Fireworks at Riverfire will be scaled back

Fireworks at this year’s Riverfire will be scaled back, but organisers say it has nothing to do with a petition for the event to be scrapped.

SUNSUPER Riverfire has been scaled back, but it has nothing to do with a petition calling for the Brisbane Festival finale to be cancelled.

More than 16,000 people have now signed an e-petition demanding the fireworks be scrapped and the money used to help drought-stricken communities.

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A petition to cancel Riverfire has been signed by more than 16,000 people. Picture: Image AAP/Steve Pohlner

But launching Riverfire yesterday, Brisbane Festival artistic director David Berthold said many businesses around the city needed the fireworks to survive.

“From butchers to bars, clubs and restaurants, this is their biggest night of the year and their livelihood depends on it,” he said.

Story Bridge fireworks have been “narrowed” to provide a “clearance zone” between with venues such as Fantauzzo Hotel at Howard Smith Wharves.

Mr Berthold said this year fireworks would be attached to jet skis, two tugboats would perform a “tugboat ballet”, there would be the super hornet and Globemaster flyover and a 1989 hits soundtrack as a nod to the 30th anniversary of Brisbane Riverstage.

But Story Bridge fireworks will still go ahead but have taken a cut and will be pushed back by five metres to ensure the correct distance between venues at Howard Smith Wharves and the fireworks.