And if the 76 trombones led the big parade from The Music Man started going through your mind, then you're old like me, but at least you know where my head is this morning.
So yes, the fireworks festival opened with a drone show. I'd never seen such a thing, and had no idea what to expect. The same night there was a lovely partial eclipse of the moon. This was after we got home.
So the drones. Forgive the iPhone working on focus a few times. Too big to embed, so here's the YouTube link. The entire time I was wondering how they programmed the drones to fly in ever changing formations, complete with different light colours to make surprisingly detailed images. A rotating globe is just one example. There was music to go with this, but YouTube made me delete at least some of it.
As the drone show ended, the fireworks began. Again, I was wondering about the 3D space between the drones and exploding fireworks and if any got shot down.
We've gone to 2 of the fireworks nights. Japan first, and it was ok. Mexico was last night and it was superb! The venue moved from Elliston Park in the NE, to Spruce Meadows in the deep SW. This is actually only about 10K by bike from our place, and the new ring road connects us so it takes only a few minutes to drive there. That's under normal conditions.
Parking is a gong show. There are a bazillion people trying to get in essentially one entrance, spread over several hours. We went about 7pm the first night, and it was backed up onto James Mckevitt Rd, and the exit ramp off Stoney Trail. It took about a half hour at an arthritic snail's pace from the ramp, to get parked. The second night we went about 6pm, and got inside the gates before running into traffic. It was only a few minutes to get parked. Getting out both nights was brutal. Those same bazillion people are trying to leave all at the same time. Last night was 40 minutes to get out of Spruce Meadows, and then less than 10 minutes to our driveway. Yes, there are traffic control people waving their lighted wands trying bring some order to the production, but I think the main goal is to try to prevent anyone from getting run over as they look for their car. It was about 1.5 Km walk from the car to where we wanted to watch the show.
We think there's lots more stuff to look at than previous versions at Elliston. Lots of food trucks, the cultural pavilions, a car show, a night market with some pretty good looking stuff. There's even a music performance after the fireworks. I think the idea is to give people a reason to stick around for a little while and spread out the exit. We might try that tonight.
The big surprise of the night was to hear someone calling my name. We worked together 20 years ago. She recognized the moustache. At least a couple of my readers will remember her. Looking forward to meeting up for a coffee.
Of the Day
Driftwood (NZ)
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Linda
Newfoundland
New Brunswick
Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did
90 days, or so ago
Flower
Landscape
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