The deafening volleys and colorful fireworks displays that accompanied end-of-year celebrations across the Czech Republic are now just a memory of the past. This year, Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Pilsen, and Jihlava are not holding the show, which was watched by crowds of people, because of the coronavirus.
In the capital, there will also be no video mapping to celebrate the New Year, i.e., the projection onto buildings, which Prague first held on January 1, 2020, instead of fireworks.
Inauguration in 2022 will be quiet
The Moravian capital, Brno, canceled New Year’s Eve fireworks in 2016, saving the city treasury half a million crowns every year. Most towns in southern Moravia are not planning celebrations either. One of the exceptions is Blansko, where a fireworks display is always held in the central Republic Square at 6 pm on January 1.
Ostrava will also do without the traditional and spectacular fireworks display on New Year’s Day. The most populous district of Ostrava-South traditionally organized the event, and people came from all over the area. However, the community is considering holding the event at a different date later in the year, once the pandemic has subsided.
This is the second year in a row that Pilsen will be without official fireworks. The Central City District has always held it in the early evening of New Year’s Eve, and it was connected with a children’s disco. Mladá Boleslav also canceled its traditional New Year’s Eve celebrations.
For many years, the towns in South Bohemian towns have not usually held mass celebrations at the end of the year in the town square. Protivín, for example, is an exception, as it will again keep a large fireworks display on January 1.
Show from Větruše
Ústí nad Labem is planning a roughly ten-minute New Year’s fireworks show at 6 pm, launched from the top of Větruše. “The location was chosen so that it would be visible from a large part of the city, and there would be no crowding of visitors,” the city council said.
Several towns in Central Bohemia are also planning public fireworks displays until the New Year. For example, Kladno, the largest city in Central Bohemia, plans such a New Year’s Eve celebration. A similar spectacle with music should also take place in Venice nad Jizerou. Kolín is also designing a New Year’s fireworks display from 6 pm.