Canada Day organizers hope Vancouver’s post-riot dark clouds lift

VANCOUVER — Event planners hope the fair weather expected for Canada’s 144th birthday will whisk away the dark cloud that’s been hanging over Vancouver since last week’s riot.

More than 200,000 people are expected to attend the city’s Canada Day celebrations, far surpassing the crowd that descended on downtown streets for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. The hugely popular event is the first to test the post-riot event planning efforts of Vancouver’s public authorities.

“We are certainly cognizant of the activities of last week and are working closely with the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver police department, emergency services and our security teams,” said Brett Calder, a communications manager with Canada Place.

This year’s festivities will include a parade featuring 2,200 participants, a party on the waterfront near Canada Place, and an evening fireworks display.

“It’s really a family-focused community event,” said Calder, who added, “it’s a great time for Vancouverites to celebrate.”

Depending on weather, the number of attendees could soar.

“It’s generally looking like a fairly good forecast for Canada Day and into that weekend,” said Chris Scott, a meteorologist with the Weather Network.

“We’re not looking at a heat wave,” said Scott. “[But] compared to what we’ve had lately, it’s not looking too bad at this point.”

People familiar with the annual parade will notice that a different route is planned for this year. The parade will start on Georgia Street at Broughton and continue to Burrard, where it will turn north and eventually conclude at Hastings.

Planners chose this route for the abundance of viewing space available on Georgia and Burrard streets.

Drew Snider, a public information officer with TransLink, said the city’s transit services will be upped as required to meet the excess demand.

“[TransLink] will have additional trains operating during the day, especially before the fireworks,” said Snider, who added that two SeaBuses will be servicing the North Shore.

Snider said buses that normally run on Granville and Burrard streets will be detoured via Seymour going north and Richards going south.

Past years’ Canada Day celebrations have had their share of problems, with drunken brawls, countless liquor pour-outs and plenty of other offences, but nothing on the scale of last Wednesday’s riot.

VPD has yet to reveal any preparations around the event.

“Every event is different and we assess those on an event by event basis. The planning for those events is an ongoing process,” wrote Const. Lindsey Houghton, a spokesman for the VPD, in an email.