Silent 9 O'clock Gun in Stanley Park

Comments 5 by Rebecca Bollwitt

I knew there was something missing but I never realized it until now, well until my sister sent me a text message this morning. Aside from the garbage piling up, libraries being shut down and public pools not being filled with youngsters splashing around, there’s something else that’s happening because of the civic strike in Vancouver. Actually, it’s something that’s not happening concerning the 9 o’clock gun.

9 olock gunIt’s been a fixture on the Seawall for over 100 years, it was made just one year after Napolean was defeated at Waterloo.

[…]

Park Board general manager Susan Mundick said there’s a specially trained person who looks after the charges. “Because of the strike, that person is not working at this point and so the gun will not fire until the staff return to work and can package up the gun powder and put it into the gun.” [News1130]

You’ll hear the cannon fire at 9:00 every evening, its booming sound echoing and ricocheting off high rises downtown and often heard from far and wide. If you’re in Coal Harbour looking over at Stanley Park when it happens you’ll also notice a plume of spoke, but not anymore. Obviously I can survive without the gun (although I like it so much that I wrote about it in April 06), but it’s just ‘one of those Vancouver things’ that you can count on every day, like the “O! Canada” horns at noon.

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5 Comments  —  Comments Are Closed

  1. J LFriday, August 24th, 2007 — 10:00am PDT

    At least they’re still enforcing the parking tickets, happy days!!

  2. wynFriday, August 24th, 2007 — 10:02am PDT

    Wow. Up until now, I thought 9’oclock gun was in the morning! I see….! (Back home it was a noon cannon from the Citadel – no ambiguity about when!)

    Speaking of pools, seagulls have taken over from the moment they were closed down. I can only imagine the carnage so far….

  3. gusgreeperFriday, August 24th, 2007 — 11:13am PDT

    my land lord won’t let us recycle.

  4. Keira-AnneFriday, August 24th, 2007 — 3:18pm PDT

    Why have I never noticed the 9pm gun before? I’ve lived in the West End for more than three years…

  5. fotoeinsSunday, August 26th, 2007 — 5:14pm PDT

    Aaaaaah!

    Whenever I come home, there are 2 auditory things upon which I always rely, no matter where I am in the city of Vancouver proper:

    * the first four notes of O’Canada at full-volume at noon, and
    * echoing boom from the 9’O Clock Gun.

    Oddly enough, I heard these two when the inside+outside strike was already in effect while I was in town at the beginning of August.

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