A few changes added to this year's Celebration of Light

Celebration of Light festival kicks off Saturday One of Vancouver’s biggest annual events kicks off its first of three fireworks shows this weekend.

Team Portugal is set to kickoff one of Vancouver's biggest annual events: the Celebration of Light.

“We hope it’s a good show for the people of Vancouver,” said Andre Macedo, a lead designer with the team that will be lighting up the sky over English Bay Saturday night.

Macedo says it’s his first time in the event, but he has heard of its prestige in the pyrotechnic community.

His team’s display is called "Tune in" and he says people can expect an "emotional" show.

Portugal is followed by Team Malaysia on Wednesday and Team United Kingdom next Saturday. The shows begin at 10 p.m.

“None of these particular teams have been here ever before,” said Catherine Runnels, an event organizer and president of Brandlive.

“They’ve all won international awards and we’re expecting the competition to be excellent.”

Drone show:

Making its debut this year is a drone show starting approximately 10 minutes before each fireworks display.

While some North American cities have replaced their fireworks displays with drones, citing environmental and fire-risk concerns, Vancouver officials don’t see that happening anytime soon.

“A 25-minute spectacular fireworks show I don’t believe is ever going to be replaced by drones,” said Runnels, adding that the fireworks are bio-degradable and the fire risk is low with the displays taking place over water.

New revenue source:

A 50/50 draw has also been added to this year’s festivities to help address soaring costs.

“That money will go towards making sure that this event is sustainable and in Vancouver as part of the landscape for many years to come,” said Rennels.

Despite some Vancouver events – including other fireworks shows and parades – having to shut down due to a lack of sponsorship, she says the event’s sponsorship is secure.

Officials pushing transit:

With road closures and massive crowds expected for the event, officials are urging the public to avoid driving and either walk, cycle or take transit instead.

“Leading up to and following the events, SkyTrain service will be offering peak service levels, which means a train will come very two minutes,” said Tina Lovgreen, spokesperson for TransLink.

“There will be extra sailings for the SeaBus and there will also be increased bus service into downtown starting at 6:30 p.m.”

Lovgreen says TransLink sees about four to five times its usual traffic volume during the Celebration of Light.

Police tips for wandering children:

Vancouver police are urging people to celebrate responsibly and are offering tips for people if their children get lost in the crowd.

Const. Tania Visintin says although children are usually quickly reunited with their parent or guardian, it’s become an issue in recent years.

"We ask parents or guardians to take a photo of the child that they're with, talk to them about a meet point if they get separated and write your phone number on a piece of paper and put it in your child's pocket,” said Visintin.