenneth Chan
|
Jul 20 2025, 7:01 pm
Honda Celebration of Light fireworks opens with Team Yukon's fiery undersea adventure, including a giant squid
Team Yukon at the 2025 Honda Celebration of Light fireworks. (Gabriel Lam/Meimento)

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Vancouver’s English Bay lit up in spectacular fashion on Saturday, July 19, as Midnight Sun Fireworks, representing Team Yukon, kicked off the 2025 Honda Celebration of Light fireworks competition.

This volunteer troupe — the 2022 champions, based in Whitehorse — returned to the Vancouver festival, bringing their trademark creativity and heart with a theme of “20,000 Leagues Under English Bay.”

Not only did they choreograph the pyromusical through fireworks in the sky, but they also brought the show to life with shape-based pyrotechnic set pieces on the barge — including a dramatic giant squid battle staged on deck.

“Our design style is also distinct — largely self-taught and developed through trial and error, which gives it a grassroots and authentic feel. We’re known for incorporating large, elaborate set pieces into our shows; every pyromusical we’ve done has featured at least one,” Kiara Adams, a co-producer for Midnight Sun Fireworks, told Daily Hive before their fireworks show.

Their pyromusical soundtrack also included a poignant tribute to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, with Nikki Yanofsky’s performance of the theme song “I Believe” standing out as one of the highlights of the pyromusical.

Just before the fireworks, Vancouver-based Pixel Sky Animations lit up the skies with an expanded BC Honda Dealers Drone Show featuring 400 drones. Carrying a “Proudly Canadian” theme, the show depicted national symbols and motifs, including a tribute to Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope and a countdown to the fireworks.

The exact same drone show will return for the remaining two nights of this year’s fireworks festival, taking flight at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, July 23, alongside Royal Pyrotechnie representing Team Quebec, and again on Saturday, July 26, with Fireworks FX representing Team Nova Scotia. The fireworks will begin immediately after the drone show.

For the first-time ever, this year’s fireworks competition is an all-Canadian battle, as opposed to the usual display of three countries.

The Canadian Forces Snowbirds also carved through the skies above English Bay with a breathtaking 30-minute aerial performance. They will soar back into action for just one more time this year on Wednesday, July 23, starting at around 6:30 p.m.

No incidents were reported by the Vancouver Police Department, though shortly after 8 p.m., they advised that English Bay Beach was nearing capacity and encouraged crowds to head to Sunset Beach Park or Vanier Park instead.

This year’s event featured enhanced security and crowd control measures, including additional concrete barriers to block vehicle access onto roads turned into busy pedestrian areas, as well as increased deployments of highly visible Vancouver Police officers.

Relive Team Yukon’s entire 25-minute show at the 2025 Honda Celebration of Light:

 

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Honda Celebration of Light Vancouver fireworks 2025

  • Schedule and provinces:
    • Saturday, July 19: Team Yukon – Midnight Sun Fireworks
      • With pre-fireworks Snowbirds Air Show and BC Honda Dealers Drone Show
    • Wednesday, July 23: Team Quebec – Royal Pyrotechnie
      • With pre-fireworks Snowbirds Air Show and BC Honda Dealers Drone Show
    • Saturday, July 26: Team Nova Scotia – Fireworks FX
      • With BC Honda Dealers Drone Show
  • Nightly schedule:
    • CF Snowbirds Air Show: 6:30 p.m. on July 19 and 23
    • BC Honda Dealers Drone Show: 10 p.m. on July 19, 23, and 26
    • Fireworks: 10:15 p.m., rain or shine. Music simulcasts can be heard on radio station CFMI Rock 101.
  • Location: English Bay, Vancouver

Daily Hive is a proud media partner of the
2025 Honda Celebration of Light

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