The Saltwater Fireworks Festival features innovations: fluorescent SpongeBob and Valentine’s cannon forts

▲ The Valentine’s Day-limited “LOVE”-themed cannon fort. (Photo / from2014 Tainan Saltwater Fireworks Festival Fangmao Auto Industry Cannon Fort, Yaxian Family Cannon Fort Facebook fan page)

Tourism Center / Comprehensive Report

The 2014 Saltwater Fireworks Festival will return on the 13th and 14th (the 14th and 15th of the lunar calendar, coinciding with the Lantern Festival)! Following up on the 2013 SpongeBob cannon fort, this year adds a fluorescent element and even has the originally seated SpongeBob standing up; additionally, since the Lantern Festival coincides with Valentine’s Day this year, a special Valentine’s cannon fort featuring the word “LOVE” has been added.


▲ The 2013 (top left) and 2014 (top right) SpongeBobs not only feature LED elements but have also changed from a sitting to a standing pose. (Photo / from2014 Tainan Saltwater Fireworks Festival Fangmao Auto Industry Cannon Fort, Yaxian Family Cannon Fort Facebook fan page)

The SpongeBob cannon fort, which is taller than two people, is 20 feet long, 2 feet high, and cost over NT$100,000 to make. Following its sensational debut last year, it’s back in action again this year—but this time, instead of sitting, it’s standing, and equipped with LED lights, merging lantern and cannon fort into an innovative fusion style. It will be launched on the evening of the 14th day of the lunar calendar at 10 PM.

Meanwhile, the Valentine’s Day-limited LOVE lantern-cannon fort also combines the creative idea of lanterns with a cannon fort, and will be launched on the Lantern Festival, which is also Western Valentine’s Day.

The event will start at 8 AM on the first day, the 13th, and at 7:30 AM on the 14th. Both nights’ parades will begin at 6 PM. In addition to over 200 large and small cannon forts, there will also be dazzling aerial fireworks displays. This year’s main cannon fort features a 48-foot-long, 12-foot-high design of “Guan Yu Riding the Red Hare.”