Revisit the Millennium

Toronto ushers in millennium with a blast!

Toronto Harbour exploded in a stunning fireworks, lasers and light extravaganza New Year's Eve 1999 as more than one million excited revellers gathered at Toronto’s downtown waterfront to usher in the new millennium.

After three hours of rocking musical entertainment, Mayor Mel Lastman led the expectant crowds in a 10-second countdown to midnight. Bursts of gold and white pyro blasted up and down the CN Tower, culminating in a breathtaking explosion from atop the world’s tallest free-standing structure.

The CN Tower lights up with fireworks - Photographer: Kendall Townend

1200-foot-high waterfall of gold brocade that stretched a mile across the night sky - Photographer: Kendall Townend

Then, with the poignant strains of Auld Lang Syne as a musical backdrop, all eyes turned to the sky above Toronto Harbour, awash in a 1200-foot-high waterfall of gold brocade that stretched a mile across the night sky.

For 17 exhilarating minutes, Millennium Lights delighted awestruck onlookers.

28 tonnes of fireworks danced to a marvellous melody of music through the ages, beginning with the haunting sounds of the Gregorian chant, spanning favourite classical, war-time, swing, as well as rock-and-roll numbers, and culminating with the futuristic "2001 – A Space Odessy".

Four 750-foot lakers positioned offshore along the waterfront of Toronto Harbour - along with two barges featuring laser effects and 11 lighting space canons on Toronto Island - provided the dynamic stage for the musical pyro/laser extravaganza.

Spectators watched open-mouthed as never-before-seen colours and shapes illuminated the night sky. Bouquets of purple and green flowers twisted their way audience-ward to the tunes of "Twist Again"; red hearts erupted against a silver background to the Beatles’ classic "All You Need is Love"; kaleidoscopes of electric pinks, greens and oranges danced to the disco beat of "Celebrate"; and the sky rained thousands of delicate drops of silver-turned-blue for "My Heart will go on".

In all, more than 8,000 shells were used for the show, with the last few bars of "2001" firing an incredible 740 shells in a 30-second period for an unforgettable finale.

The fireworks spectacular was part of a full evening of FREE New Year’s Eve entertainment that began at 9 pm with live music at the foot of Yonge Street. Presented by the City of Toronto and Citytv, in partnership with War Child, the line-up featured Bruce Cockburn, performing favourites "Lovers in a Dangerous Time", and "Last Night of the World", as well as Choclair, LEN, Serial Joe and 3 Deep who ended the evening’s entertainment with hits "Never Gonna Give You up" and "Into You".

Children and adults alike took in the free action at the waterfront, delighting in the many street performers – including jugglers, unicyclists, comedy teams and glow-in-the-dark stilt-walkers - who roamed the festival site.

In addition to drawing huge crowds, the Millennium celebrations also attracted unprecedented media attention, with local, national and international media turning out in full force to cover the largest-ever fireworks extravaganza in Canadian history.

"It was an incredible night for Toronto and for the world," declared Mayor Mel Lastman, "Torontonians came together for an once-in-a-lifetime celebration that showcased our great city to the world!"

Photographer: Kendall Townend