{"id":441456,"date":"2026-05-14T14:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T14:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/441456\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T14:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T14:29:10","slug":"byron-says-bye-bye-to-canada-day-fireworks-how-rising-costs-impact-london-celebrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/441456\/","title":{"rendered":"Byron says bye-bye to Canada Day fireworks. How rising costs impact London celebrations"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Byron resident Linsday Clark was growing up in the \u201880s and \u201890s, she always attended Canada Day celebrations at the Byron Optimist Sports Complex to see the fireworks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She passed that tradition onto her two teenage sons, who now head to the park with their friends every July 1, while Clark watches the fireworks from her backyard.<\/p>\n

But this year will be different after the Optimist Club of Byron, which organizes the Canada Day event, announced there will be no fireworks show.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been there and to not have that doesn\u2019t feel real or right,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n

Former Optimist Club of Byron president and Canada Day chairperson, Richard Hooper, said rising costs and decreasing donations are the reason for the change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people are going to be very disappointed and I\u2019m sorry that\u2019s going to happen,\u201d said Hooper, who has been involved with the club since the \u201880s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ARichard Hooper is the former Optimist Club of Byron president and the club’s Canada Day chairperson. He says his usual $25,000 Canada Day event budget is only $6,000 this year. (Kendra Seguin\/CBC News)<\/p>\n

Canada Day at the park typically costs about $25,000 with $14,000 going towards a half-hour fireworks display, Hooper said. This year, his entire event budget is $6,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cFunds have dropped considerably and everything else just seems to go up,\u201d he said. \u201cTo be proper in thinking about what we have to do for the upcoming years, it was decided that we had to drop the fireworks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hooper said another reason the Canada Day budget is so small is that the Optimist Club needs to consider its total funds each year and how to distribute the money amongst all of its initiatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the monies that we have, we support and maintain other functions throughout the city such as community support and children\u2019s activities, so for one night without fireworks, the community is still going to benefit,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AA crowd waits for fireworks at the Byron Optimist Sports Complex on Canada Day. (Submitted by Sabrina Melody)<\/p>\n

Canada Day has been happening at the park for more than 40 years, Hooper said, and last year about 7,000 people attended.<\/p>\n

While there won\u2019t be fireworks in 2026, Canada Day will still happen at the park. Hooper said organizers are in the process of planning a family-friendly daytime event instead.<\/p>\n

Other celebrations struggling<\/p>\n

At the south end of the city, the organizer of another Canada Day celebration says he\u2019s worried that his event could have the same fate as Byron sooner than later.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year we\u2019re worried that we\u2019re not going to be able to raise enough money to put on the event,\u201d said South London Canada Day organizer and Community Council White Oaks president Chris Ewer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It costs about $10,000 for an 18-minute fireworks show at White Oaks Park, Ewer said, plus additional costs for renting the space, event insurance and additional supplies.<\/p>\n

Ewer said costs have risen for the latter two items and it\u2019s become increasingly difficult to find event sponsors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"FireworksSouth London Canada Day organizer Chris Ewer says the Canada Day fireworks show at White Oaks Park is getting more challenging to fund every year. (Submitted by Chris Ewer)<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year was very tough. The city stepped up to help us a bit and we have some fundraisers that we do during the day, which basically made us pretty much break even,\u201d he said, pointing to selling cotton candy and snow cones at the park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEven this year, we\u2019re confident that we\u2019re going to pull it together, but as of right now, we haven\u2019t raised enough money to put on the event,\u201d Ewer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to donations, both Ewer and Hooper said that more volunteers will help keep their neighbourhood\u2019s Canada Day activities afloat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to reply on your community,\u201d Ewer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Byron residents look elsewhere<\/p>\n

With no Byron fireworks, Clark is rethinking her Canada Day tradition this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll probably go somewhere else for fireworks, which is really sad,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jeff Melody has been watching the Byron fireworks nearly every year since he moved to the neighbourhood 17 years ago, either at the park or from his neighbour\u2019s yard. This year, he said that he\u2019ll also need to find something new to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll probably walk over to the park and see what\u2019s going on during the daytime, then we may see if there\u2019s another fireworks event around town that we can go to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The City of London confirmed it will be hosting its Canada Day fireworks at Harris Park on July 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The East London Optimists Club and Argyle BIA will launch fireworks from Kiwanis Park on Canada Day, while the Summerside Community Club will host fireworks at Meadowgate Park on June 28.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Richard said that he hopes Byron residents still come out to support their neighbourhood event this summer, and may even get inspired to help bring the fireworks back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the community will get to the point where they will understand that more is needed, whether it be through donations or through volunteering,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the community will get together and we will provide fireworks again another year.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Byron resident Linsday Clark was growing up in the \u201880s and \u201890s, she always attended Canada Day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-441456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}