Following on the heels of two highly successful Taste of the PNE drive through experiences aimed at staying connected with guests and supporting PNE Fair concessionaire families who are potentially losing their entire 2020 season, the PNE today announced a series of additional experiences for the remainder of summer 2020.
PNE Fair Events and Playland Reopening Summer 2020
President and CEO Shelley Frost says the entire organization is humbled by the outpouring of support, which has come from across Canada. Frost says the response to the two initial drive through experiences, a Mini Donut sale supporting four concessionaires and a Father’s Day Weekend Car-B-Q that included another four Fair families as well as Canada’s first ever drive through vintage and custom car show, inspired the organization to push forward with plans across a number of other of the organization’s business streams.
Today the PNE announced:
Drive Through Canada Day
On Canada Day the PNE will host the first ever drive thru Canada Day celebration. Designed with full COVID protocols in place as a ‘reverse’ Parade which will see our guests drive their cars along the Parade Route.
The experience will celebrate everything Canada with live performers, logger sports, and a celebration of Canada’s national sport of hockey along the route. Guests will be encouraged to decorate their vehicles in a Canadian theme and dress in their favourite red and white and wave the flag with pride.
The experience is $10 per car, regardless of number of passengers plus the cost of any food purchased with that going to our concessionaires. Three of the PNE longest standing and multigenerational families will be supported through this event. Tickets are available now online here.
Playland Reopening
On July 10th the PNE will reopen the first phase Playland Amusement Park for the summer. This initial opening will include between 10-12 of the park’s most popular family-friendly rides and attractions. Additional rides will be added later this summer. Tickets will be under $30 per person for Playland phase one and will be available June 30th through TicketLeader.
UPDATE July 27, 2020: Additional thrill rides will come back online August 1st including: AtmosFear, The Beast, Breakdance, Dizzy Drop, Gladiator, Music Express, Pirate Ship, Revelation (extra charge), Rock’n’Cars, Westcoast Wheel, Wooden Roller Coaster.
BC Day Long Weekend
BC Day long weekend will be the third in the Taste of the PNE Experience series. Details to come, but this will continue the organization’s dedication to supporting as many of our PNE Fair concessionaire partners as possible throughout 2020.
PNE Fair Experience
For the 110th year the last weeks of August will include a PNE Fair experience. Albeit an unconventional experience, the 2020 PNE Fair will return in a drive through format to ensure proper social distancing. Being developed in consultation with Vancouver Coastal Health, this year’s Fair will include all your Fair favourites, from the Superdogs to family shows and entertainment to agriculture and exhibits as well as the Fair food you love. Tickets will go on sale at Ticketleader.ca in the coming weeks.
As part of its COVID-19 protocols, all of these programs are entirely cashless, and tickets must be purchased in advance through Ticketleader.
New West Craft will be the first craft market in BC to relaunch in-person events following 4 months of COVID-19 cancellations, moving from the waterfront to Tipperary Park on July 4th.
New West Craft Returns
Where: Tipperary Park (315 Queens Ave, New Westminster) When: Saturday, July 4, 2020 from 11:00am to 4:00pm
New West Craft has been a familiar summer site on the boardwalk at River Market for the past 5 years, but due to physical distancing requirements the market is unable to set up on the esplanade at this time. New West Craft will be making a temporary move to Tipperary Park.
New West Craft is a familiar and loved event in New West and despite the changes Grady is confident the market can maintain its intimate and welcoming environment. There will be 30 artisan stalls set up in Tipperary Park plus 2 food trucks. As per provincial guidelines, 50 people will be let into the market space at a time and 2-meter physical distancing will be enforced.
A Proven Location
The New West Farmers Market has been operating at Tipperary Park successfully under COVID19 guidelines since April. Both the farmers market and the City of New Westminster have created a model that has proven to adhere to provincial health and safety regulations. New West Craft has been working with the City to adopt this model to fit their artisan markets.
New West Craft is presented by the Arts Council of New Westminster and as an organization they remain committed to supporting artists and artisans during this difficult time. While Executive Director Stephen O’Shea and the ACNW Board of Directors have been running a successful fundraising campaign, Program Coordinator Laura Grady has been busy developing safe and in-person programming that will benefit both the community and local artists and artisans.
“I am really happy to be re-starting our artisan markets,” explains Laura Grady. “New West Craft and the artists and artisans we work with have become a part of our community. During this pandemic and time of isolation we understand the value of art and creativity more than ever. It is essential that we continue to support local makers, artists and small business owners. Relaunching New West Craft offers the community and easy and accessible way to support local.”
Sloth Boss Clothing, Tea Lani, Kinder Books, Wildflower Design
There will be hand wash stations, ta carefully managed entrance and exit to our fenced-off market and clearly marked standing points to maintain proper distancing. Each vendor has also been provided with a detailed list of protocols to follow.
Central City Brewers + Distillers is teaming up with the BC Lions and BC Seniors Living Association (“BCSLA”) on a new COVID-19 campaign where they will donate 200 mL of hand sanitizer to independent and assisted living communities in BC for every sale of the new Red Racer Cruiser 8-pack Mixer.
(From left) BC Lions’ players Claudell Louis, team mascot Leo the Lion, Sukh Chungh and Peter Godber.
Central City Brewers & Distillers Team Up with BC Lions to Support BC Seniors
Central City, which is known for its award-winning beer and spirits including the 2019 Canadian Beer of the Year with its Red Racer After Hours Pale Ale, began producing hand sanitizer back in April 2020, in support of Canadians especially COVID-19 front-line workers.
“We wanted to continue supporting our communities and front-line workers during these COVID-19 times and we are fortunate to have the opportunity to partner with the BC Lions Football Club and BC Seniors Living Association on our new Red Racer Cruiser 8-pack Mixer campaign,” says Brendan Yep, Vice President of Sales at Central City Brewers + Distillers. “As community leaders, it is important for us to contribute and do our part, and this is one way we are giving back to the community.”
In April, Central City donated hand sanitizer to front-line workers, healthcare workers and first responders through the City of Surrey. Now in June and July, Central City will donate additional hand sanitizer to independent and assisted living communities in BC through this new Red Racer Cruiser 8-pack Mixer campaign.
BC Seniors Living Association is a voluntary, membership-driven organization dedicated to being a valuable source for member development, education and growth. The organization works to promote and protect the best interests of its members, which include the Independent and Assisted Living communities in BC. The cornerstones of BCSLA is based on actively advocating, educating, mediating and celebrating retirement communities and their residents.
The Red Racer Cruiser 8-pack Mixer includes 500 mL cans of Pils, Hazy Dreamer Pale Ale, Dirty Blonde Ale and Lager, and will be available in private liquor stores throughout the province.
“We are very grateful for the initiative and support of Central City Brewers and Distillers and the BC Lions,” said BCSLA CEO Lee Coonfer. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, seniors’ communities have been put under a tremendous amount of strain to acquire the appropriate PPE and sanitizing products in the appropriate quantities to keep their residents safe. Seniors’ safety is our priority and through the selfless gestures from the community, the tireless work of our employees and acts of corporate social responsibility, we will be able to meet this challenge and get through this together.”
The Central City Hand Sanitizer is also available for purchase (3L and 1L bottles, and in bulk) at all Central City Liquor Store locations and at the brewery store (11411 Bridgeview Drive, Surrey).
Hello Phase 3! As British Columbians are now able to carefully move about the province, with restaurants, hotels, museums, and attractions all open with COVID safety measures, summer is looking a little brighter. While we still can’t host and participate in large scale concerts and events, there is still a really fun lineup of activities being added to the calendar every day. With that in mind, here are some things to do in Vancouver this weekend:
After a delayed starts to the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a handful of Vancouver’s outdoor pools will be reopening July 13, 2020, including North America’s longest saltwater pool, Kits Pool.
Left: Left: 1945 Royal Canadian Air Force. Archives# Air P28 Right: Kits Pool 2007 Evan Leeson on Flickr
The History of Kits Pool
When it opened, it was “America’s Largest Swimming Pool. Chuck Davis’s History of Metropolitan Vancouver documents the pool’s beginnings in this excerpt from 1931:
1931. Archives# Be N51.2
“On August 15 we marked the official opening at Kitsilano Beach of the Kitsilano salt-water swimming pool, the largest of its kind in North America. Kits Pool was 200 by 60 metres [660 x 200 feet], cost $50,000 to build, and was greeted in perfect weather by a crowd of 5,000 who waited impatiently for the inevitable opening speeches before diving in.
The original pool would be replaced in 1979 by a gigantic saltwater tank, 150 metres across and filled with heated water. Kits Beach is in an area originally known as Greer’s Beach, named for the pioneer who unsuccessfully challenged the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) takeover of his homestead here in 1891.”
Thousands of spectators take in the opening ceremonies at Kitsilano Pool on Aug. 15, 1931. This photo ran on the front page of the Aug. 16, 1931 Vancouver Sunday Province, but was a freelance photo taken by Percy Bentley of the Dominion Photo Company. Vancouver Public Library collection VPL 23379. For a John Mackie story
The pool would lock ocean water in place, giving bathers a place to swim during low tide; Kitsilano Pool even had a sandy bottom until it was filled in with cement in the 60s.
1933. James Crookall Photo. Archives# CVA 260-1420
The Vancouver Open Water Swim Association‘s Bay Challenge may have unofficially started with Percy Norman. In the 1930s, Norman led 40 swimmers across the chilly waters to commemorate the opening of the original Kits Pool on August 16th, 1931.
A high diving board was installed for Vancouver’s 50th birthday in 1936. Photo 1940-1948 The Camera Products Co. Archives #AM54-S4-: Be P19
From the Globe and Mail in 2013: “When the pool was first built (for $50,000), plugs were simply opened and it was filled by tidal flow from English Bay. After the facility was refurbished (in 1978 for $2.2-million), a pump system was installed.”
1937. Archives# Be P112.10
In 2017, Glenn Schultz, the Vancouver Park Board’s supervisor of beaches and outdoor pools, told the CBC that since the City’s three outdoor pools (Kits, New Brighton, Second Beach) drew their water from the ocean, sometimes you’d get unwanted visitors in the pool water.
“Every once in a while you would get a mud shark in the pool which would maybe freak out people,” Schultz said. “People would see this, these fins going along, and they would freak out at that.” Small octopuses would also sometimes make their way into the water, but Schultz said it was mostly seaweed that would flow in. Twice a week, staff would then empty the tanks to clean them by spraying them down with firehoses. Occasionally, the pools shut down because the water they drew was too polluted to swim in.
In 2018, the pool underwent renovations that included removal and replacement of the pool basin membrane, repairs to the pool deck, and addition of pumps to replenish sea water and for dewatering. Improvements to the concrete, new pool coating, and control joints meant less water would escape. Prior to the upgrades 430,000 gallons of potable water were used a month to top the pool.
Also that year, Red Bull declared Kits Pool #3 on the list of “World’s Sexiest Pools to Train In”.
For the summer of 2020, Kits Pool is opening later than usual this year due to prevention of the spread of novel coronavirus. CTV has the details:
Outdoor pools will be open for a combination of lap swimming and public swimming sessions. Those who plan to use the pools need to arrive already in their swim suits, as change rooms will not be open. Washrooms will be open, however. Physical distancing protocols will be in place at entrances and exits throughout the facilities, the city says.
Lap swimmers will have to book a 45-minute period, while casual swimmers can book 90 minutes. Between appointments, there will be a half-hour “buffer” where facilities will be sanitized and prepared for the next group, the city says. Admission to pools will be partly managed by online reservations, though swim periods can be booked by in-person drop-ins as well.
All payments will be contactless and electronic, meaning cash will not be accepted. Park Board Flexi passes also can’t be used, though Leisure Access Pass holders can make reservations.
