Xaghra will once again be hosting the opening displays for this year’s 16th edition of the Malta International Fireworks Festival.

This will be the second year that Festival displays have taken place in Gozo. This year it opens on Saturday, the 22nd of April with a Pyro Musical Competition.

The Malta Tourism Association said that it received a total of 12 applicants for the Festival, with 10 being from overseas, namely Italy, France, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Croatia, Czech Republic and Ukraine, with the remaining 2 being local.

6 participants were shortlisted, and expectations are high for this year’s festival as the chosen foreign participants have all won firework competitions overseas in the past.

The foreign participants are free to purchase their fireworks from local licensed fireworks factories, while the local participants must let off their own manufactured fireworks.

The organisers said that the closing event on Sunday, the 30th of April, is going to be particularly special as it will form part of the celebrations to mark the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The Grand Finale music will be produced by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra to accompany the fireworks display performed by Pyroemotions and St Mary Fireworks Factory of Ghaxaq – the latter being the 2016 festival winners.

The full programme is shown below:

Saturday 22nd April 2017 – Gozo, Xaghra

Pyro Musical Competition

21:30 TemexSon – Pyro Events Team, Romania

22:00 Makalu Fireworks, Czech Republic

22:30 Kamra tan-Nar ‘Madonna Tac- Cintura’ Gudja, Malta

Friday 28th April 2017 – Marsaxlokk

Pyro Musical Competition

21:30 Pyro Italy, Italy

22:00 Mirnovec Pirotehnika, Croatia

22:30 Kamra tan-Nar Santa Marija, Qrendi, Malta

Sunday 30th April 2017 – Valletta, Grand Harbour

Grand finale

21:30 – 22:00 Pyroemotions of Italy in collaboration with St Mary Fireworks Factory Ghaxaq, Malta

Prior to each of these fireworks spectacles there shall be live entertainment as well as numerous food stalls which will be offering traditional dishes.

Photographs from Xaghra 2016 – MGOZ/George Scerri

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