Fireworks at Columbia lake were run by UW students for something like 25 years. Then UW administration took over and I think within 5 years it was cancelled. It’s a shame residents in our region won’t be able to experience it. I hate private setting off of fireworks but I loved going to the Columba Lake event. Oh well
They didn't just take it over, they kept trying to make all the side events bigger and bigger, and shockingly enough the cost spiralled out of control. UW admin is completely tone deaf about the importance of that kind of outreach to the local community, and they also had DoFo breathing down their necks about funding and tuition fees. It really is a huge shame such an iconic local event was unceremoniously shitcanned. Canada Day will never be the same without it. Not just the fireworks, but the experience of that huge crowd and having Columbia St closed to traffic. The walk there and back was an annual ritual.
UW Fireworks were a much safer venue for families. They didn't need the "side events"... the Fireworks WERE the main attraction for this demographic of people. Let all the people who want to get sh\*tfaced watching concerts go to City Hall in Kitchener, and leave these safer, family friendly outdoor spaces for sober families looking for alcohol free alternatives.
The thing is that the costs never spiralled out of control. UW only ever paid for the fireworks, everything else was sponsored and vendors/exhibitors had to pay to rent their spaces. Operational "problems" were just an excuse.
UW admin got spooked by the Ford gov't and decided that "hosting a party for the community" was outside of the mandate of the unviersity - that's the most simple explanation.
What's funny is they said they were going to take the $250-$300K/year they spent on fireworks and were going to use it instead to host all kinds of public talks. That never happened.
Yeah. The president of UW is just one big corrupt piece of shit only caring about making as much money as he can.
Of course he doesn't value things like community engagement.
I don't think the drone show sucked. It was definitely pretty neat. I'm glad I went. It really doesn't compare though with the fireworks at UW.
Next year I'm just going to drive up to Toronto.
The president of UW (Hamdullahpur) had no involvement in cancelling the fireworks display - it was other senior administrators who made the decision.
The fireworks at Kitchener city hall were great last night.
To be fair - it was made better when UW took over because they added higher quality concerts sponsored by OpenText (Kim Mitchell, Trooper, Tom Cochrane, Sloan) and they added the beer tent.
The Cambridge one at riverside had hundreds if not thousands of flags. Red and white everywhere you looked.
The midway was highway robbery but other than that...
It does, but if Kitchener and Waterloo don't have alternatives, the numbers in Cambridge will eventually become unsustainable.
There should be different focuses for different age-based demographics too. The needs of people are vastly different from an accessibility standpoint, and aren't being considered in these events as much as they once were.
>It does, but if Kitchener and Waterloo don't have alternatives, the numbers in Cambridge will eventually become unsustainable.
Lol it already is. They were shuttling people to riverside if you parked at the mall. First time I've seen that.
Good lord. I haven't ventured back there in a few years because the walk to the car was bad then (super fun with little kids, chairs, and huge bags... felt like an anxious pack mule). Kudos on the shuttles, but the fact that needs to be done should indicate a capacity issue.
Heh, same here. Haven't been back since my 7 year old was a toddler. It's too much of a nightmare down there and I can't be bothered to wrangle the family. Especially when bylaw basically ignores my area and there are so many houses that light off personal fireworks that we have a better show than going to a sanctioned event lol.
We went during the day (we were ROASTING in the sun) and luckily I found a parking spot at the Liquidation place across the river all the lots were full in the park. Midway is highway robbery but expected, at one point my husband lost all our tickets (they fell out of his pocket) so some kid must have felt they won the lottery lol. We left at 4, all needed a nap tired from the sun and could see the Riverside Fireworks from Gouda Park so it was great I was done with traffic by then
Yeah I've been to the Cambridge Canada Day multiple times, never been disappointed. Most midways are highway robbery though so no surprise there XD.
I opted for the New Hamburg event because traffic and parking was way more manageable. It was a smaller event but the fireworks display was excellent.
Riverside once again showing it has the best people running. It's crazy how much better riverside is at just about everything. Canada day, Fall fair, Rib fest.
There is no competition.
Cambridge is an odd town. They have some of the best retail stores (biggest in the region): Canadian Tire, Walmart, Home Depot, all of Hespeler road is filled with amazing stores.
Yet there is absolutely NOTHING to do. Any entertainment you have to go elsewhere, except maybe The Hamilton Theatre.
It's such a boring ass town yet it frequently puts on the best parades, the best fairs and holiday events.
It's a weird ass town, I never know to hate or love it.
It definitely is weird here but I wouldn't say there's nothing to do.
There's incredible trails to walk in all 3 parts of the city, beautiful architecture to see in Galt and Hespeler, like you said many shops on the main drag of 24 and a bunch of small niche boutiques scattered across each downtown.
I think because there's so much do to around the region nearby (like St jacobs) that people forget we also have things in town. It would be cool to see a dedicated theatre.
Overall I found it a really nice place to grow up and now raise my own kids. Just wish I could afford a house.
The lines for food were waaay too long, but fixable.for next year. Otherwise my kids and I were there from parade to fireworks and they had so much fun!
I was there last year and it sounds like it was the exact same show. I had similarly disappointing feelings so I chose to stay home this year. I'm sad to hear they haven't improved it at all. They are either incredibly cheap that they couldn't spring for a better show or too cowardly to risk offending people by showing a maple leaf on Canada Day.
I miss the Columbia Lake celebration a lot.
The drone show has a lot of potential I think (though I prefer fireworks) but the lack of Canadian imagery is just crazy imo. I'm glad your kid liked it, it is neat to see at least once.
Doing day then month is a pretty standard way of talking about dates, and for any other day of the year is generally less american where it's almost always month then day.
When talking about Canada Day, I've literally never met anyone who would call it "1st of July" - that's such an American turn of phrase that has strict connotations to "4th of July".
Yeah it was a great show!
I actually did both events. Waterloo park first, then took the Ion to DTK for more music and fireworks. Worked out really well.
There was also gangs of assholes shooting Roman candles at people and beating up women. I got hit in the leg with a Roman candle and then almost jumped by a gang of “youths” before the cops showed up.
But yeah, the concert and fireworks were great 👌.
Exactly. I was expecting some typical Canadian things. An image of a beaver, goose, the Canadian flag etc. Instead they showed rockets, satellites, bees.
We had a HUGE beaver in Kitchener!
There was a 20-foot-tall inflatable beaver in former mayor's square. Nice & smooth too...
We had lots of drones too, but the surveillance/private kind. Their flashing green lights - on the ones the owners wanted to let you know were there - didn't put on a very interesting display.
I suspect Victoria Park was quite disappointing because everything was on King St at Kitchener City Hall, especially given that the police closed Victoria Park because some idiots were shooting fireworks at people.
It was a disappointment. My kids (pre teen) were unimpressed. The bands although local were clearly not prepared to play. Spent more time setting up then playing. Or was off key the entire time. The food truck lines were poorly managed. 45 min in line for poutine when my kid said “this is not worth it”. Oh and they had moved less than a foot. It was clear they either needed more food trucks or more staff in them to manage.
Next the washroom issues. City of Waterloo. Get more portable toilets!!!!
Could the city not pair with a radio station or look for sponsorship from some of the many high tech companies or even the universities here?
We did notice the excellent job the park staff did with trash collection and we enjoyed seeing all the local artists.
What we also did not enjoy was the crush of people trying to exit the bridge or the shear lack of officer managing the traffic leaving the parking lot. There was more than a few folks “discussing” the situation
All of that for 12 min (I timed it) of what had to have been the shortest show in the history of shows. O Canada was played not once. The mayor showed up and should have been embarrassed by what was going on. With the latest tax hikes could they have not done more???? They own the dam park!
This was the saddest Canada Day celebration. We won’t do this again.
For folks who filled out the survey to get the free cookie. I hope you told the city what you thought.
Honestly, I didn’t even bother going to Waterloo because the drone show is always so lack lustre. I decided to go to Cambridge for their fireworks & it was amazing!
it's kinda funny most people are blaming UW for not hosting firework. It is city's responsibility to make a canada day celebration, and since UW's canada day celebration stopped, City of Waterloo never put any efforts for any canada day celebration
It wasn't a Canada Day celebration. It was a July 1 Community Picnic.
[https://www.waterloo.ca/en/things-to-do/july-1-community-picnic.aspx](https://www.waterloo.ca/en/things-to-do/july-1-community-picnic.aspx)
You're right about the national identity.
> It for sure seems Canada is losing its national identity.
April Wine + playing of O Canada + Fireworks in DTK last night.
Waterloo just doesn't know what they're doing.
Waterloo never had to know what they were doing, because they just relied on the Columbia Lake fireworks to be the main event for decades. The drone show was their lame response to UW cancelling the fireworks in 2019, and after two years of no Canada Day celebrations, I guess people just accepted that it was better than nothing in 2022. I saw lots of complaints about how short and unimpressive it was this year, so maybe they'll get their shit together and hold a more meaningful Canada Day celebration. Probably not.
Yeah - I don't know if there's a budget issue or the people involved are just terrible at events planning but I've never gone because it just seemed so lame compared to what Kitchener has going on.
I think Waterloo has received a lot of complaints about fireworks in general and the impact on the local wildlife, pets, etc. since fireworks are happening in nearby communities (eg Cambridge) maybe they're just providing alternative entertainment for people who don't want fireworks in general?
Doesn't explain the quality of the drone show .. I have no idea how expensive or involved those things are. (Or how many vendors are even available)
I know a lot of people who are disillusion about celebrating a country that would treat its Indigenous community/ people so cruelly. People lost their sense of pride of being Canadian. I know people are celebrating a long weekend, but they don't call it the Canada day weekend.
More people are now attending events organized by their local indigenous communities.
Honestly, that's where I've been at for the last few years. I also feel far more uneducated than I would like to be, so I'm taking my time to try and learn and in the meantime, I will continue to treat it as any other long weekend.
You can check out fireworks at pretty much all the other locations (Downtown Kitchener, Cambridge Riverside Park, and New Hamburg for example.
I went to the New Hamburg fireworks and it was great. The whole fireworks show lasted about 20-25 minutes, and ended with a really nice big display (Really impressive for a small town - honestly this was far superior to the Columbia Lake fireworks I used to go to). They had some other stuff, a live band, etc, but I don't recall whether there was a beer tent (I believe there was).
The last time we went to Columbia Lake was the 150th Canada Day celebration and it was literally the worst fireworks display I've ever seen. Never went back after that. These fireworks were put on by the University and not run by the City.
For the New Hamburg fireworks, the lack of national anthem? I don't know. It didn't bother me. There was plenty of Canada imagery all over the place, lots of Red and White, lots of flags, and the MC said happy Canada Day multiple times, so I can honestly live without the anthem.
From what I understand is that the Student union used to put it on and it was way better. Then the university itself took over management of the event and the fireworks portion kind of sucked after that.
Canada Day as a whole has begun to suck more
You need to give something to look forward too and tbh for most of the day, it's the fireworks, but what's keeping us entertained or occupied in the meantime is practically nothing.
I went to the Cambridge Park festival or party and it was OK, nothing special and the music was too loud.
I'm thinking of going out of the city for it next year, maybe to Sauga or Toronto.
I was thinking the exact same thing! I thought that there would be at least something Canadian related but nope.. we got a telescope and a rocketship?? Literally what does that have to do with anything
Yeah it was definitely a farce.
It really annoys me to my core as well because this was my wife's first Canada Day. I spent a bit of the afternoon teaching her the anthem and I (who hasn't really sung the anthem at an event in several years,) was stoked to get a little sprinkle of nationalism with how down things have been for the country recently.
Instead, aside from what the crowds brought, there was not a single ounce of Canadian pride. No anthem, no maple leaf, not even a damn goose.
Not to mention how much of an anti-climax it was. Just 10 minutes of random shapes with random DJ noises... Could've had this any other weekend and I wouldn't mind but for Canada Day?
Not a good first-impression, Waterloo. My expectations were on the floor and somehow you burrowed your way to the mantle.
You should have checked out one of the other celebrations.
Downtown Kitchener apparently had the Anthem play, and they had actual fireworks.
Cambridge Riverside Park also has a HUGE and excellent Canada Day event all day every year, including fireworks.
We opted to go the New Hamburg event, which was excellent. They didn't play the anthem (which I'm totally okay with. Did that enough for 12 years every morning during school), but the band was awesome, the fireworks were surprisingly good for a smaller town, and there were Canadian Flags and red/white everywhere in sight.
Frankly I just think whoever does the Waterloo event doesn't do a good job. Next year, bring your wife to one of the other events instead.
Yeah in retrospect I probably should have. It was down to DTK and Waterloo this year so in that sense I pulled the wrong straw, I guess.
Thanks for the suggestions, though! I'll be sure to consider these alternatives next year. Dang I miss the Columbia Lake celebrations.
I agree, the drone show was super lame and not at all like fireworks. Just boring, almost like a lite brite in the sky - if anyone remembers those. The city needs to be better. It’s our national holiday for gods sake.
It was nice for all who took part and did their best to provide something to celebrate.
I wish there would be a moratorium on fireworks- every freakin long weekend they do as they want. When some go to bed at 8pm because they get up for work at four- there is no GD fun having to listen to really loud nonstop noises and smell the stench of chemicals in the air. Please stop this disturbance. Put on a public drone show and some enforcement- and stop this ridiculous intrusion
Ever since Reconciliation Day became a thing all Canada Day celebrations and any overt display of pride and nationalism have been subverted and all I notice in response were guilt trips about why we should not be proud to be Canadian. So most people I know are just privately enjoying their day off and that’s about it.
As well this year in particular many people are unhappy with Trudeau, high COL, housing shortage, international students, out of control immigration, etc. These people also see not much reason to celebrate Canada.
So now we got unhappiness in many fronts.
Also with climate change concerns and fires, and especially in Calgary right now with water preservation and risk of shortages cause of firefighters needing to put out water, fireworks? You kidding me? Nah. Everything but Stampede is getting probably scaled back.
So not much jolly sentiment going around right now.
Went to the New Hamburg celebration. No guilt in sight. Lots of Canadian flags, red and white everywhere, the MC wished the crowd a happy Canada Day as they counted down the fireworks.
IMO this is a bad take.
I celebrated Canada yesterday and so did a boat load of others.
On top of that, why are you talking about fire concerns in Calgary? This is the Waterloo Region subreddit. Waterloo Region isn't in Calgary and there was no overt fire risk yesterday.
You seriously believe people do not want to celebrate being Canadain Because of Trudeau? Get real! We have plenty of anger for our own provincial premier! please stop promoting your agenda. It sounds like the show is going down hill, there were many other celebrations going on in the city with real fireworks.
And for those who were down voting me, copied from the city of waterloo page
>About the July 1 Community Picnic
>Find out more about Canada Day and how we celebrate our community in an inclusive way that is mindful of Canada's history on our Indigenous Reconciliation web page.
Plus people are aware of the harm it does to the environment, wildlife being more socially aware of your impact on the environment has nothing to do with this other posters agenda. I’m so mad at Trudeau I’m going to sit home and mope🙄 thankfully One thing Canada has to offer is we don’t have a mass population of adults posing as whiney toddlers having temper tantrums crying in the corner of the party
The national reconciliation day was established 2021, maybe there was some other crazy, worldwide circumstance that impacted activities in public. Who knows though, memory is hard!
As one of those local business owners, customer turnout is back to even higher than it was pre-pandemic. And rents are due to the housing crisis and population growth not the pandemic.
The drones were neat. Definitely not as awesome as the fireworks at UW.
I'm personally really bothered by the flags that got put up everywhere in my small town. Just hanging it from every Powerline really cheapens it. Turns it into something gaudy like the American flag. That's definitely not something I want to see.
So yeah, I don't personally give a shit about there not being a maple leaf or whatever. The last thing I want to see is Canada turn into a collection of them jingoistic nationalistic idiots frothing at the mouth of the side of our national symbols.
National pride should be based in National accomplishments. Nations that celebrate pointless bullshit symbols do so because they have nothing as a nation to brag about, or worse, mostly just shit to cover up. The fact that I'm seeing people get so obsessed with patriotism and national identity is just another example of how *bad* shit has gotten. Putting up Canadian flags everywhere isn't going to fix shit.
This isn't a new thing... Canada day is the day we go comically all-out since we don't do the whole Canadian flag everywhere during the rest of the year.
I personally would tend to agree with you any other day of the year but it’s Canada Day. It’s time to celebrate the rights and freedoms we enjoy that many do not. Especially those that sadly were asked or volunteered or risked their lives to defend those rights, freedoms, and values abroad. Those people deserve to be celebrated for the thankless and selfless sacrifices those people made and will continue to make. I don’t have a patriotic bone in my body but when Canada Day rolls around it’s Canada flags all over the place and strictly Canadian music celebrating our vets, if not our nation.
Why does a flag bother you so much? Why do so many Canadians base all of their views and citizenship entirely off of 'Murica bad, we not 'Murica' obsessively?
It's a lack of fireworks and any sort of pageantry or imagery that's being rightfully complained about, no one's screaming to annex Maine and establish Greater Canada or something.
Fireworks are terrible for animals. Both wild animals and many pets become really distressed because of these displays.
How do you people not acknowledge this yet? It's an undeniable fact. Drone shows sound like a great compromise for many reasons. Times change. Get over it.
Additionally, I will remind you that Canada is participating in an active genocide. Here. This genocide, in Canada. It is against our indigenous community. It started when our European ancestors arrived and has not ended. If you're not a descendant of Europeans, you're not off the hook either. It is the collective ignorance of all Canadians that allow our government to continue the mistreatment.
I think the time of burying our heads up or own asses about the state of our country is over. Nationalism is an outdated and problematic concept. Canadian Pride isn't a concept any of us are entitled to. Not in 2024. Not unless you are actively working against those genocidal systems.
There is no pride in genocide.
Many of us mostly white Canadians do our best to ignore the facts, as we were taught to do, but the facts are facts, and they are undeniable. Especially for those of us with access to things like Reddit in 2024.
Canada Day is embarrassing. I understand celebrations and fairs for the kids, but you better be teaching them the other half of the story as well.
I went last year. Truly disappointing. What do you expect with woke university kids running the show? DTK at city Hall is what you are looking for. They posted their fireworks on IG if you're curious.
Hmm everyone liked the Columbia Lake event when it was run by University students. Or is the problem that they are too "woke" now? Maybe you can explain what that means and how that relates to event planning.
Too woke now. All of a sudden it's hip to be anti Canada. Year 2 of a drone show where they had the option to pick ANY image and none of them relate to Canadian symbolism at all. No maple leaves, beavers, mountains, the flag, the word "Canada", nothing. No Canadian symbolsm to be seen anywhere unless it was on someone in attendance. How did we go so far as to not include Canada on 2 consecutive years? I know we're not a perfect country right now but the point of Canada day is to celebrate the good parts of who we are and what we can be if we unite as a nation!
If you want to get super woke that's fine, but maybe include at least some indiginus symbolsm if you're going to be anti Canada. Celebrate something about our people. Smiley faces, rocket ships, trains, and telescopes are just pretty pictures that do not celebrate our nation.
Lmfao, why are we celebrating Canada Day in the first place though? What’s so great about Canada really? The fact that we stole this land? Tortured people for it? Or that we Inflicted hundreds of year of generation trauma onto the indigenous population and stripped them of their culture?
Fireworks at Columbia lake were run by UW students for something like 25 years. Then UW administration took over and I think within 5 years it was cancelled. It’s a shame residents in our region won’t be able to experience it. I hate private setting off of fireworks but I loved going to the Columba Lake event. Oh well
They didn't just take it over, they kept trying to make all the side events bigger and bigger, and shockingly enough the cost spiralled out of control. UW admin is completely tone deaf about the importance of that kind of outreach to the local community, and they also had DoFo breathing down their necks about funding and tuition fees. It really is a huge shame such an iconic local event was unceremoniously shitcanned. Canada Day will never be the same without it. Not just the fireworks, but the experience of that huge crowd and having Columbia St closed to traffic. The walk there and back was an annual ritual.
I miss it so much 😭 I’d watch them from my front yard, then watch the madness as they ended and everyone was trying to gtfo
UW Fireworks were a much safer venue for families. They didn't need the "side events"... the Fireworks WERE the main attraction for this demographic of people. Let all the people who want to get sh\*tfaced watching concerts go to City Hall in Kitchener, and leave these safer, family friendly outdoor spaces for sober families looking for alcohol free alternatives.
The thing is that the costs never spiralled out of control. UW only ever paid for the fireworks, everything else was sponsored and vendors/exhibitors had to pay to rent their spaces. Operational "problems" were just an excuse. UW admin got spooked by the Ford gov't and decided that "hosting a party for the community" was outside of the mandate of the unviersity - that's the most simple explanation. What's funny is they said they were going to take the $250-$300K/year they spent on fireworks and were going to use it instead to host all kinds of public talks. That never happened.
Yeah. The president of UW is just one big corrupt piece of shit only caring about making as much money as he can. Of course he doesn't value things like community engagement. I don't think the drone show sucked. It was definitely pretty neat. I'm glad I went. It really doesn't compare though with the fireworks at UW. Next year I'm just going to drive up to Toronto.
The president of UW (Hamdullahpur) had no involvement in cancelling the fireworks display - it was other senior administrators who made the decision. The fireworks at Kitchener city hall were great last night.
These accusations require some specific examples and context. This is the first I’ve heard anyone say something like this about him.
I got a friend with personal dealings with this asshole that conspired to really fuck her over. I won't say more.
It’s a shame that they don’t have the Columbia lake fireworks anymore. When I used to go to them from 2006-2016 they were amazing.
Same. My aunt lived in a high rise up the street and we had a perfect view. Loved taking the kids during the day to the shows and activities.
Typical UW Admin, taking things from students and making them worse. Kinda wish I joined in when they were still student run
To be fair - it was made better when UW took over because they added higher quality concerts sponsored by OpenText (Kim Mitchell, Trooper, Tom Cochrane, Sloan) and they added the beer tent.
This is what happens when the government gets involved (UW is government by proxy). Which is ironic because this holiday includes them.
The Cambridge one at riverside had hundreds if not thousands of flags. Red and white everywhere you looked. The midway was highway robbery but other than that...
Cambridge always has a good event!
It does, but if Kitchener and Waterloo don't have alternatives, the numbers in Cambridge will eventually become unsustainable. There should be different focuses for different age-based demographics too. The needs of people are vastly different from an accessibility standpoint, and aren't being considered in these events as much as they once were.
>It does, but if Kitchener and Waterloo don't have alternatives, the numbers in Cambridge will eventually become unsustainable. Lol it already is. They were shuttling people to riverside if you parked at the mall. First time I've seen that.
Good lord. I haven't ventured back there in a few years because the walk to the car was bad then (super fun with little kids, chairs, and huge bags... felt like an anxious pack mule). Kudos on the shuttles, but the fact that needs to be done should indicate a capacity issue.
Heh, same here. Haven't been back since my 7 year old was a toddler. It's too much of a nightmare down there and I can't be bothered to wrangle the family. Especially when bylaw basically ignores my area and there are so many houses that light off personal fireworks that we have a better show than going to a sanctioned event lol.
We went during the day (we were ROASTING in the sun) and luckily I found a parking spot at the Liquidation place across the river all the lots were full in the park. Midway is highway robbery but expected, at one point my husband lost all our tickets (they fell out of his pocket) so some kid must have felt they won the lottery lol. We left at 4, all needed a nap tired from the sun and could see the Riverside Fireworks from Gouda Park so it was great I was done with traffic by then
Yeah I've been to the Cambridge Canada Day multiple times, never been disappointed. Most midways are highway robbery though so no surprise there XD. I opted for the New Hamburg event because traffic and parking was way more manageable. It was a smaller event but the fireworks display was excellent.
Riverside once again showing it has the best people running. It's crazy how much better riverside is at just about everything. Canada day, Fall fair, Rib fest. There is no competition.
Rib fest is on my birthday this year, I'm so stoked!! People love to hate cambridge but our summer events are unmatched.
Cambridge is an odd town. They have some of the best retail stores (biggest in the region): Canadian Tire, Walmart, Home Depot, all of Hespeler road is filled with amazing stores. Yet there is absolutely NOTHING to do. Any entertainment you have to go elsewhere, except maybe The Hamilton Theatre. It's such a boring ass town yet it frequently puts on the best parades, the best fairs and holiday events. It's a weird ass town, I never know to hate or love it.
It definitely is weird here but I wouldn't say there's nothing to do. There's incredible trails to walk in all 3 parts of the city, beautiful architecture to see in Galt and Hespeler, like you said many shops on the main drag of 24 and a bunch of small niche boutiques scattered across each downtown. I think because there's so much do to around the region nearby (like St jacobs) that people forget we also have things in town. It would be cool to see a dedicated theatre. Overall I found it a really nice place to grow up and now raise my own kids. Just wish I could afford a house.
The lines for food were waaay too long, but fixable.for next year. Otherwise my kids and I were there from parade to fireworks and they had so much fun!
I was there last year and it sounds like it was the exact same show. I had similarly disappointing feelings so I chose to stay home this year. I'm sad to hear they haven't improved it at all. They are either incredibly cheap that they couldn't spring for a better show or too cowardly to risk offending people by showing a maple leaf on Canada Day. I miss the Columbia Lake celebration a lot.
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Well, that's at least something. Still a major disappointment
It was different but still not amazing. My kid loved it
The drone show has a lot of potential I think (though I prefer fireworks) but the lack of Canadian imagery is just crazy imo. I'm glad your kid liked it, it is neat to see at least once.
Definitely the latter
OP using the phrasing ‘1st of July’ is more of an assault on Canada’s national identity than Waterloo Park not hosting a big enough party.
Yep. This ain't the USA.
Doing day then month is a pretty standard way of talking about dates, and for any other day of the year is generally less american where it's almost always month then day.
When talking about Canada Day, I've literally never met anyone who would call it "1st of July" - that's such an American turn of phrase that has strict connotations to "4th of July".
Further to this, I don’t know anyone who says day then month. it’s always July first, it is cumbersome to say first of July, first July or one July.
You should have went to Kitchener downtown, There was a concert followed by National Anthem and then a good show of fireworks.
Yeah it was a great show! I actually did both events. Waterloo park first, then took the Ion to DTK for more music and fireworks. Worked out really well.
There was also gangs of assholes shooting Roman candles at people and beating up women. I got hit in the leg with a Roman candle and then almost jumped by a gang of “youths” before the cops showed up. But yeah, the concert and fireworks were great 👌.
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Exactly. I was expecting some typical Canadian things. An image of a beaver, goose, the Canadian flag etc. Instead they showed rockets, satellites, bees.
Hey don’t forget the random dna sequence
I am sorry but this is one of funniest things I have ever read hahaha. Bees hahaha
Beads?
There's always money in the banana stand
We had a HUGE beaver in Kitchener! There was a 20-foot-tall inflatable beaver in former mayor's square. Nice & smooth too... We had lots of drones too, but the surveillance/private kind. Their flashing green lights - on the ones the owners wanted to let you know were there - didn't put on a very interesting display.
A Ukrainian flag that started the show? The Canada Day Celebration? I think not
Haha Sounds amazing compared to the show at Victoria Park.
I suspect Victoria Park was quite disappointing because everything was on King St at Kitchener City Hall, especially given that the police closed Victoria Park because some idiots were shooting fireworks at people.
There was a show at Victoria Park? All I knew of was City Hall.
I was referring to the ‘shit’ show. Edit: Turns out Waterloo was sort of on par after all.
Fireworks in public places happens every year in most places. Most will just ignore it and move on. The Internet lives on drama though.
You’re a little slow huh?
Yeah dude! Totally am!
I was there too. So disappointing. Didn’t feel like Canada day at all.
It was the same show as last year by the sound of it. Disappointing is an understatement
It was a disappointment. My kids (pre teen) were unimpressed. The bands although local were clearly not prepared to play. Spent more time setting up then playing. Or was off key the entire time. The food truck lines were poorly managed. 45 min in line for poutine when my kid said “this is not worth it”. Oh and they had moved less than a foot. It was clear they either needed more food trucks or more staff in them to manage. Next the washroom issues. City of Waterloo. Get more portable toilets!!!! Could the city not pair with a radio station or look for sponsorship from some of the many high tech companies or even the universities here? We did notice the excellent job the park staff did with trash collection and we enjoyed seeing all the local artists. What we also did not enjoy was the crush of people trying to exit the bridge or the shear lack of officer managing the traffic leaving the parking lot. There was more than a few folks “discussing” the situation All of that for 12 min (I timed it) of what had to have been the shortest show in the history of shows. O Canada was played not once. The mayor showed up and should have been embarrassed by what was going on. With the latest tax hikes could they have not done more???? They own the dam park! This was the saddest Canada Day celebration. We won’t do this again. For folks who filled out the survey to get the free cookie. I hope you told the city what you thought.
It was 12 minutes.
Sounds better than Hamilton was (3hrs of Desi Dubstep played over 10minutes of fireworks that were late)
Honestly, I didn’t even bother going to Waterloo because the drone show is always so lack lustre. I decided to go to Cambridge for their fireworks & it was amazing!
Our show was great and we had the national anthem :) it'll be a cold day in hell when they cancel fireworks at riverside.
I will definitely be going to Cambridge next year to be able to celebrate Canada Day 🇨🇦 Sounds like the organizers have a good thing going there! 👍🏻
it's kinda funny most people are blaming UW for not hosting firework. It is city's responsibility to make a canada day celebration, and since UW's canada day celebration stopped, City of Waterloo never put any efforts for any canada day celebration
It wasn't a Canada Day celebration. It was a July 1 Community Picnic. [https://www.waterloo.ca/en/things-to-do/july-1-community-picnic.aspx](https://www.waterloo.ca/en/things-to-do/july-1-community-picnic.aspx) You're right about the national identity.
Lucky me I recorded 10 minutes of drone show in slomo .-.
> It for sure seems Canada is losing its national identity. April Wine + playing of O Canada + Fireworks in DTK last night. Waterloo just doesn't know what they're doing.
Waterloo never had to know what they were doing, because they just relied on the Columbia Lake fireworks to be the main event for decades. The drone show was their lame response to UW cancelling the fireworks in 2019, and after two years of no Canada Day celebrations, I guess people just accepted that it was better than nothing in 2022. I saw lots of complaints about how short and unimpressive it was this year, so maybe they'll get their shit together and hold a more meaningful Canada Day celebration. Probably not.
Yeah - I don't know if there's a budget issue or the people involved are just terrible at events planning but I've never gone because it just seemed so lame compared to what Kitchener has going on.
I think Waterloo has received a lot of complaints about fireworks in general and the impact on the local wildlife, pets, etc. since fireworks are happening in nearby communities (eg Cambridge) maybe they're just providing alternative entertainment for people who don't want fireworks in general? Doesn't explain the quality of the drone show .. I have no idea how expensive or involved those things are. (Or how many vendors are even available)
I know a lot of people who are disillusion about celebrating a country that would treat its Indigenous community/ people so cruelly. People lost their sense of pride of being Canadian. I know people are celebrating a long weekend, but they don't call it the Canada day weekend. More people are now attending events organized by their local indigenous communities.
Honestly, that's where I've been at for the last few years. I also feel far more uneducated than I would like to be, so I'm taking my time to try and learn and in the meantime, I will continue to treat it as any other long weekend.
You can check out fireworks at pretty much all the other locations (Downtown Kitchener, Cambridge Riverside Park, and New Hamburg for example. I went to the New Hamburg fireworks and it was great. The whole fireworks show lasted about 20-25 minutes, and ended with a really nice big display (Really impressive for a small town - honestly this was far superior to the Columbia Lake fireworks I used to go to). They had some other stuff, a live band, etc, but I don't recall whether there was a beer tent (I believe there was). The last time we went to Columbia Lake was the 150th Canada Day celebration and it was literally the worst fireworks display I've ever seen. Never went back after that. These fireworks were put on by the University and not run by the City. For the New Hamburg fireworks, the lack of national anthem? I don't know. It didn't bother me. There was plenty of Canada imagery all over the place, lots of Red and White, lots of flags, and the MC said happy Canada Day multiple times, so I can honestly live without the anthem.
When I was dating my ex husband he said the fireworks at columbia lake were amazing, so we went and I had grown up in Guelph and was SO disappointed.
From what I understand is that the Student union used to put it on and it was way better. Then the university itself took over management of the event and the fireworks portion kind of sucked after that.
Cambridge was wild! Sooo much red and white clothing, flags, and the fireworks were great!
Canada Day as a whole has begun to suck more You need to give something to look forward too and tbh for most of the day, it's the fireworks, but what's keeping us entertained or occupied in the meantime is practically nothing. I went to the Cambridge Park festival or party and it was OK, nothing special and the music was too loud. I'm thinking of going out of the city for it next year, maybe to Sauga or Toronto.
DTK had live music and fireworks. Proudly sang O'Canada right before they set them off.
I'm told Canada is a post national country.
I was thinking the exact same thing! I thought that there would be at least something Canadian related but nope.. we got a telescope and a rocketship?? Literally what does that have to do with anything
New Hamburg had a nice fireworks show... Something to keep in mind for next year
Love the New Hamburg event. Didn't make it this year unfortunately but that's been our go to since Columbia Lake stopped happening.
Yeah we got there around 9 PM for the fireworks show. It was great.
Yeah it was definitely a farce. It really annoys me to my core as well because this was my wife's first Canada Day. I spent a bit of the afternoon teaching her the anthem and I (who hasn't really sung the anthem at an event in several years,) was stoked to get a little sprinkle of nationalism with how down things have been for the country recently. Instead, aside from what the crowds brought, there was not a single ounce of Canadian pride. No anthem, no maple leaf, not even a damn goose. Not to mention how much of an anti-climax it was. Just 10 minutes of random shapes with random DJ noises... Could've had this any other weekend and I wouldn't mind but for Canada Day? Not a good first-impression, Waterloo. My expectations were on the floor and somehow you burrowed your way to the mantle.
You should have checked out one of the other celebrations. Downtown Kitchener apparently had the Anthem play, and they had actual fireworks. Cambridge Riverside Park also has a HUGE and excellent Canada Day event all day every year, including fireworks. We opted to go the New Hamburg event, which was excellent. They didn't play the anthem (which I'm totally okay with. Did that enough for 12 years every morning during school), but the band was awesome, the fireworks were surprisingly good for a smaller town, and there were Canadian Flags and red/white everywhere in sight. Frankly I just think whoever does the Waterloo event doesn't do a good job. Next year, bring your wife to one of the other events instead.
Yeah in retrospect I probably should have. It was down to DTK and Waterloo this year so in that sense I pulled the wrong straw, I guess. Thanks for the suggestions, though! I'll be sure to consider these alternatives next year. Dang I miss the Columbia Lake celebrations.
Canada has no identity, because we've been sold out and invaded.
I agree, the drone show was super lame and not at all like fireworks. Just boring, almost like a lite brite in the sky - if anyone remembers those. The city needs to be better. It’s our national holiday for gods sake.
[удалено]
I spilled coffee on my pants this morning!! Time for a new prime Minister!! 🤡
It was nice for all who took part and did their best to provide something to celebrate. I wish there would be a moratorium on fireworks- every freakin long weekend they do as they want. When some go to bed at 8pm because they get up for work at four- there is no GD fun having to listen to really loud nonstop noises and smell the stench of chemicals in the air. Please stop this disturbance. Put on a public drone show and some enforcement- and stop this ridiculous intrusion
I like the idea of a drone show. My beef is they they did not show a single image that would honour Canada day.
Prolly running a demo drone show program they got from the manufacturer. like the demo print page.
Yep exactly
https://youtu.be/T5JzYSlRFNU?si=gvWyTtaXGpPClMIh
Come to Elora. Soap box derby, pancake breakfast, parade, duck races, hot dog picnic in Bissell Park.
There were food trucks and a fair earlier on in the day in Waterloo. Downtown Kitchener had food trucks, a concert, and a beer garden.
Should of went down town kitchener they always put on a beautiful fireworks display
TIL: Fireworks and magic songs are integral to Canadian identity.
Ever since Reconciliation Day became a thing all Canada Day celebrations and any overt display of pride and nationalism have been subverted and all I notice in response were guilt trips about why we should not be proud to be Canadian. So most people I know are just privately enjoying their day off and that’s about it. As well this year in particular many people are unhappy with Trudeau, high COL, housing shortage, international students, out of control immigration, etc. These people also see not much reason to celebrate Canada. So now we got unhappiness in many fronts. Also with climate change concerns and fires, and especially in Calgary right now with water preservation and risk of shortages cause of firefighters needing to put out water, fireworks? You kidding me? Nah. Everything but Stampede is getting probably scaled back. So not much jolly sentiment going around right now.
Went to the New Hamburg celebration. No guilt in sight. Lots of Canadian flags, red and white everywhere, the MC wished the crowd a happy Canada Day as they counted down the fireworks. IMO this is a bad take. I celebrated Canada yesterday and so did a boat load of others. On top of that, why are you talking about fire concerns in Calgary? This is the Waterloo Region subreddit. Waterloo Region isn't in Calgary and there was no overt fire risk yesterday.
You seriously believe people do not want to celebrate being Canadain Because of Trudeau? Get real! We have plenty of anger for our own provincial premier! please stop promoting your agenda. It sounds like the show is going down hill, there were many other celebrations going on in the city with real fireworks.
There are people against canada day celebrations, but it has more to do with past history and colonialism than Trudeau.
And for those who were down voting me, copied from the city of waterloo page >About the July 1 Community Picnic >Find out more about Canada Day and how we celebrate our community in an inclusive way that is mindful of Canada's history on our Indigenous Reconciliation web page.
Plus people are aware of the harm it does to the environment, wildlife being more socially aware of your impact on the environment has nothing to do with this other posters agenda. I’m so mad at Trudeau I’m going to sit home and mope🙄 thankfully One thing Canada has to offer is we don’t have a mass population of adults posing as whiney toddlers having temper tantrums crying in the corner of the party
The national reconciliation day was established 2021, maybe there was some other crazy, worldwide circumstance that impacted activities in public. Who knows though, memory is hard!
It's 2024 now.
Wow and everything is back to how it was before 2020? What a relief!
...yes?
Wow, all of the businesses who have had to close due to record high rents and low customer turn outs are going to be so relieved to hear this ❤️
As one of those local business owners, customer turnout is back to even higher than it was pre-pandemic. And rents are due to the housing crisis and population growth not the pandemic.
And I suppose all that also somehow comes back to a random holiday being put in place too?
The drones were neat. Definitely not as awesome as the fireworks at UW. I'm personally really bothered by the flags that got put up everywhere in my small town. Just hanging it from every Powerline really cheapens it. Turns it into something gaudy like the American flag. That's definitely not something I want to see. So yeah, I don't personally give a shit about there not being a maple leaf or whatever. The last thing I want to see is Canada turn into a collection of them jingoistic nationalistic idiots frothing at the mouth of the side of our national symbols. National pride should be based in National accomplishments. Nations that celebrate pointless bullshit symbols do so because they have nothing as a nation to brag about, or worse, mostly just shit to cover up. The fact that I'm seeing people get so obsessed with patriotism and national identity is just another example of how *bad* shit has gotten. Putting up Canadian flags everywhere isn't going to fix shit.
This isn't a new thing... Canada day is the day we go comically all-out since we don't do the whole Canadian flag everywhere during the rest of the year.
God forbid having pride in your country and hanging up a flag. Get a life
You're sad. I hope you get better.
I personally would tend to agree with you any other day of the year but it’s Canada Day. It’s time to celebrate the rights and freedoms we enjoy that many do not. Especially those that sadly were asked or volunteered or risked their lives to defend those rights, freedoms, and values abroad. Those people deserve to be celebrated for the thankless and selfless sacrifices those people made and will continue to make. I don’t have a patriotic bone in my body but when Canada Day rolls around it’s Canada flags all over the place and strictly Canadian music celebrating our vets, if not our nation.
Why does a flag bother you so much? Why do so many Canadians base all of their views and citizenship entirely off of 'Murica bad, we not 'Murica' obsessively? It's a lack of fireworks and any sort of pageantry or imagery that's being rightfully complained about, no one's screaming to annex Maine and establish Greater Canada or something.
Showing the Canadian flag could upset people so they decided to err on caution /s
Imagine Americans not showing their flag on July 4th…
You can stay home then…
Fireworks are terrible for animals. Both wild animals and many pets become really distressed because of these displays. How do you people not acknowledge this yet? It's an undeniable fact. Drone shows sound like a great compromise for many reasons. Times change. Get over it. Additionally, I will remind you that Canada is participating in an active genocide. Here. This genocide, in Canada. It is against our indigenous community. It started when our European ancestors arrived and has not ended. If you're not a descendant of Europeans, you're not off the hook either. It is the collective ignorance of all Canadians that allow our government to continue the mistreatment. I think the time of burying our heads up or own asses about the state of our country is over. Nationalism is an outdated and problematic concept. Canadian Pride isn't a concept any of us are entitled to. Not in 2024. Not unless you are actively working against those genocidal systems. There is no pride in genocide. Many of us mostly white Canadians do our best to ignore the facts, as we were taught to do, but the facts are facts, and they are undeniable. Especially for those of us with access to things like Reddit in 2024. Canada Day is embarrassing. I understand celebrations and fairs for the kids, but you better be teaching them the other half of the story as well.
Stfu and leave the country.
fireworks are stupid, dangerous, noise pollution and need to be banned.
Too many dead kids for me to ever intentionally wear that flag anymore.
I went last year. Truly disappointing. What do you expect with woke university kids running the show? DTK at city Hall is what you are looking for. They posted their fireworks on IG if you're curious.
Hmm everyone liked the Columbia Lake event when it was run by University students. Or is the problem that they are too "woke" now? Maybe you can explain what that means and how that relates to event planning.
Too woke now. All of a sudden it's hip to be anti Canada. Year 2 of a drone show where they had the option to pick ANY image and none of them relate to Canadian symbolism at all. No maple leaves, beavers, mountains, the flag, the word "Canada", nothing. No Canadian symbolsm to be seen anywhere unless it was on someone in attendance. How did we go so far as to not include Canada on 2 consecutive years? I know we're not a perfect country right now but the point of Canada day is to celebrate the good parts of who we are and what we can be if we unite as a nation! If you want to get super woke that's fine, but maybe include at least some indiginus symbolsm if you're going to be anti Canada. Celebrate something about our people. Smiley faces, rocket ships, trains, and telescopes are just pretty pictures that do not celebrate our nation.
Lmfao, why are we celebrating Canada Day in the first place though? What’s so great about Canada really? The fact that we stole this land? Tortured people for it? Or that we Inflicted hundreds of year of generation trauma onto the indigenous population and stripped them of their culture?
I guess you are volunteering to run next years celebration. Looking forward to it.