Login / RegisterCanucks fans take to the streets to clean up downtown Vancouver after Stanley Cup riot
The stench of urine was still in the air along Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver this morning.
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But that didn't stop an army of well-intentioned citizens from trying to take back their city in the aftermath of last night's Stanley Cup riot.
One Canucks fan, Ward Grant, posted a sign on the boarded Bay window with a simple message: "On Behalf of my team and my city, I'm sorry!"
Grant told the Straight that the damage "isn't what this city is about".
"I don't want this to be a reflection on us all," he said.
Ward Grant says "show your support for the good people of Vancouver".
As Grant posted his message, a spontaneous cheer erupted from people watching on the Granville Street sidewalk.
Then he urged those who agreed with him to post their own messages on the wall. Some pulled pens out of their pockets and started writing on the wooden board.
Ward Grant wants people to heed his call to send a message to rioters.
Others could be seen sweeping up the mess at a shattered bus stop near the corner of Georgia and Homer streets. Behind them were boarded windows at a Bank of Montreal branch, which was targeted by rioters.
Over on Seymour Street, Canucks fan Anna Klering was quietly filling a black garbage bag when the Straight caught up with her.
Anna Klering says real Canucks fans are not hooligans.
Klering said she and others began tidying up the streets at 7 a.m.
"These are the real Canucks fans," Klering commented. "These are the real Vancouverites. Also, I just want to say the city has done a great job so far. The volunteers have done a great job so far cleaning it up."
Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.
Accept the fact that most Canook fans behaved boorishly throughout the playoffs , a fact noted by many media outlets.
Time to fix this or no more fun
I'm not sorry at all. I think it's time to call a spade a spade and point out that most of the violent rioters were not Vancouverites, but most likely people in from the exuburbs -- from Langley, Abbotsford, and Surrey. These municipalities should be apologizing to us and paying to clean up their mess.
There it is again, the theory that "bridge and tunnel people" are responsible for everything that goes wrong in Vancouver.
Your theory is wrong. There were a lot of Vancouverites involved in this.
Interesting that both Surrey & Abbotsford held large celebrations for thousands of people with zero problems. So much for blaming the 'burbs for your problems.
Just because there were some relatively small public viewing events in 2 suburbs doesn't mean all the citizens of those cities stayed there.
As for those events being problem-free, the smaller crowds couldn't afford any hooligans the feeling of anonymity (false feeling, anyway) they needed. Thus the influx into the city centre. Hooligans like to go where the action is, and they knew there'd be none in Surrey or Abby.
Besides - like Vancouverites, they are proud of their own cities and wouldn't want to smash them up.
that's right it's all the rest of us from over the bridges, NOT, how many from Vancouver, North Van, West Van, Burnaby, New West. POCO, all over the LOWER MAINLAND. Surrey held a great show in the middle of Surrey with no incidents - we had to send our police down to protect Your area.
Your just another loser.
I got some fellow artists together to make a chalk mural at the site. There was a steel drum band playing and tons of people joined in. The atmosphere was overwhelmingly positive