Stockholm

Stockholm

Private Party Fireworks Display, The Grand Hotel, Stockholm, Sweden

So there we were, just chatting with an event company and they dropped the bomb: “we’re organising an event in Stockholm in July. The client really wants a fireworks display but we’ve spoken to a firework company in Sweden and we’ve been told it can’t be done.” “Can’t be done?” I parroted… “I’ll look into it…”

Fast forward five months and there we are, on the balcony of the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, the usual red boiler suit replaced by the penguin suit, ready to fire a beautiful firework display for a private birthday party. Sure, the intervening period had seen a lot of effort and energy expended on getting to this point, but then you gain so much more from doing something new. Deep breath. Visual checks. Barge is in the right position. Barge has the right orientation. Patrol boats are in position. Firing and fallout areas are secure. Guests are assembled. Quick glance to Pippa – are we ready? The thumbs up. Right then. Standby on fireworks in 5,4,3,2,1, go! Ba-boom! There goes the first lift of shells. And by the time the second lift of Yung Feng polyp shells have burst people are stopping their cars in the middle of the street, pouring out of cafes and restaurants to watch the mesmerising fireworks display that is illuminating the skies between Stockholm’s Grand Hotel and National Palace. Oops – we’ve accidentally brought central Stockholm to a standstill! Most of the guests don’t notice all of this until the end – their eyes are fixed firmly on the sky as sequences of Cyca Shells, Zink Blinks (a personal favourite) have them transfixed. When the beautiful brocade finale fades, the cheer is enormous, and the blasting of dozens of boat horns around the harbour brings them back to the here and now. Happy guests, a happy birthday girl, a happy event organiser, and thousands of delighted “collateral spectators”, who just happened to be in the right part of Stockholm at the right time one July night in 2008 to witness a beautiful Alchemy Fireworks display.

“…you did an exceptional job.” Annabel Fielding, Director, Quintessentially Events