EventsNewsSportsCelebration of LightUrbanizedCuratedPop Culture

Vancouver civic pride-themed fireworks, featuring music from Expo '86, 2010 Olympics, and FIFA World Cup, light up English Bay

Kenneth Chan
Kenneth Chan
|
Aug 1 2026, 6:55 pm
Vancouver civic pride-themed fireworks, featuring music from Expo '86, 2010 Olympics, and FIFA World Cup, light up English Bay
The City of Vancouver's "Summer Lights at English Bay" fireworks on July 31, 2026. (Gabriel Lam/Meimento)

No other event in Metro Vancouver brings out the crowds like the summer fireworks tradition.

For one night only this summer, hundreds of thousands of people descended on the beaches and parks around English Bay for a fireworks spectacular organized by the City of Vancouver.

No major issues were reported by the Vancouver Police Department as the dense crowds ebbed and flowed through the streets of the Downtown Vancouver peninsula and Kitsilano.

The fireworks show on Friday, July 31, 2026, served as a one-night replacement for the long-running Celebration of Light international fireworks competition, which would traditionally be staged at this time of year. However, organizers announced in late 2025 that the three-night 2026 Celebration of Light would be cancelled due to a financial shortfall.

In response to the cancellation, Vancouver City Council approved a proposal by Mayor Ken Sim in early 2026 to fund a one-night fireworks event, specifically serving to maintain the momentum toward restoring a full-scale, multi-night Celebration of Light competition in Summer 2027. The one-night event was largely funded by repurposing existing City funding already set aside for the 2027 Celebration of Light’s three-night costs of policing, road closures, and sanitation.

After more than three decades, the Celebration of Light — originally known as the Symphony of Fire — has become a beloved annual tradition, the largest free annual public event in British Columbia, and a major economic and tourism activity generator.

Last night’s “Summer Lights at English Bay” event was produced by local event production company Brand Live, with the pyromusical component designed and staged by Winnipeg-based Archangel Fireworks.

Brand Live had just come off the successful execution of its role as the lead production company for the FIFA Fan Festival at Hastings Park. The company has organized the Celebration of Light for a decade and a half, while Archangel Fireworks has also been associated with the event for many years, specifically staging the fireworks competition and working with visiting teams representing their home countries.

Some early beachgoers yesterday wondered why they could not see the fireworks barge. As this was only a one-night event, the barge was towed into English Bay by tugboats about three hours before showtime.

For the usual three-night Celebration of Light setup, temporary pilings driven into the seabed are typically used to hold the barge in position. Moreover, because tugboats were used to tow the barge into the bay, only half of the typical connected two-barge length setup was used. However, this did not affect the quality of the show, as it simply meant more of the pyrotechnics were placed on a single barge length.

The 22-minute show carried an exceptionally strong theme of Vancouver civic pride, driven by the nostalgia of music created for the three largest events hosted by the city over the past 40 years: the Expo ’86 World’s Fair, Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, and 2026 FIFA World Cup.

“This evening’s design is a tribute to the major special events that have shaped our beloved city over the last four decades, and the world-class events that have launched Vancouver onto the global stage,” said the announcer on the beach moments before the fireworks began.

“A powerful reminder that large-scale events like the one you’re at tonight are crucial to the growth, culture, arts and diversity of our great city. Thank you, Vancouver, and enjoy the show.”

The lion’s share of the pyromusical soundtrack consisted of music created for the 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremony, largely featuring elaborate and epic orchestral compositions.

That effort was led by Alberta composer and songwriter Dave Pierce, who won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction for the ceremony. He worked with English composer Gavin Greenaway, who is internationally renowned for helping create music for some of Hollywood’s biggest movies and long-running Disney theme park fireworks shows.

The soundtrack also featured an Olympic Opening Ceremony song performed by Vancouver’s Bryan Adams and Nelly Furtado and composed by Adams, along with an epic orchestral rendition of Sarah McLachlan’s “Ordinary Miracle” that was used during the ceremony. The pre-fireworks Canadian national anthem and countdown were also music made for the Olympics, specifically the closing ceremony.

Other music used in the soundtrack included “Something’s Happening Here” — the official theme song of Expo ’86, performed by local singer Nancy Nash.

As well, the soundtrack featured a much more recent creation as a nod to Vancouver’s role as a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup: the Vancouver version of the FIFA Sound, the tournament’s theme music, created by Vancouver DJ Grayson Repp. Each of the 16 host cities had its own locally inspired version of the FIFA Sound, created by a local artist.

A full list of the music and songs featured in the pyromusical soundtrack — in the order they were played — and a full fireworks show video in 4K high quality can be found near the end of this article.

Summer Lights gave Vancouver a one-night reminder of what has made the Celebration of Light such an extremely popular summer tradition for more than three decades. The strong turnout showed that the appetite for a major fireworks event at English Bay remains and has never gone down, while keeping attention on efforts to bring back the full three-night international fireworks competition in Summer 2027.

Whether that happens — or whether this proves to be the final summertime fireworks show at English Bay — will ultimately depend on organizers securing the corporate sponsorships and government funding needed to restore the long-running event to financial sustainability.

Relive the Vancouver civic pride-themed Summer Lights at English Bay fireworks in 4K

1. “Fire On The Mountain” (Vancouver 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremony)

2. “Aboriginal Welcome” (Vancouver 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremony)

3. “Bang The Drum” (Vancouver 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremony)

4. “Something’s Happening Here” (Expo ’86 theme song)

5. “Ordinary Miracle” (Vancouver 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremony)

6. “FIFA Sound (Vancouver Theme)” (FIFA World Cup 2026)

7. “Peaks of Endeavour” (Vancouver 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremony)

8. “The Olympic Flame” (Vancouver 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremony)

ADVERTISEMENT