Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is pushing to give the city a night of fireworks this summer after the iconic Celebration of Light Festival was cancelled indefinitely last year.

The Vancouver Fireworks Festival Society announced in November that it would be suspending the festival indefinitely as funding dried up. The Society said it lost nearly $450,000 in federal funding, and sponsors had been declining.

Now Mayor Sim is asking council to free up $2 million to put on a one-night only fireworks show this summer.

“We do believe that it is one of the iconic events in Vancouver,” he said, adding that with affordability challenges, it would be nice to give Vancouverites a family-friendly and free event.

“What better way to celebrate our city than putting on fireworks.”

The last of Vancouver’s fireworks shows have left the city dark. The last time fireworks were on display above Canada Place was before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The City of Vancouver has never pulled its funding, so we’re going to augment it just to bridge that gap,” Sim said. The approximately $2 million price tag includes $1.4 million that had previously been allocated to the Celebration of Lights plus an additional $600,000.

The motion is set to come before the Standing Committee on City Finance and Services Wednesday and if passed, the city will look towards securing partnerships and private sponsors.

– With files from Srushti Gangdev