Vancouver Celebration of Light
If you were looking forward to photos from the fireworks, WRONG.
The Vancouver Celebration of Light, or more commonly referred to as “The Fireworks” in Vancouver, has been an annual event for as long as I’ve lived in the Metropolitan Vancouver area. I think it’s been going on before I moved to this place.
When I was younger I was a great fan of this event, as this gave us a great excuse to be downtown late at night among thousands of people (and this was quite a nice contract to the small town called Tsawwassen, which is the shithole town in which I went to highschool). We would take the #601 Bus, ride it out to downtown Vancouver, run down Davie Street and hit English Bay, and watch the frenzy of lights in the sky.
Each year there are 4 fireworks - Wednesday/Saturday/Wednesday/Saturday is the 2 week cycle by which it runs, and most of the years I went at least twice a year. I think there was one year when I went to all 4 of them! However since last year (I went just once last year) I’ve grown sick of them. It’s too crowded, and they’re only fireworks. I don’t watch TV because I don’t care for any more drama and craziness in my life (I’m busy enough with business and work), and I’ve been around the world a lot through different continents and cultures. Why the hell would some exploding dust-balls of nitrogen and sulphur mixed with odd metals such as copper and zinc and beyond entertain me so much? Not at all.
If anything, The Fireworks has become a time of craziness where the downtown traffic is more or less paralyzed, all the parking spots are taken (not that I need to drive to it - I live downtown), too many people get on the streets and litter, and the sight of all these wanna-be suburbia trash donning beers and mickeys of vodka just makes me laugh. Now that I think of it, I was the “wanna-be suburbia trash donning beers and mickeys of vodka” stereotype when I was going to highschool in that small isolated town, but it doesn’t matter anymore.
In any case. I’m sick of this, and Vancouver needs a better event that excites people. This tradition has gone long enough. The only reason this attracts people at 5 figures each year is because there’s not much special that happens in Vancouver. I wouldn’t call it a boring city - it’s got its beauties and fun nightlife, but in terms of events and celebrations, it’s been relying on the same thing for way too long.
I lived in Bellingham, WA from 1990-1993 and SE of Seattle since 1993 and have never heard of the fireworks in Vancouver.
Interesting. We loved Stanley Park because my 18yo was 2 years old back then and the park was a terrififc place to take the tots.
I do not drink alcohol and public drinking is not my thing. I grew up in the ‘burbs of one city or another but never wanted to hit thise cities.
Maybe you’ve grown out of enjoying the drunken revelry with strangers? Just a thought.
Grown out of it quite a bit, yes… I still drink, I’m no saint. But I prefer to do it in bars and clubs, instead of taking my testosterone out on the streets, being beligerent (like a lot of the kids are during the fireworks).
I don’t think the Fireworks were around back in the early 90’s - it’s an HSBC sponsored event, probably less than 10 years old… But in any case. I’ve gone there 4 years in a row or so and I’m far done… It’s beginning in 4 minutes and I’m sitting in front of my computer doing work.
OH and Stanley Park is still beautiful - I started going for bike rides around Stanley Park and it’s spectacular!!
The fireworks bring in a huge audience, but so do many of the other festivals that we have around this city. The Jazz festival is always a hit, so is Bard on the Beach and other things.
I too hate the stupid traffic that happens with the fireworks and that’s why I went to Jericho Beach to watch them (just the finale, I didn’t go to the other 3 shows) this year. Far less crowded, parking only one block away, and no random drunk people. On the downside, I’m seeing the rear end of the barge.
On a side note, if anyone DID come to this post looking for pictures and feels disappointed, you can find a couple of pics and a video at my blog. (Shameless plug alert)
http://btr.michaelkwan.com/2007/08/05/the-fireworks-finale-from-jericho-beach.aspx
Your blog’s in ASP??
And don’t worry about the link - as long as it’s not about Cialis or Viagra I’m good with that.
Well, a future event would have to include naked women.
Of course not! We’d have to be “family friendly”- all of the members of the family enjoy leering at scantily-clad women- it is a great opportunity for the male and female members of the family to bond!
Seriously, it’s not too good if a city puts all of its eggs in one basket- it sounds to me like they need to start promoting other things as well..
“Why the hell would some exploding dust-balls of nitrogen and sulphur mixed with odd metals such as copper and zinc and beyond entertain me so much? Not at all.”
LOL You make me laugh so much with your natural humorous everyday banter:)
You write what you feel without thought of how to put it in word—it justs seems to cums so naturally for you!
Keep it up!;)