Two eastern Ontario communities will be featuring drone shows, an increasingly popular alternative to traditional fireworks, in their Canada Day celebrations this year. With July 1 just around the corner, the communities of Manotick and Eganville are trying something different and going with Drone displays for their Canada Day celebrations. “We already have fireworks in Barrhaven. We have fireworks in Osgoode. Just have something different. We love that. It is pet friendly. It’s environmentally friendly. It’s kid friendly,” said Catherine Seaman, the director of events with the Manotick Village and Community Association. “It’s the first time in the County of Renfrew that it’s been done on Canada Day. We thought, ‘why not try it and see if people try it the same way they drive our fireworks show?’” Jennifer Murphy, the Mayor of Bonnechere Valley, said. “Our pet owners are going to be very happy.” Capital Drone Show, an Ottawa-based company, designs drone shows within the city. “Everything is pre-designed on the computer in a 3D software. We get up 200, 300, 400 or 500 drones — that’s when you can start doing more 3D shapes even. Then on the show day, we essentially set up the drones on the ground, in the configuration, that we have them set for the design,” Ben Favrin, co-founder of Capital Drone Show, said. Each drone has its own distinct path but they work as a unit to create images. “From the ground station, we transmit a signal to tell them essentially where they are in space and then they go and do the show like that,” said Favrin. Favrin says a lot of people inquire about the drone alternative instead of fireworks because of fire bans, concerns about noise and safety complaints and drones being environmentally friendly. “We use the same drones for every flight. It’s just a matter of charging up batteries. There’s no debris created by the shows or anything like that. It’s all reusable,” Favrin said.
