Cancelled fireworks show in Mississauga doesn’t stop Canada Day party

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Published July 5, 2023 at 12:50 pm

Bundles of fireworks sit soaked on the roof of Westwood Square mall in Mississauga. (Photo: Carolyn Parrish Twitter)

Most of Mississauga’s main Canada Day celebrations went off as planned last Saturday with tens of thousands of people enjoying a wide range of festivities in the downtown core, Port Credit, Streetsville and Malton–all capped off by impressive fireworks displays at the end of the night.

At least, that was the plan before Mother Nature intervened.

One of the annual community-wide parties, which takes over Westwood Square mall in the Malton area of northeast Mississauga, had to carry on without the eagerly anticipated end-of-night fireworks show after a late-afternoon spell of torrential rain rendered the massive collection of fireworks unsafe to use.

It seems the brief-but-nasty storm that drenched party-goers and created pools of water in Malton didn’t hit other parts of Mississauga, or at least not nearly as badly.

Mississauga Councillor Carolyn Parrish, who represents Malton as part of her ward, said via social media that while she and many others were disappointed that the fireworks show had to be cancelled, she was impressed by the spirit of those in attendance who had a great time anyway.

“I love Malton! Massive downpour 5:45 p.m. Canada Day with tornado warnings. By 6:30 p.m., thousands returned (to the celebration),” Parrish tweeted.

In another tweet, the councillor described the large collection of fireworks as they sat on the roof of Westwood Square mall late on Canada Day.

“They absorbed water till 9 p.m. (Saturday), when we called off the show as they broke down becoming unstable. Electrical connections to fire them also under water. So sorry, Malton.”

Parrish said in advance of Canada Day that Malton had big plans this year to mark the occasion.

“We’re putting on a big show again this year. We missed the two years of COVID, but we were up and running last year and we’ve really expanded it and are putting even more stuff in this year,” said Parrish. “It’s really becoming a fabulous community event. Everybody gets involved…it’s a really fun place to be from.”

Meanwhile, Canada Day fireworks went ahead as planned in capping off day-long parties at Celebration Square and in Port Credit (Paint the Town Red) and Streetsville.

Last year, after a two-year absence due to COVID-19, the colourful fireworks celebrations returned to Celebration Square and other locations across Mississauga.

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