This year, Canada Day falls on a Tuesday—slightly disappointing at first glance. But with careful planning and a few strategically used vacation days, you can settle nicely into a long weekend of your own creation.
Canada Day, Euro 2008, jazz festival, and car shows are a few of the ways you can take advantage of the city. So forget about hanging around the house, this weekend is meant to be spent outdoors.
Pipe bands, Celtic music, Scotch whisky, and Scottish food are all to be enjoyed at the B.C. Highland Games, all-day Saturday at Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam.
If enjoying the Scottish delicacy haggis is not on your to-do list, then make your way to the Show & Shine. Restored vintage cars and motorcycles will be featured, along with live music and kid’s face-painting from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday at Great Bear Pub in Burnaby.
To keep your night just as eventful as the day, try the Terminal City Rollergirls, Vancouver’s first female flat-track roller-derby league. Complete with beer garden, it’s a nice shake-up for a Saturday night. The rolling starts at 6:30 p.m. at Minrou Arena in Richmond.
Sometimes the best way to wind down a night is with an old-fashioned cocktail and a little jazz. With the jazz festival happening all-weekend-long there is no shortage of great live shows to go to.
Sunday is the day for sports fanatics. If you have spent any time near Commercial Drive the past couple of weeks, you know all too well that soccer fever has hit our fair city. What better way and better place to enjoy the finals for Euro 2008 than at the Rio on Broadway. Tickets are only $5 and proceeds will be donated to the SOS Children’s Village B.C.
If cheering for either Germany or Spain in the finals makes you just mourn the loss of your soccer team, then use the afternoon to take in a good old ball game. The Vancouver Canadians host the Eugene Emeralds at Nat Bailey Stadium. Sunday’s first pitch is at 1:05 p.m.
Hope you have some energy left, because this year Canada Day is full of activities for everyone in the city. One of the biggest celebrations is at Canada Place with great Canadian acts such as 54-40 and pop-opera trio Destino. There is also a 10-kilometre run, an extreme air show, West Coast acrobatics, a national-anthem singing competition, and fireworks presented by the Burrard Inlet Fireworks Society.
Canada Day celebrations are also happening at Granville Island. There will be a parade, jazz music, and great food and deals at restaurants.
Robson Street will also be hosting a bevy of Canada day events from 12 to 6 p.m.
Communities all around Vancouver will be hosting Canada Day celebrations as well. In Surrey, celebrate with the entire family at Surrey’s Cloverdale Millennium Amphitheatre. The day will be packed with family-oriented games, amusement rides, a tribute to Quebec’s 400th anniversary, a classic-rock double bill featuring Loverboy and Vancouver’s own the Payola$, and, finishing it all off, a fireworks display. It’s all happening at the main stage.
In North Vancouver, the Rotary Club of Lions Gate is hosting a popular family event which will include folk-dancing lessons, maple-taffy sampling, and a chance to see a solar-powered vehicle.
If the plan is to get out of the city for the weekend, then make your way up to Whistler. The mountain will kick-off its Canada Day celebrations with an annual parade beginning at noon at the Whistler Public Library. This year’s parade will be completely nonmotorized, in line with its theme of “Sport, Culture & Sustainability—Whistler Style”. The apres-parade party at the base of Blackcomb starts at 2:00 p.m.
The sun will be shining, the birds will be chirping, and with a guide to the long weekend there is no excuse to not get out there and have fun.
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I was sitting at home yesterday evening, when, for no reason at all, I began to have shortness of breath and heart palpitations. It felt like my heart was beating twice as hard and twice as often. As a healthy, active, 25 year old, this was incredibly shocking to me, and I headed to Surrey Memorial Hospital's Emergency Room. I didn't have to wait long before I was brought in for an ECG and X-rays and the like. The treatment was quick and friendly and the staff at SMH were wonderful.
In case you were wondering, no this isn't a story about Surrey Memorial.. I think we've all heard enough of those for a while...
After I followed the green line on the floor from emergency to the Minor Treatment Unit, and then the blue line from the MTU to X-ray (and back again), I was told to sit and wait for my results. Which is what I did... soon after I sat down, I noticed a young man walk into the MTU. Id noticed him in the ER earlier that evening. He was 5'8, blond shaved hair, wearing long jean shorts, square framed glasses and a button up blue and white shirt with only one arm through the sleeves. His right shoulder, hanging low, clearly dislocated. He was by himself. (I was fortunate to have my mother, a nurse at SMH, there to keep me company, and for some calming reassurance). As he walked in he smiled, not just at me, but in general. I wondered how someone who was clearly in so much pain, could still be so happy.
Sat down in a chair near me, cringing a bit in pain as he sat. The big screen TV in the waiting room was set to Debby Travis' Face Lift. People chatted amongst themselves as they scanned the room, taking in everyone else's injuries, and how they may effect their place in the urgency lineup.
After some time, I commented on how to bump myself up in line. The young man with the dislocated shoulder offered to call his cousin to bring doughnuts as a bribe.
Later we both vented our frustration at the number of times we had seen the Band aide Brand commercial in our time sitting there, and how irritating the jingle had gotten. I was covered in ECG test spots, and we wondered if THEY were band aide brand.. they sure were 'stuck on me'.
After midnight, he noticed that we were celebrating Canada Day together. Other people in the waiting room laughed..... all things considered, I really did enjoy ringing in Canada Day with him...
He told me how he had hurt his shoulder, playing hockey. He told me that this wasn't the first time but he didn't want to have surgery, and that he'd learn to handle the puck with only ONE arm if he had to.... although I'm sure he was being sarcastic.
When I finally was called in to see the doctor he said, "Congratulations!" (I'd been chosen)...
It turns out I will live after all....
When I left the MTU the young man with the dislocated shoulder was still waiting..... still smiling.... he waved at me (with his good arm) and said "Take care!" ....I waved back...
The whole way home I thought about him........ his smile, his positive attitude... his friendly nature... his sarcastic humour.. the way he helped me, and likely many others in the waiting room, enjoy ringing in Canada Day.
I thought about jumping in my car and heading back to the MTU at Surrey Memorial...
I don't know his name...
I don't know where he is from...
All I know is that he made me smile. And I want to thank him....and I hope his shoulder is OK...
I don't know if this story will reach you... or if you will have any interest in it... but I felt compelled to write it. It isn't often, in the random life, that someone comes into your path that makes a difference in such a big way, by just being themselves... and I wish I had said thank you then...
Thank you for reading this story. I hope, where ever you are, that you enjoy your Canada Day.
Helen Clare