In a ritual that's become as familiar as fireworks blooming over English Bay, the organizers of Vancouver's annual pyrotechnic extravaganza are scrambling for funds to pay for the show.
A past organizer of the event says the non-profit Vancouver Fireworks Festival Society is $350,000 short of the amount required to put on the yearly spectacle, which is tentatively scheduled for four nights in the middle of summer.
"It's not top secret that they've been short for the past few years," Raymond Greenwood said Monday, adding that he hopes a citizen or corporation will come forward to rescue the event.
It wouldn't be the first time. The event was close to being cancelled last year when Keg Restaurants Ltd. and Shore 104.3 FM stepped forward with an undisclosed contribution that kept other sponsors on board and allowed the show to be held.
Representatives for the Vancouver Fireworks Festival Society were not immediately available to comment. Mr. Greenwood said the society contacted him last fall to ask for his help in finding potential sponsors, but emphasized that he was speaking on his own behalf, not as a representative of the society.
Mr. Greenwood, who calls himself "Mr. Fireworks," helped bring the extravaganza to the city in 1990 and ran it for the next 11 years when it was sponsored by tobacco company Benson & Hedges and known as the "Benson & Hedges Symphony of Fire."
When the federal government clamped down on tobacco sponsorship in 2000, Benson & Hedges cancelled its backing.
HSBC Bank Canada, BC Hydro and the City of Vancouver chipped in to save the event - now known as the HSBC Celebration of Light - in 2001. Each year since, organizers have struggled to come up with the roughly $4-million in cash and donations required to produce the show.
The city since 2001 has allotted about $800,000 a year for associated costs such as policing, traffic closings and garbage collection, but can't afford to increase its contribution, Councillor Raymond Louie said Monday.
"We're not in a position to meet that kind of shortfall," Mr. Louie said.
The event features teams from different countries setting off spectacular displays from a barge in English Bay to accompanying music.
The show typically attracts more than 500,000 people each night and generates millions in spending on restaurants and accommodations. Last year's sponsors included Vancouver-based pharmacy chain London Drugs and real-estate company Concord Pacific. London Drugs plans to continue its sponsorship this year, a spokeswoman said.
The city hopes festival organizers will find the financial help they need, Mr. Louie said. "It is a very popular event. Because it is a free family event, that lets people come out and enjoy something that is quite spectacular and isn't replicated anywhere near Vancouver."