The president and CEO of the PNE, Mike McDaniel, says no exhibitors or protest groups will be permitted to distribute leaflets at the annual fair in Hastings Park.

For the first time in decades, the Fair at the PNE will open with a parade. In a wide-ranging interview with the Georgia Straight in his office at Hastings Park, Pacific National Exhibition president and CEO Mike McDaniel described the event as a “scripted, thematic parade” in Vancouver’s West End, which will differ from the processions that used to travel up Hastings Street in a bygone era.

McDaniel explained that 30 years ago, companies joined parades so that they could communicate with the public. Nowadays, there are much more efficient means for accomplishing this. “We talked to a number of organizations,” he acknowledged. “They said, ”˜We don’t have floats. We don’t have the float in the storage room that we retool every year.’ ”

This year’s parade, which begins at 7 p.m. on Friday (August 20), begins in Stanley Park, and will travel along English Bay to the corner of Beach Avenue and Broughton Street. McDaniel said it will be a “family-friendly event” that has been choreographed to represent what has taken place at the fair over the past century. This is to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the fair. It will include huge, hot-air balloons, similar to those in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. “It’s got a soundtrack,” he said. “It’s got a cast of 2,000.”

The fair will open to the public at Hastings Park on Saturday (August 21) at 11 a.m., and later that day Bryan Adams and the Beach Boys will perform at Empire Field. “The idea is everybody from that concert comes into the fair and joins the 50,000 people on the fair grounds on that opening day,” McDaniel commented. “Our whole method around that is to start off with a bang.”

The annual fair is expected to attract a million visitors between opening day and when it closes on September 6. It’s the largest ticketed event in the province. For a $20 fare-gate pass (discounts are available from various retailers), visitors can also enjoy free entertainment ranging from the Peking Acrobats to summer concerts. This year’s lineup includes Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Michael Bolton, Loverboy, Huey Lewis and the News, Steven Page, and many others.

McDaniel said that this year, the federal government contributed a $2.9-million grant to assist with tourism marketing. That was more than double last year’s $1.3-million federal contribution. “Our market is about 20-percent tourism-based,” he noted. “That’s actually why we got the tourism grant from the federal government.”

McDaniel said there is no connection between the federal funding and the decision to feature exhibits supporting the Canadian Forces. According to the fair’s program, a multimedia display called Afghanistan360 ° allows visitors to “learn about Canada’s role in helping the Government of Afghanistan reshape their country”. In addition, there will be a Canadian Forces exhibit to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada. The fair will also hold a Canadian Navy centennial tattoo event on September 4 at the Pacific Coliseum.

Last year, antiwar protesters were escorted off the fairgrounds when they tried to hand out leaflets opposing Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan. In a phone interview with the Straight, StopWar.ca cochair Derrick O’Keefe said that he thinks it’s “fairly sick” to have displays glorifying war.

“If the PNE is going to host a big display by the army, they have to expect that there will be people with an antiwar message who might show up,” he stated. “As I understand it, it’s within our charter rights to distribute information.”

The PNE is owned by the City of Vancouver, and the fair takes place on publicly owned land. McDaniel maintained that fair officials have the right to prevent people from leafletting, because the fair is a ticketed event. “If you want to go outside of the ticketed event and do something out there on the sidewalk, go for it,” he said. “I don’t care what the message is.”

McDaniel added that the PNE bans all leafletting, including those by exhibitors who rent booths, because this activity creates litter problems. “You have to pay to get in and you have to abide by the rules of that event,” he stated. “And we don’t allow protests inside. We don’t allow fighting inside. We don’t allow a bunch of stuff inside.”

Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.