In May, one of our European dealers, Stephan Stotz, along with Allan Madsen and Mahd Fireworks participated in the annual Sternencup, or StarsCup. StarsCup is a German fireworks competition hosted by SternenGalerie. Every year pyrotechnicians from SternenGalerie form into 5 small teams of 6 to 8 people each to create a 5 minute pyromusical. Each team is given the same budget and timeframe to design the show. Teams compete for both the Jury Award, and the Audience Choice Award. this year the Jurys Award was won by Team Dänemark!

Sternengalerie is one of the biggest wedding fireworks companies in Europe, with over 400 weddings shot each year. Most of these events take place in Germany, but they also shoot in France, Austria, Switzerland, and Denmark. Around 70% of these shows are shot using COBRA!

We were also lucky enough to have Allan Madsen from Mahd Fireworks send us another video of a show they put on in Bohmte, Germany for Götter Dämmerung. Götter Dämmerung is an event held annually in Germany, hosted by Explosive Arts. Each year they invite a display company from another country to perform with them. This year they chose Allan Madsen and Mahd Fireworks and boy they did not disappoint!

We wanted to take a moment to highlight some incredible shows by one of our longstanding clients, El Volcan. El Volcan designs and puts on many shows across Mexico and Latin America. Their shows often feature large, elaborate set pieces, tightly timed ground effects, unique parabolic comets, and exquisite layering.

The first video is a short pyro musical set to, "Bohemian Rhapsody". This is a 360 video!

The second video contains a few excerpts from a show put on in Jocotepec Jalisco. Check out the set pieces!

The third video really showcases El Volcans beautiful comet work and layering.

The fourth video includes some really neat chases.

Red Bull Crashed Ice is a world tour of a winter extreme sporting event, ice cross downhill, which involves downhill skating in an urban environment on a track with steep turns and high vertical drops. It is similar to ski cross and snowboard cross, except with ice skates on an ice track.

This year Rick Simpson, of Aerial Fireworks, was given the opportunity to provide the pyrotechnics for the event.

Rick used 9 18Ms and an 18R2 to fire this event, which was split into 4 segments. There was a kick off, final four contestant introductions, finish line award presentation, and a 4 minute designed finale display. The 4 minute display was fully scripted, while the other events were step fired manually.

We reached out to Rick to share his thoughts on the event, this is what he had to say:

What an amazing event! Aerial Fireworks got the opportunity to provide the pyro and fireworks for the Red Bull Crashed Ice 2018 World Championships. I am so proud of our amazing crews and volunteers who made this possible with 3 days notice. We have the best in the business!

Cobra has definitely become our system of choice, we have also recently added numerous 18R2, 36Ms, 18Ms, and audio boxes to give us 5 systems capable of shooting over 1000 cues. Thank you to Scott Smith and all the gang at Cobra. As a fireworks company shooting over 100 shows per year, we rely heavily on our firing systems and chose Cobra to replace our existing Pyrosure, Firelinx, FireOne and Pyromate systems for their reliability, durability, and simplicity. We have fired numerous shows in minus 39 degrees celsius (-36 F) and are pleased to report 100 % firing results.

The National Pyrotechnic Festival, which takes place in  Tultepec, Mexico, is an annual event to promote the country's tradition of production and use of fireworks.  The main event, a parade of "toritos" or bull-shaped frames with fireworks on them, began in the mid 19th century. The modern national festival began in 1989 and includes various events including fireworks competitions, but the main event remains that of the toritos, with about 250 "running" along the streets of Tultepec in 2013. The National Pyrotechnic Festival lasts for seven days and attracts more than 100,000 visitors to the area.

There are three main events along with amusement rides, concerts, dancing, and regional food. These events are split between the town center of Tultepec and the fairgrounds in the San Antonio Xahuento neighborhood

The first of the main events is a contest of "castillos". Castillos are frames made of wood, reed and paper to which various fireworks are affixed. These fireworks are set off to make images and/or parts of the castillo structure move. The castillos created for this event measure between twenty five and thirty meters, requiring about fifteen days to build. When set off, they take between twenty and thirty minutes to go through all of their features

The second, oldest and most important event is the "pamplonada." Named after the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, these "little bulls" or "toritos" are also fireworks frames. These frames are made of wood, reed, and paper mache. They can measure anywhere from 20 inches to over 10 feet in height. The larger toritos are made by groups of thirty to forty people because of the cost and can have as many as 4,000 fireworks on them The toritos are giving names such as El Chico, Sagitario Toro Maya and Monster. In the 2013 event, over 250 of these toritos were registered to participate. The toritos are paraded on March 8, in honor of John of God, the patron saint of fireworks makers. The toritos proceeds over the various streets of Tultepec, setting off their fireworks for five to six hours until they arrive to the main plaza of the town.

The last of the major event is also a contest. This contest involves performances that combine fireworks and music. El Volcan, competes in this competition every year, and has won several times.

The British Firework Championships is an annual competition held since 1997 in Plymouth, England, every August, where judges review fireworks displays from professional fireworks companies and select the best examples.The competition rules place restrictions on budget, duration and amount of product that can be used for each display. It is watched by more than 200,000 people.

This year, for the second time, the winner was Selstar Fireworks with a phenomenal show. Congrats Selstar!

Founded in 1987 by John Bechtold, Spirit of ’76 fireworks is one of the premier fireworks wholesalers in the United States. With two warehouses located in Missouri and Pennsylvania, they ship effects as small as sparkers, and as large as 500 gram cakes, to all 48 contiguous states.

Not only does Spirit excel at pyrotechnic distribution, they also have an incredibly talented team of shooters that put on amazing shows. We were lucky enough to be at PGI this year to not only offer on-site assistance, but also sit back and enjoy the flawlessy fired show!

Pyromania is the biggest fireworks display in the Midwest. Occurring every fall, the display, or series of displays, sometimes as many as 10, take place over a 2 hour period. This is one of the few large pyrotechnic competitions in the US that allows professional effects, shells up to 12”, and gasoline fireballs. Attendance is usually over 5,000.

This winner of the 2017 Pro Am Competition was Jeff Taylor and his crew from MoPyro. Jeff and his crew wired up 493 cues over 20 modules, and the show fired flawlessly. Congrats Jeff!

Set in the beautiful Victoria Park, the British Musical Fireworks Championship is a firework competition spread across three nights, in which seven competitors battle it out to be crowned the ultimate winner.

Over three nights, they had seven competitors each firing a 16 -18 minute display.  A panel of professional judges, who collectively have designed shows for high profile stars such as; Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner and Queen, will judge each display before announcing the winner on the final evening.

This year, seven previous winners went head to head to be crowned the ultimate 'Champion of Champions'. Sirotechnics Fireworks took the ultimate crown with their stunning display and creative lancework, including a zombie during a Michael Jackson song. Congrats Sirotechnics!