PHOTOS: 250-drone rodeo show lights up Surrey sky
Published 2:00 pm Friday, May 22, 2026
A drone show impressed crowds at this year’s Cloverdale Rodeo & Country Fair on the May long weekend.
High above Longhorn Saloon, Pixel Sky Animations used 250 computer-programmed drones to light up the sky with rodeo-themed graphics and words on two nights (Friday and Sunday, May 15 and 17).
Many of the coloured images, including a saddle bronc rider and mutton-busting kid, moved to the beat of a music soundtrack created for the Vancouver-based company’s 15-minute show. A masked wrestler even “talked” to the audience.
“The rodeo was the first time we did the Surrey logo but not the first time we’ve flown in Surrey,” reported Jean-Michel Dentinger, president of Pixel Sky Animations.
“There was a Diwali show we did at one of the Hindu centres — that was a free public show too, I suppose.”
Business has grown since the company’s big Grey Cup show at Vancouver’s Coal Habour in 2024.
“The drone show industry in Canada is pretty young,” Dentinger noted. “We’ve been flying shows since 2023. I think the first drone shows would have been in 2017, the first drone light show in Canada, at the PNE by the University of Toronto. That was kind of the infancy of the technology.… Now I’d say we’re the leaders in the country, the biggest in Canada.”
Boasting a fleet of close to 900 drones, Pixel Sky works with clients to create thematic shows that typically cost between $20,000 and $80,000, according to Dentinger.
An average show sees around 250 drones fly in the night sky.
“Early on in drone shows, they were all kind of measured in how many drones are in the design,” he said. “You would think that, like, a bigger show would just be better, but what we’re finding is that the design quality and the strategy of designing the shows with less drones is actually more important than how many you have flying.”
Locally, look for Pixel Sky drone shows at Grouse Mountain this summer, at Chilliwack’s Canada Day event and also during FIFA World Cup festivities.
To see video of the Cloverdale Rodeo drone show, visit Vancouver Page on Facebook.
“It’s definitely gaining in popularity,” Dentinger said. “I think that a lot of people are still not aware of what a drone show is.… We definitely notice that every time we fly in a city for the first time, a lot of people call us to see what’s up. Steadily it’s been ramping up kind of exponentially.”