iN VIDEO: How the drone show for Westside Daze in West Kelowna will work

West Kelowna opted for a drone show as a FireSmart alternative to fireworks for Westside Daze Saturday, and the show’s producer explained to iNFOnews.ca how it all works. Patrice Guy is the president of North Star Entertainment https://northstardroneshows.com/ , the company operating the show in West Kelowna, July 13, and he explained the amount of work and tech that goes into coordinating the 100 drone dance. “Each drone has got a different flight path from its neighbour. We've got a ground control station, we call it, that communicates with the drones via two radio bands,” Guy said. North Star has four designers who plan out unique shows for each event, and program the fight paths for the drones to fly automatically. When it comes time for the show itself there are pilots who set up the drones, troubleshoot and fix any problems on the day of. Guy said one of the most challenging parts of running the shows is finding good pilots who can troubleshoot issues and fix them in time for the show. Someone could go out and get a bunch of drones and try to plan a show, but without experienced pilots and mechanics there could be some hitches. “GPS is not perfect everywhere and sometimes there's one or two drones that don't work well, they need to be replaced, and you need a pilot that can recognize that and fix it,” he said. “Otherwise, like in BC, you have two or three shows that have been cancelled.” The Vernon Canada Day drone show had to be cancelled and Kamloops’ drone show had some mixed reviews. When it comes to smaller private events, Guy said 50 drones will do the trick, but the biggest shows for cities and major events can have up to 500 drones. “When we did the Super Bowl in L.A., there were 500 drones. When we did a party for Paris Hilton in Malibu, that was 500 drones. The NBA draft picks, that was 500 drones in New York,” he said. Before these airborne mechanical light shows, North Star started out doing firework shows. Guy said he decided to branch out into drone shows the first time he saw one back in 2020. “I was watching television and the Olympic ceremony started, and they had a big drone show in Japan in Tokyo. When I looked at it, my jaw fell open. I was working as a designer at a fireworks show, and when I saw it, I said, ‘this is going to kill us.’” He said drones aren’t a replacement for fireworks, but they are a good option for places like West Kelowna in the summer where the fire hazard is a major concern. “I don't want to go out and say that drones are better or fireworks are better, we sell both. They each have their place. But in a place like West Kelowna, it makes total sense to go with drones because when you buy a fireworks show in January or in February, it's always a gamble since the fire chief could put in a burn ban,” he said. Guy said the cost of these shows is steadily decreasing, and he expects them to get bigger and bigger as technology advances and becomes more affordable. “If you look at the shows that we sold three years ago and the shows that we sell today, the prices have gone down by about 50 per cent,” Guy said. “We're anticipating the shows will grow bigger and bigger.” To contact a reporter for this story, email Jesse Tomas mailto:jtomas@infonews.ca  or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .