Vancouverites will have to wait until December 31, 2015 to see the return of a large-scale New Year’s Eve celebration in the city’s downtown.
The Vancouver New Year’s Eve Celebration Society had been planning a family-friendly party and midnight fireworks show at Jack Poole Plaza to ring in 2015, but it has decided to cancel the event after failing to raise the necessary funds to put it on.
“We fell short of our fundraising goal of approximately $300,000 to be able to host what we would feel most comfortable with that would match the expectations that Vancouverites would have of a New Year’s Eve celebration on the Waterfront,” society chairman Charles Gauthier told CTV News.
That doesn’t mean the idea is dead, however. Gauthier said the society now plans to hold its first New Year’s Eve celebration next year.
The society raised about two-thirds of its $300,000 goal, he said, and it is seeking corporate partners to provide the rest.
Gauthier said his group is disappointed that it didn’t meet its funding goal, but pleased with the things it did accomplish, including garnering the support of the city and the police department, which will have to provide some coverage for the event on an already busy night.
“I’m really buoyed by the support that we have from the members around the table that have said, ‘We’re in this for next year,’” he said.
