In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river.

CNN: Obama's inaugural speech

The National Capital Commission's (NCC) Guy Laflamme, one of the festival's organizers, said the opening will be "bigger than ever" featuring "a huge cascade of pyrotechnical effects" pouring from the Alexandra Bridge into the icy river.

BBC: Embracing winter in Ottawa

You may not remember: Lenny Skutnik became momentarily famous in 1982 after an Air Florida plane crashed into the icy Potomac River in Washington, D.

FORBES: Small Business Owners Should Be Obama's Lenny Skutnik

Icy water from a nearby river then cools the gas back to liquid form, to start the cycle again.

ECONOMIST: Geologists are getting more juice out of the ground

Looking down on the river he saw one girl in the icy water and her sister trying to pull her out.

CNN: Hero dog helps pull girl from icy river