Police say crowds were well-behaved during the opening night of the English Bay summer fireworks extravaganza on Wednesday. (CBC)

Hundreds of thousands of people crowded onto the shores of English Bay on Wednesday night for the start of the annual Celebration of Light fireworks display.

Vancouver police Const. Tim Fanning said officers only had to make eight arrests and dealt with just one fight, leading police to hope families were finally reclaiming the four-night event.

But police still had their hands full, seizing and dumping 241 bottles of liquor, confiscating eight weapons — ranging from knives to a replica handgun and bear spray — and making five drug seizures, said Fanning.

Over at the new bike valet service, there was not as much for staff to do. Organizers had hoped 1,000 people would leave their cars at home and ride their bikes and, like a coat-check, drop off their bikes inside the tennis courts at Stanley Park and Kits Beach and retrieve them after the fireworks.

But only 15 bikes were checked into the service operated by the bike advocacy group called BEST, Better Environmentally Sound Transportation.

About 350,000 people were expected to watch opening night of the popular summer event from the shores of English Bay.

The four-night international fireworks festival was kicked off by a Canadian show called Attack featuring music from the old Godzilla movies. The U.S. team performs Saturday, followed by China on July 30 and the grand finale, featuring all three teams, on Saturday, August 2.