LiveCity for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games is the name for the public celebration sites that will be hosted around downtown Vancouver. Back in March cutbacks were announced but today the City revealed that it’s all about the party.
LiveCity Vancouver includes two dynamic celebration sites in downtown Vancouver that will be open to the public for family fun, entertainment, activities and more – all free of charge – during the 2010 Winter Games. The heart of LiveCity will be two sites – at David Lam Park and Georgia Street, respectively – connected by animated pedestrian thoroughfares through Vancouver’s Yaletown district.
Come to LiveCity Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Games and experience:
– High-quality, secure, family-friendly environment that showcases the arts, culture, entertainment and Olympic sponsors
– Schedules and content built around Games-time events
– Events that are open, accessible and free of charge
– Planned on-screen programming on large LED screens showing Olympic and Paralympic events and track the progress of Canadian athletes
– Live programming featuring the very best local, national and international performing artists, as well as special appearances by past and present Olympians, Paralympians and other special guests
Source: City of Vancouver
There will be two sites, LiveCity Yaletown and LiveCity Downtown. LiveCity Yaletown will close at the end of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, while LiveCity Downtown will be open during both the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
David Lam Park – Photo credit: dbarefoot on Flickr
LiveCity Yaletown will have a capacity of about 10,000 and be alcohol-free while LiveCity Downtown will be able to accommodate around 3,000 and serve alcohol. Bands slated to entertain at the live sites include Wilco, Alexisonfire, Sam Roberts Band, Malajube and Blue Rodeo.
I’m glad to see that these free, public events are being planned and you can also check out satellite events in other cities in Metro Vancouver including a wide array of activities at Surrey‘s Holland Park during the Games.
Update February 11, 2010
I was in the LiveCity venue this morning before it officially opened to the public this evening for the Torch Relay in Vancouver:
The Adoptive Families Association of BC presents their fourth Wine on the Mountain event coming up November 7th. This fundraising event takes place atop scenic Grouse Mountain and will combine food, entertainment and wine tastings.
The theme this year “Arouse your Senses†will have you indulging smell, sight, touch, taste and sounds with the exquisite food/wine pairings throughout the evening with Vancouver’s top restaurants and award winning Grouse Mountain Chefs. Your wine adventure will be on sensory overload from blind tastings, taste challenges, curious jelly belly tastings to aphrodisiac pairings and sexy wines.
They will also have a “chocolate cellar” including ports and ice wines, live music, and a silent auction. Special guests include Senator Larry Campbell, John Schreiner (BC’s Wine Guru) and the evening will be hosted by Virgin Radio’s Nat & Drew. Tickets are available now for $150 and you can get a tax receipt for approximately $50 per ticket.
The Adoptive Families Association of BC is also on Twitter and Facebook in case you’d like to receive their updates and more information about their work.
This evening I grabbed my gal Keira-Anne and took her up to the penthouse (suite 5801) of the Shangri-La Hotel in Vancouver. We were attending the cookbook launch of Araxi Restaurant in Whistler and got to taste delectable canapes the recipes for which are all included in the book.
I got to finally meet Executive Chef James Walt, whom I have interviewed before, and who will work with the winner of Hell’s Kitchen. It was so nice to chat with Walt, whose culinary creations are simply amazing, and it was even more astounding that he remembered me not as “Miss604” but as “Bollwitt”.
For your chance to attend the Hell’s Kitchen finale party at Araxi in Whistler on Tuesday, head over to this post of mine for details.
On October 24th join us at Sun Sui Wah Restaurant (3888 Main Street) where you will be served dim sum by local celebrities. Individual tickets are $55 and you can book a table (10 people) for $500.
Emcees for the event are Fred Lee (CBC Radio One’s The Early Edition, Vancouver Courier & National Post) and Riaz Meghji (Breakfast Television).
The celebrity servers are: Rick Cluff (CBC Radio), Stephanie Song (Actress), Senator Larry Campbell, Jonny Staub (The Beat 94.5), Erin Shaw (The Express), Nathan Fong and Claudia Kwan (Food stylists & CBC), Monika Deol (former Much Music VJ), Cecilia Walters and Jenna Chow (CBC’s The Early Edition), Mi-Jung Lee (CTV), Andrew Wong (Restaurateur, Wild Rice), Symone (First Lady of Glam) and yours truly.
All proceeds of the event are directed to furthering ASIA’s mission of promoting the health of Asian communities by decreasing the impact of HIV/AIDS. ASIA provides multilingual, culturally appropriate services that support Asian Canadians in making informed choices and having equal access to care.
Google Map’s Street View service has officially launched in Canada and includes sidewalk-level images of Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler, Banff, Calgary, Kitchener/Waterloo, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec. Vancouver’s coverage also includes Richmond, New Westminster, Surrey, and all Metro Vancouver cities as far East as Chilliwack.
This morning at the launch we got the full rundown of the service, its privacy measures, and how the City of Vancouver, Tourism BC, and other partners such as ChicWalks will integrate Street Views.
Quick video I made to demo Google Maps Street View
Here’s how it works: Basically the Google car drives around cities with a big camera on top and snaps images to map street-level views. The images from Vancouver were taken in May and they’re currently mapping other cities across BC. There have been privacy concerns in the past such as: what if street views catches my car running a red light or what if it captures someone where they weren’t supposed to be? To address this, Google Maps has blurred all faces and license plates in Street View. They also only take pictures in public locations and offer up a super simple way to report an issue if you’d like something removed.
Mike Pegg, Product Marketing Manager (and Google Maps blogger) was on hand to moderate the panel and introduce Luc Vincent. Also from Google Maps, Vincent gave us a full run through of features. This included finding our current location, getting walking directions (with views along the way) and understanding that the circular and square highlights on the view are referred to as “pancakes” and “waffles”. Even Pegman was on hand to greet the crowd.
William Bakker from Tourism BC did a demo of their HelloBC.com Google Map integration as well. The tool, new to the Province, will assist in “virtual tourism” as many people plan and plot their trips online in advance.
Vancouver’s Mayor Gregor Robertson was also on hand to say a few words about Vancouver’s sites and images, mostly including Vancouver 2010 Olympic venues such as Canada Hockey Place and the Four Host First Nations site. Mike Pegg assured everyone that buildings and venues that are currently under construction for 2010 will be re-captured/re-mapped once complete.
Google Maps Street View is currently mapping other cities in British Columbia such as Cranbrook, Gold River, Kamloops, Kimberly, Merritt, Pemberton, Port Hardy, Prince George, Prince Rupert, and Revelstoke.
