• Ontario
• Greater Toronto Area
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Fireworks display show at Woodbine beach impresses crowd

Cheers from a large crowd of attendees followed the explosive sounds of fireworks that illuminated the sky at Ashbridges Bay on Monday night, during the Victoria Day weekend. The display began at 10 p.m. and lasted 15 minutes, launching approximately 2,000 fireworks into the sky.

Toronto Police estimated 30,000 people arrived to celebrate the display that commemorates the birthday of Britain’s longest sitting Monarch, Queen Victoria. Canada declared Victoria Day a national holiday in 1845, and Canadians have been celebrating it ever since.

Friends Erica Tunstell and Christiane Zsolnay both 22, arrived to the park to get a glimpse of the show. The two Scarborough residents say watching the fireworks display has been a tradition for them.

“We started coming when we were eleven, with our families. It was always fun,” Tunstell said.

Friends Erica Tunstell and Christiane Zsolnay

The girls say they came to meet with some friends, and planned to continue the Victoria Day celebration by going to a few of the parks local restaurants. Tunstell says she enjoyed watching the fireworks, and described them as having been ‘very good’.

James Dann is the manager of Water Front Parks. He has been working for the park for 12 years and says the fireworks display show has been entertaining beach goers for at least 40 years.

Crowd gathers around food venue.

Dann says about 12 to 24 hours of preparation goes into setting up the fireworks alone, which does not include meetings with fire department and police. He says safety is a big factor when it comes to arranging the event.

“We stress that there should be no personal fireworks at the beach and no alcohol,” Dann says. He says this was a fairly large year for the event and credits the good weather for the big turnout.

One of the many fireworks that lit up the night sky.