Canada Day!

As Rick the Mountie from South Park says, "Ahoy travelers!" Some of you likely have been here before. Some of you may be new here on HBIC. Regardless of whether you've been here before or not, today is a holiday in the Great White North as we celebrate our country's anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 1867. Officially, it was one major step in becoming an independent country rather than being similar to Independence Day in the US, but it's a major day in the country's history nonetheless. As such, this writer is taking the statutory holiday that this day offers as HBIC is closed for the day in terms of adding information into the webscape.

There are a few things that seem to happen on this day, and one of those things includes displays of fireworks. I get that there are a lot of reason why people like seeing fireworks, but there are a vast number of provinces and regions this year that are under fire restrictions because of how dry the environment is which could lead to wildfires if any spark or ember lands on one of those dry patches of land. Clearly, having wildfires start from fireworks displays is not what a lot of cities and towns want.

Some of the more interesting ideas people have introduced to replace fireworks are drone displays which, I must admit, are pretty darn cool. Here's an example of what they look like in the sky.

I'm not one to push Intel or anything, but the fact that drones are able to tell full stories means that fireworks displays might be the old way of celebrating holidays when fully-animated displays can be told with drones.

I mentioned this because Winnipeg is under one of those fire-restriction bans, and it appears we'll have our first look at a drone display over The Forks in downtown Winnipeg because of the ban this summer. The show that will take place tonight is called Acakos ("ah-cha-kos"), which means "star" in Ininimowin, and its design was inspired by traditional teachings by Opaskwayak Cree Nation astronomer Wilfred Buck. Clare MacKay, the chief communities officer with The Forks North Portage Partnership, stated that 100 drones will fly at a height of more than 120 metres and will be visible across the downtown area.

"It's like 100 colourful, choreographed lights that form shapes in a way that fireworks don't do. It's almost like it's a moving story," she told guest host Laurie Hoogstraten during a Wednesday interview with CBC Radio's Up to Speed.

I'm hoping it's an awesome display of technology while telling a timeless story from our Indigenous neighbours as Canada Day in Winnipeg takes a new look at what a celebratory display of lights in the sky looks like. Frankly, it seems like the options for these drone displays might be limitless with enough drones and lights, so this could be an amazing way to celebrate Canada Day today and in the future!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!