Canada Day at Canada Place, Vancouver

We decided to meet up with friends and check out the festivities for Canada Day at Canada Place this year.  In previous years the kids’ bouncy castles, games, face painting, etc., were under the five sails inside Canada Place.  This year they were all moved to Harbour Green Park along the Coal Harbour Seawall.  This was actually a better location.  The weather was not the greatest with mostly clouds and a bit of rain, so not many kids actually went in the water park, but the washrooms were handy, the restaurant was very busy, and families had a lot of space along the park, to just hang out.

 

We met at Thurlow and Cordova, which was lined with several food stalls.  The prices were actually reasonable (unlike most of the food vendors at the PNE) and the food was okay.  We had a bucket of fish and fries and some mini donuts.

 

The plaza around the Olympic Torch (which was relit for the day) was buzzing with activity and several different tents.  CTV had a tent and also set up a giant TV screen to replay many of the highlights of Canadians winning medals during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.  It seemed to be appropriate considering it was Canada Day and the crowds were already feeling national pride.  The also replayed the entire gold-winning final men’s hockey game.  Coast Capital Savings had a tent sent up to give out free spongy red visors and Canada flag tattoos for the kids.  They also offered free face painting.

 

One of the highlights for me was talking to some of the Terminal City Rollergirls, Vancouver’s first women’s roller-derby league.  A few friends and I went to watch our first match a couple of weeks ago at Minoru Arena in Richmond and we had a great time.  I took a few pictures with one of the girls and then my daughter wanted her picture taken with one of them too.

The street along running along the new convention centre, all the way up to Canada Place and five sails was full of info and food booths.  We stopped at the BC Ferries booth and got a free one-way adult ferry ride coupon, valid until March 2011.  Teletoon, a popular kid’s TV station, had a section of tents set up.  They had games, a Lego section and several laptop computers set up for kids to play games on.

 

We didn’t stay for the whole day, as the crowds were getting thicker, and we were invited to a friend’s BBQ in the West End.  I heard the fireworks from my apartment, and several people said they were worth going back to watch.