Between the final, Walt-Disney-sized installment of the Honda Celebration of Light Saturday night and the Vancouver Pride parade and festival on Sunday, the B.C. Day long weekend promises to be the busiest of the year in Vancouver’s West End.
Crowds were already gathering at English Bay and Kitsilano beaches hours before noon on Saturday, and roughly half a million people were expected to converge on the area by the time the fireworks began.
One group of early arrivers - Lindsay Wilmshurst, Paige Moniz, and Tayler Fuller - told CTV News they’ve been viewing the fireworks together for six years, always gathering at the same log on the beach in the morning.
This year, because the Team USA fireworks display was being put on by Disney, the group was expecting more than a dozen people to join them.
“Normally, we don’t have this big of a group of people with us,” Fuller said. “I think because it’s Disney, we have more people that are interested this time.”
Wilmshurst said it wasn’t just her group of friends who were thinking that way.
“I’ve been to the fireworks here for years, and they’re always great, but I think because it’s labeled as being done by Disney, everyone kind of expects it to be better,” she said. “And I think, honestly, if it’s anything like what I’ve seen from Disneyland shows before, it will be.”
Jonathan Carmona was also expecting big things from Saturday night’s fireworks show. The Anaheim resident has family living in Richmond, and the group planned to meet up on the beach wearing their Mickey Mouse ears and other Disney garb.
Carmona said he expected a dazzling fireworks show, one that would match the ones he’s seen in California this year. He said the company has been putting on especially stunning shows this year, to mark its diamond anniversary, and he said his family was looking forward to seeing such a spectacle in their backyard.
“When they come visit, they love going to Disneyland and looking at the fireworks there, so they’re kind of excited that they’re coming here,” Carmona said.
Less than 12 hours after the fireworks were expected to end Saturday, crowds were expected to re-form downtown for the Vancouver Pride Parade.
The large crowd - and the presence of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was scheduled to march in the parade - meant extra security was expected.
Some might expect a heavy police presence to be a source of friction, with Black Lives Matter Vancouver having called for the Vancouver Police Department to withdraw from the parade.
On Saturday, however, BLM Vancouver spokeswoman Cicely-Belle Blain told CTV News her organization had no plans to intervene in the parade in the way Toronto Black Lives Matter activists did in that city.
Blain said BLM Vancouver has had conversations with the Vancouver Pride Society and the VPD, and is pleased with the progress it has been making.
“Now we have a very good relationship with the Pride Society,” Blain said. “We’re definitely looking forward to continuing that relationship with them over the year and perhaps seeing some more exciting changes in 2017.”
Black Lives Matter Vancouver activists acted as grand marshals in the Dyke March on Commercial Drive on Saturday.
Organizer Christine Osgood said BLM was a natural fit for grand marshals of the march, which is about “taking up space for marginalized groups within the queer community.”
“After the events in Orlando and Toronto, it became pretty clear that we needed to listen to this group in our community who were saying they weren’t feeling welcome,” Osgood said. “It was important for us to show solidarity with Black Lives Matter and to say ‘hey, would you be interested in being our grand marshals,’ and we were really happy they said yes.”
