France wows crowd at Celebration of Light; VPD has ‘uneventful’ night

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Hundreds of thousands of people packed English Bay and other Vancouver beaches to watch the second night of the Celebration of Light. The show put on by France was a crowd pleaser.

Many spectators used words like spectacular, fun and energetic to describe the 25 minute set. It kicked off with pop music but the tunes turned bilingual pretty quickly with many French songs sprinkled throughout the show.

Most of the spectators liked what France had to offer musically as well visually. “There were some really unique, intricate designs that they didn’t normally have before, or I haven’t seen before. I just thought some of the fireworks were different.” says Cheryl.

“I like the way they choreographed the music to the fireworks,” added Ken from Iowa.

Along with clapping and cheers, some were chanting “Vive la France!” in between breaks during the show. Some folks say they don’t just come to the event every year because of the fireworks but they make the trek through the large crowd because of the atmosphere. “I just love the music, and the brightness of the fireworks. It was fantastic! It was great to see so many people come, and for Vancouver not to be the ‘no fun city’,” explains Anna.

Some say they liked this display more than last Saturday’s show by the US. There’s still one more to go with Japan on deck this Saturday.

It was a quiet event for Vancouver Police. Constable Brian Montague says it was an “uneventful” night which is a good thing, when it comes to keeping people safe. He says there were only a handful of folks arrested for being drunk and causing trouble.

“It was pretty similar to Saturday. When we look at a crowd this large, we’re bound to get a few individuals we’re going to have to deal, but they were dealt with very quickly and we didn’t have any issues.”

“The top three things we’re seeing, still, are liquor pour-outs… we get a few complaints about individuals smoking on the beach… we dealt with a few people urinating in doors and alleyways,” adds Montague.

But both say things could change when Japan wraps up the Celebration of Light. It will be on a Saturday night during a long weekend the evening before the Pride Parade.

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