Global Fest - Fireworks Festival

Fireworks Festival

The International Fireworks Festival is held at Elliston Park in Southeast Calgary and is presented by Trico Homes. Each night of the festival showcases a different nation. Participants attend by invitation of the organizers. Pyrotechnic displays take place over Elliston Park and are synchronized to music. Thus, these choreographed pyrotechnical arrangements are referred to as 'pyro-musicals'.

In 2009 the organizers introduced a variety of artistic requirements that all fireworks designers must incorporate into their designs. In past years the fireworks were presented in the style of a competition with a competitor being limited to winning two years in a row before a mandatory year-long break would be implemented. As of 2009, the pyro-musical presentations have been presented in a festival process rather than as a competition. This new process has been introduced to better meet artistic and funding criteria set forward by various backing partners as well as to help better fulfill GlobalFest's mandate of promoting cultural diversity.

Over the years several countries have participated in the pyro-musical aspect of GlobalFest: Canada, USA, Mexico, India, South Africa, Germany, Portugal, Hong Kong, China, Spain, Italy and Japan.

New artistic requirements included a compulsory piece of music that must be incorporated by each competitor and a 25% minimum of each competitor's music that must be native to the representing country. This was done to challenge the designers, provide a better pyro-musical experience to the audience, and better meet the mandate of GlobalFest as a Multi-Cultural Festival.

GlobalFest 2012 featured the following countries:

• August 16, 2012 - Philippines (Returning Nation)
• August 18, 2012 - Mexico
• August 20, 2012 - China (Returning Nation)
• August 22, 2012 - Brazil
• August 24, 2012 - USA
• August 26, 2012 - GlobalFest Finale

The winner of the 2012 pyro-musical fireworks competition was the USA