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.

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