Brilliant, soaring fireworks burst over Victoria’s Inner Harbour Saturday night, closing out a day of Canada-wide 150th birthday celebrations.
The vivid colours exploded in magical patterns, lighting up the faces of thousands of people who had gathered in downtown Victoria.
Around the capital region, the weather was just right, sunny during the day with temperatures in the 20s, and in the high teens in the evening.
Throughout the day, families stretched out on blankets or set up camp chairs to listen to musical performances. People lined up for lemonade and kettle corn, tacos and mini-doughnuts.
There was a noticeable security presence, with patrolling police officers a constant presence in the crowd. Trucks and a bus blocked streets leading to the legislature. Temporary fencing was everywhere, keeping people to designated gathering areas. Victoria Police Department posted several videos showing officers pouring alcohol onto the ground, emphasizing that public consumption of alcohol isn’t allowed.
More than 5,000 people created the Coast Capital Living Flag on the lawn of the B.C. legislature. Decked in red and white T-shirts, they squeezed into colour-coded sections as Victoria attempted to make history by creating the biggest living flag in Canada.
As the photo was taken, cheers erupted and the flag-waving crowd burst into an impromptu, uninhibited version of O Canada.
International students Yan Goa and Zhe Lee have lived in Victoria for four years. They came down to celebrate Canada Day with their Canadian friends, joining the crush of red shirts on the lawn of the B.C. legislature.
“It’s very fun because people gather together voluntarily,” Goa said.
“It’s not like somebody forces anybody to be here. We just want to be here to celebrate from the bottom of our hearts.”
“I really love Canada. It’s a great, great country. It’s very inclusive and very diverse and very peaceful.”
“The living flag is the moment people get together and are unified together to show they love their country and we all love this country,” Zee said.
Being part of the living flag is amazing, said Ellen Fung, who came to Canada in 1991.
“It’s 150 years and we are so proud to be Canadian and so happy and so blessed,” she said, handing out T-shirts to a long line of people snaking round the lawn of the legislature.
“Some are really picky, just like shopping,” she said with a laugh. “They pick it up, they measure it. They don’t really want white ones. Most people want the red ones. Everybody loves the red and they’re happy.”
Debbie Fulton of Victoria joined in the creation of the flag with her guests from the United Kingdom, Jenny and James Barrass. Their daughter was singing in the Valdy choir, which performed at the festivities.
“We’ve never done it before,” Jenny said. “It’s very special. It’s a very special time. It’s all different nationalities, all coming together.”
James added: “One hundred and fifty is a pretty young country. It’s pretty good to be here.”
Photographer and filmmaker Arnold Lim has photographed the living flag for years. This year, he wanted to be part of it.
“Being a documentarian, sometimes you feel a little excluded from being involved in some of the activities. And being a very proud Canadian, especially in its 150th year, is something I really wanted to do,” Lim said.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps joined in the event for the first time. Helps said she challenged the cities of Winnipeg and Calgary to see who could have the most people in their living flag.
“I think we’re going to win,” she said. “I think we’re going to be bigger than Winnipeg and bigger than Calgary. We issued challenges to mayors [Naheed] Nenshi and [Brian] Bowman and we want to win.”
By 5 p.m., Helps was happy to report Victoria had more than 5,000 people, Winnipeg had 3,300 and Calgary 3,100.
“Victoria is always up for a competition and today we showed that we can compete,” said Alan Lowe, chairman of the Greater Victoria Spirit Committee. “Victorians have made us all proud.”
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* Update, July 1, 2:30 p.m.: The lineup for the red and white Living Flag T-shirts snaked all the way around the lawn of the legislature. Thousands squeezed cheek by jowl to form the Canadian flag. Those with the best view were in a crane, high above the cheering flag waving crowd.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps wearing a red T-shirt said she had challenged the mayors of two other cities to have more people turn out for their living flag. Once the massive photo op was over, the crowd spontaneously burst into O Canada. A crowd count wasn’t immediately available to boast about.
Thousands jammed Government Street in the early afternoon to hear the Arkells perform a brief preview of their show. It was recorded for later broadcast on CBC. The Arkells will perform their full show starting at 9:15 p.m. tonight.
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• Update, June 30, 9:30 p.m.: Thousands of people crowded onto the legislature lawn and spilled into surrounding streets Friday night to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday. Tegan and Sara, the headline music act for the night, had people dancing, and had them cheering as the sisters reminisced about coming to Vancouver Island at the beginning of their musical careers two decades ago.
Lines of people snaked in front of food trucks and merchandise tents along Belleville Street, next to the legislature lawn.
There was a noticeable security presence, with patrolling police officers a constant presence in the crowd. Trucks and a bus blocked streets leading to the legislature. Temporary fencing was everywhere, keeping people to designated gathering areas.
The celebration continues Saturday, with entertainment starting at 12:30 p.m. The Arkells are the headline act. Their show starts at 9:15 p.m. Fireworks are at 10:15 p.m.
A federal grant of about $400,000 is paying for the celebration, which is spanning 11 days.
Detailed Spirit of 150 Victoria schedule for Saturday is below.
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The 11-day Spirit of 150 Victoria festival hits its peak this weekend, with two days of concerts on the legislature lawns and a fireworks display expected to be one of the most elaborate in Greater Victoria history.
The two-day finale features concerts on two stages, including headlining appearances by Juno Award winners Tegan and Sara (tonight, 8:30) and Arkells (Saturday, 9:15 p.m.), and will be capped with fireworks at 10:15 p.m. Saturday.
About 50,000 people are expected in downtown Victoria on Saturday to celebrate Canada’s sesquicentennial.
Officers from several municipalities will assist Victoria police with crowd control and enforcement. Temporary surveillance cameras are being used on Friday and Saturday, while foot-patrol officers will be centralized in the downtown core on Saturday.
“While we don’t discuss our specific operational plans for events, VicPD continues to monitor the various incidents that have recently occurred around the world; we are confident in our security plan for the Spirit of 150 events,” said Victoria police spokesman Const. Matt Rutherford.
The fact that Canada Day falls on a weekend this year means more policing is necessary.
“We’ve found that on weekdays, when people have to get to work the next day, the numbers and energy and drinking are kept to a minimum,” said Victoria Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe, who has helped organize local Canada Day festivities for the past 17 years.
“We expect a larger crowd because it’s the weekend.”
Portions of Government, Wharf and Belleville streets will be closed to car traffic starting this morning.
B.C. Transit will run a regular Saturday schedule on Canada Day, adding buses as required, with amended routes and departure times in effect.
Some stops around the legislature will close at 10 p.m. Saturday, while others will be relocated. On Saturday night, the last buses will leave downtown between 1:15 a.m. and 1:30 a.m.
Alcohol will not be permitted on buses, including alcohol in closed containers.
Victoria police will revive the Twitter hashtag #vicpdhelps on both evenings for people to report non-emergency incidents. Roadblocks to stop drunk drivers will be erected in neighbouring areas.
“Canada Day is a day to celebrate your pride of being Canadian, your heritage,” Thornton-Joe said. “It is not about a party, but a respectful celebration.”
About 100 free performances have been staged during the event, which began June 21. Six hundred performers were involved in bringing between seven and 10 hours of programming to the stage each day.
Portions of Victoria’s Canada Day event will be shown on CBC-TV as part of its three-hour broadcast from Parliament Hill.
The main stage on the B.C. legislature lawn will be in operation Friday from 5:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. and Saturday from 3 p.m. until 10:30 p.m.
The Coast Capital Savings Living Flag ceremony will take place on the legislature lawn at 2 p.m. on Canada Day. The number of participants wearing red and white T-shirts, to assemble the “living” Canadian flag, is expected to top 5,000 for the first time. People interested in being a part of the flag can start picking up their red or white shirts at noon; assembly of the flag starts at 1:30 p.m.
For more information, go to spirit150victoria.ca.
— Mike Devlin, with Katie DeRosa
