Thunder Bay plans summer drone light shows

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 08, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

People successful Thunder Bay volition person a caller amusement to look guardant to astatine the Live connected the Waterfront festival this year: drone airy shows.

The Thunder Bay Airport Authority announced Monday that it's partnering with the City of Thunder Bay to enactment on drone airy shows during the summertime send-off events astatine Marina Park connected August 27 and 28.

Over 400 drones with synchronized euphony and lights volition travel unneurotic to make moving images successful the sky, said Karen Kadolph, the City's peculiar events developer.

"I'm truly excited for this accidental for the full community. This is thing that has ne'er happened successful Northwestern Ontario. So this is thing that's truly unique, truly different," she said.

While determination are a batch of logistics progressive successful getting the amusement disconnected the ground, Kadolph said she thinks it'll beryllium worthy the effort. 

While the City has antecedently done summertime fireworks shows, Kadolph said determination wasn't capable country successful the fund for fireworks past year. When the airdrome came guardant to connection fiscal enactment for the drone show, Kadolph said the City jumped connected the opportunity. 

"The truly large quality is there's a spot much of a storytelling constituent alternatively of fireworks. So with the drones, you get to curate the images, however they determination done the sky, what comes next. There tin beryllium euphony to them, determination tin beryllium narration. So it's a precise antithetic show," said Kadolph.

The amusement is the airport's mode of giving backmost to the assemblage and being a "good firm citizen," said Thunder Bay International Airport Authority President and CEO Graham Ingham.

"We privation to bash unsocial things people are funny in. There's ever fireworks, but fireworks are fireworks. And, you know, they're a spot of aged and bushed these days." said Ingham. 

Ingham said they chose drones specifically due to the fact that they're aviation-related and due to the fact that it's thing that hasn't been done locally yet.

"We thought, hey, what a large accidental to bash thing a small different, small innovative for Thunder Bay," said Ingham. 

Ingham said the airdrome is moving with a institution called Drone Show Canada to program the event. 

"They're 100% Canadian and they've got rather a spot of experience. They've done a fig of shows in a fig of antithetic provinces and cities, ample and small, and the feedback is really, truly positive."

The drone airy shows volition instrumentality spot August 27 and 28 astatine Marina Park successful Thunder Bay. There volition beryllium antithetic shows some nights. It is escaped to attend.