Plans underway for 2026 Living Skies fireworks competition
January 12, 2026, 10:46 am
Nicole Taylor, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Plans are underway for the 2026 Living Skies Come Alive fireworks competition at Moosomin Regional Park on the August long weekend.
After a hiatus from 2020 to 2024, the competition was brought back in 2025, and with around 6,000 people through the gates last year, Kyle Jeannot with the Moosomin Regional Park board and fireworks committee says they considered last year’s event a success. At its peak the show was bringing in 10,000 people a weekend, and he says 2025 was a good start in getting it back up to the level it once was at.
This year it will be an east vs west competition, with the Alberta fireworks crew from last year competing against a crew from Eastern Canada. Fireworks will be set off over Moosomin Lake on Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2, with two different crews doing the fireworks each night, and judges voting on whose show is best.
“It will be the same thing as last year—fireworks for two days. It will be an East versus West competition and there will be bands and beer gardens on both nights as well,” says Jeannot.
Jeannot says there will also be other activities at the lake that weekend, and a market both days, the same as in 2025.
He says he was pleased with how last year’s event went.
“I think it went really well honestly, for coming back. Looking at the number of people that went through, it looked like it kind of did years ago when it was maybe three of four years old. It was definitely a good turnout for people and I think people really enjoyed it.
“We had around three thousand a day through the gates. It was a really good turnout. If we were to look back and see the number that came through, it’s roughly the same as about three or four years in after it first got started.”
Jeannot says the competition is important for the region and for the park.
“People missed it, and it’s just huge for the park itself. It’s a fundraiser and it brings people into the park, and it’s huge for the community. The amount of people that are coming and staying in hotels, and going to the liquor or grocery store to buy drinks and food, and uptown shopping or at the restaurants. There is so much of a spin off from it that I think everybody capitalizes on it.”
The event takes a lot of work, and planning for it starts months in advance.
“It takes about six months of planning,” says Jeannot. “Right now we’re having meetings and getting everything booked. Since last year we kind of have a good format for how everything went. So, basically it’s just look back, having your schedule of what you need when and where, and just starting to book venders and stuff like that and getting everything ready to go.”
A separate committee has been formed to plan the event.
“We have three or four of us from the park board on an entertainment committee, and then we do have other volunteers that help with the fireworks, which is great because they help pick up some pieces where they can.
“Come March or April, we will start advertising for volunteers. Before we always used to get volunteers for our parking, but this year we are actually going to hire a company to do our parking. It’s super hard to find volunteers for that, it’s a longer shift and nobody wants to be standing out in the sun parking cars, and at the end of the day it’s just easier to hire that out and get somebody in where they know that is their job for the day and that’s what they are doing.”
Jeannot says, aside from the competitors not much will be changing from 2025.
“Everything seemed to go pretty smooth last year and everybody seemed to enjoy it. So, I think that’s our goal, try and keep the same kind of format. Everybody was happy last year. People were coming out to see if it was going to be like it was before (2020) or if it was just a half fireworks show that was being put on. People were very impressed.”
