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Cancelled drone show could cost Victoria taxpayers $25,000

Posted on by angelo

The first drone light show planned for Canada Day celebrations in Victoria was cancelled at the last minute due to high winds.

Several drones were spotted at Laurel Point, ready to take off for the celebrations, but organizers pulled the plug at the last minute without warning the public.

Organizers said the weather was favorable all day, giving them confidence the show could go ahead as planned.

Watch the report below:

Jeff Day, Victoria’s cultural planner, says it’s difficult to say at this point how the city will recoup its costs of hosting the drone show.

“Our production company has cancellation clauses with our suppliers, and it’s too early to say exactly how much we’re going to deploy them at the last minute,” Day said Tuesday.

“But we’ll definitely have discussions with our production company to see what we can do to maybe do this again next year or at some other time in the future.”

The $25,000 cost of the drone show is part of the $350,000 donated to Rifflandia Entertainment Co. to stage the event.

At its peak, the City of Victoria said nearly 50,000 people enjoyed Canada Day celebrations downtown.

John Treleaven, president of the Grumpy Taxpayers of Greater Victoria, hopes the money won’t go to waste.

“All municipal governments must respect taxpayer dollars,” Treleaven said.

“Yes, it’s a shame there were 50 km/h winds… but it was a commendable effort to try it, and I hope they can work out an arrangement with the company to have another night in Victoria with this show.”

Many municipalities are considering replacing fireworks with drone shows and other celebration alternatives as they work to address public concerns such as noise pollution, wildfire season risks, wildlife distribution and overall costs.

City Councilman Chris Coleman told CHEK News he has several alternative ideas that could work in place of fireworks or drone shows.

“Light and sound shows, where you bounce laser images off buildings, you use different types of interactive music, maybe you put rings in the inner harbor and turn them into temporary fountains with light,” Coleman said.

The City of Victoria has not confirmed whether it will cover the costs of the drone show or whether a later date will be set for the show.

Despite the cancellation of the drone flight, the planned fireworks display lit up the sky over the inner harbor.

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