My story actually starts many years ago growing up in Regina Saskatchewan.
I had a love for fireworks ever since i was a kid on the prairies either firing our own fireworks on the farm or waiting for the big Regina show
... click to read moreMy story actually starts many years ago growing up in Regina Saskatchewan.
I had a love for fireworks ever since i was a kid on the prairies either firing our own fireworks on the farm or waiting for the big Regina show every year on a holiday called Pile O Bones day when us kids would climb up on the roof of our garage to watch those wonderful shows light up the clear prairie sky.
Little did i know then that i would be training as an apprentice with that same man firing those beautiful shows I watched as a kid.
My new profession started when i was old enough i was able to get in touch after many phone calls to find what i needed to become a pyrotechnician.
I finally found out that i needed to take a federal course from the Explosives Regulatory Division in Ottawa and luckily enough at the time they had enough people interested in the course that they flew out a trainer from Ottawa to Regina.
Now when i say enough people interested i mean it was me and the Regina Bomb Squad taking the course.
After the training i had to find a fireworks company to get the hours in to work towards my license and unfortunately i hooked up with the wrong company at first.
The first night i would have to say i was very nervous at first to say the least.
The head of this company actually used me in case one of the fireworks in the mortars did not light i would be there with a road flare crawling between the explosions lighting the extra fuses as this fellow was 200 ft behind in his safe bunker igniting these fireworks electrically while i would be there in just jeans and a nylon jacket in the middle of this war zone with fire raining down on me burning through my clothes and into my skin.
This fellow had given me clear instructions beforehand telling me how many seconds i had between racks and over mines as if i did not have the counting correct i would not live until the next show to work towards my license.
I did survive this show and i actually thought this is what a pyrotechnician must be like as after the show i had little of the clothes left i had come to this show with.
Next show he had me do was in Regina on New years eve setting up on this small lake in Regina in -50 windchill weather.
Now as it was so cold that day he had us wire this show actually beforehand in the shop and of course had me drive the truck with these pre-activated shells and let me tell you i have never driven so slowly and carefully in my life and let me say without a seatbelt on with my hand on the door handle in case this thousand lbs of high explosives tipped over i may have a chance of jumping out and surviving the blast.
This is what i thought it would always be like until i finally met Dave whose fireworks i had marvelled at as a kid.
When i started working with Dave as an apprentice i found everything i had done before with that company was illegal and downright dangerous and when i told dave what i was doing before was absolutely crazy and i should actually get a medal for surviving it.
I worked for many years with Dave doing all the big Regina shows and small Saskatchewan town shows earning my licence.
In fireworks after your course you needed so many shows and certification to earn your level one license and if you were lucky enough to actually work with a level 2 shooter you could actually earn your level 2 which is the highest there is in commercial fireworks licenses and that is what i finally did and now could fire anything there was internationally.
Now after many years of every type of show including large pyromusicals around Saskatchewan my life actually took a dramatic turn as i would meet my wife to be a nurse from a far away place called Newfoundland.
When i met my wife to be i was also besides being a pyrotechnician i was the crew for sundance balloons most evenings giving balloon rides to customers that would come from everywhere to encounter the finest form of flight there is.
When i met my wife to be through a mutual friend i had asked if she wanted to go for a date on a hot-air balloon and to my surprise she accepted.
A few days later i was doing the Regina Pile o Bones day show and asked if she would like to come and see how a commercial fireworks show is done and watch from up close.
She loved the idea and even though that night had a small injury from debris from one of the shells soon after we i decided to ask her father if i could marry her.
Now this did not go exactly as i had planned as when i phoned her father i could not understand a word he said but i am sure he said yes but i asked my wife to explain why he was always calling me boy and with a laugh she explained he was saying yes B'ye anyway that was good enough for me.
After we were married we had our first child and we started thinking we really need to raise our children around family in a safe environment and the best place for us was a place i always wanted to go to my whole life the most beautiful place on earth a place called Newfoundland.
We started working on this and bought a house in Sunnyside Newfoundland.
I could not believe this place when we actually got there it was oceanfront and absolutely beautiful and to top that i was standing on the deck and actually saw dolphins and whales from my deck on this very first day and it was then that this prairie boy said i am home and am never going back west again.
As a pyrotechnician it is too hard to actually make a living at this and i knew it would be just as hard here so my regular job in Saskatchewan was one of the managers with wal-mart and i was able to transfer here to the Clarenville Wal-mart and my wife being a nurse was able to get on at the Clarenville hospital so everything was looking great except my pyrotechnical work.
I was lucky enough to get on with one of the biggest and best fireworks companies in the world called Fireworks Fx which does most fireworks shows in Eastern Canada and all of Newfoundland and most resorts in the Carribean and Europe
Now i am able to travel the whole island here doing what i love and to hear the cheers and honking after a show makes it all worth it.
I love Newfoundland and love what i do here as i travel to towns and cities and stay in the beautiful bed and breakfasts in the most beautiful locations for their wonderful celebrations and am always treated like family as i am always included in their celebrations as is my wife and children.
I have done training for bands and movie sets and met various celebrities but nothing compares to being in a small Newfoundland town doing a show for the people that treat us like family wherever we go and if i can make those people happy with a fireworks show that is what it is all about for me.   Submitted By: Patrick Farrell