Pacific National Exhibition and Playland

The Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) is finally open this summer. Running from August 16 until September 1st, the PNE contains shows, exhibitions, stalls, firework displays, concerts and much much more. Having worked there a few years ago, I can honestly tell you that everyday had some kind of “celebration”. Musical concerts, magic shows, fireworks, parades…you name it and you will most likely find it at the PNE.

Located at 2901 E Hastings Street, the PNE is home to many sporting buildings and venues. For example, Pacific Coliseum, and Hasting Racecourse, to name a few. During the time of the fair, there is quite a handful of activities to do for people of all ages. For instance, there is a barn to be entertained by livestocks. Also, there is a luxurious prize home to check out and buy lottery tickets for. In addition, there is always playland for the crowd that likes rides and carnivals games.

Firework displays, parades and concerts are a daily event at the PNE. For the list of artists playing at PNE, click here.

One of the down sides to the PNE is the limited parking spaces available in the area. I remember once seeing parking space along public streets at a home charging $25.

For more information such as show times and displays, check out their website at http://www.pne.ca/.

Meteor Shower

Since I was small, I have been interested in astronomy. I find that the universe is such a vast place and that we on earth is only a mere speck of galaxy matter floating in space. I dreamed of becoming an astronomer when I younger but I couldn’t get into the faculty at the University of British Columbia. So at nights, I would gaze upwards in the sky and ponder on what the universe contains. So I did a quick internet search the other day and found out specific days for meteor showers. Perseids is right around the corner in our Northern Hemisphere and should be visibly seen at night time. The following picture was taken from here.

The following insert is taken from wikipedia:

Perseids

The shower is visible from mid-July each year, with the greatest activity between August 8 and 14, peaking about August 12. During the peak, the rate of meteors reaches 60 or more per hour. They can be seen all across the sky, but because of the path of Swift-Tuttle’s orbit, Perseids are primarily visible in the northern hemisphere.

I’ll keep posting Meteor shower notices when the time comes.

Pride Parade Vancouver

As you all know, the 30th annual Pride Parade happened on last weekend on Sunday August 3rd. Nearly as 530,000 people came out to this event at the West End of Downtown to celebrate the Pride festival.

This is 200,000 more people then the HSBC Celebration of light fireworks finale on Saturday according to the News source! Please enjoy some of the pictures I found on flickr.com to share some of the Pride moments.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/midnightglory/with/2733889754/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7bt6yT0-1k&e

HSBC Celebration of Lights 2008

The commentator at the HSBC Celebration of Lights 2008 claims it is the biggest offshore firework display in the world. Judging from the volume of people at the firework sites, I certainly wouldn’t disagree. English bay, located in Vancouver, becomes filled with spectators in a matter of hours. To find the best seats on the beach, a spectator would have to claim their “turf” hours before the actual showing at 22:00 in order to have good seats.

Parking around English bay and the downtown area becomes a chaotic mess with many road blocks, pedestrians, and permit only locations. Many businesses take advantage of this special event and charge upwards of $25 CDN for parking.

So now that the 2008 HSBC Celebration of Lights is finally over. Having staged 4 displays of fireworks from three countries (Canada, USA, and China), English bay has finally returned back to normal.

I was only able to attend the last display of fireworks due to my work and commitments. My friend Yang had taken some excellent photos of the fireworks.

I’ll follow up on more information about next year’s celebration of lights fireworks soon.