A million people expected in downtown Vancouver this weekend
Posted Jul 29, 2011 03:45:21 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The downtown core will be packed like sardines this weekend. Nearly one million people are expected to crowd into the West End, first for the Celebration of Light and, 12 hours later, the Pride Parade.
So how are clean-up crews going to deal with such a tight turn-around between the two events? With 21 years of experience under their belts, they have the fireworks clean-up down to a science.
“Some crews are down there immediately after the event, but the large chunk of the work starts first thing in the morning. Just as the sun is coming up, we have crews picking up garbage and we also have the big sifting machines,” says Aaron Jasper with the Vancouver Park Board.
To help cut down on the mounds of garbage this year he says they’ll be placing dozens of new zero waste stations along English Bay and Kits Beach.
“Each of the 30 stations will have the ability to accept mixed paper, refundable containers, or even food waste.”
Jasper is asking people not to dig holes in the sand because it slows down the clean-up process. He also reminds spectators to treat English Bay like their own backyard, because that’s what it is for thousands of West Enders.
Pride Parade
One of Vancouver’s most colourful events, the Pride Parade, will wind its way through the West End on Sunday and the finishing touches are still being put on some of the 150 floats. Ken Coolen is the President of the Vancouver Pride Society and expects more than 500,000 people will pack into the West End.
“The official parade starts at noon,” he explains. “But there are going to be lots of acitivites going on on the streets of the parade route starting at about 11:20 a.m., so definitely get down there early.”
“It continues to put Vancouver on the map as the pinnacle of what human rights can be for our community,” says Coolen. “The Pride Parade is based in a root of human rights, and we still try to focus on that as much as possible.”
“All we can do is hope the sun agrees with us,” he adds.
Fireworks
Tomorrow, China kicks off this year’s Celebration of Light fireworks shows. Project manager Andrea Dowd-Dever tells us the theme is “China Storm.”
“That gives you a little bit of an idea of what we’re going to be seeing,” she says. “It tells the journey of the 24 seasons of the solar year. So, it’s based a bit on Chinese Astrology.”
As for the crowd, Dowd-Dever is expecting a big one. “We’re expecting to see crowds pretty consistent with previous years, I would think. Somewhere in the 300,000-person range between English Bay and the Kits/Vanier Park viewing areas.”
The fireworks start at 10 p.m. and last for about half an hour. Spain is up next on Wednesday. Canada wraps up this year’s Celebration of Light next Saturday.
Every summer, huge crowds pack the beaches to watch the fireworks and Translink is tweaking its service.
The SeaBus will run two vessels every 15 minutes until midnight. West Vancouver will add 15 extra buses.
All three SkyTrain lines will run at rush-hour service levels late into the night. No bicycles will be allowed on the trains until the lineups go down. The West Coast Express will operate a special train on Saturday, August 6 for the finale of the Celebration of Light. The train departs Mission at 7 p.m. and leaves Waterfront for the return trip at midnight.
