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2009 News and Information
64th Annual Steveston Salmon Festival Welcomes Olympians
25 June 2009Steveston Village will welcome Olympians at this year’s 64th Annual Steveston Salmon Festival on July 1, 2009. In recognition of the coming Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the 2009 Salmon Festival theme is “Eight Months to the 2010 Games.”
Festival attractions will include several past and current Olympic athletes in the parade, and a “Salute to the 2010 Games” area located in the Net Shed building. Speed Skating Canada will showcase an interactive display, and several Canadian national team speed skating athletes will be on-hand to meet the public and sign autographs.
In addition, the Richmond Spirit of BC Committee will display past Olympic torches, Richmond Olympic Oval and O Zone teams will be present, the Bay will bring their Olympic store, and the festival will be visited by the 2010 mascots, Miga, Quatchi and Sumi.
“Canada’s biggest little birthday party” is organized by volunteers every year to honour Canada Day. Last year, nearly 80,000 people attended. This year will feature all the main favourites including the pancake breakfast, parade and salmon bake, which served over 2,300 plates of fresh barbecued wild sockeye salmon last year. It is a fun filled day of live entertainment complete with dance and musical acts, trade and craft shows as well as activities for children. A new addition this year is a variety of inflatable slides, bouncers and other adventurous attractions at the carnival.
The Society is also striving to be environmentally aware and will be using compostable cutlery made from hardwood. This biodegradable material will take about five months to compost as opposed to several years for plastic material. Also being implemented in Society run food vendors is a “no Styrofoam” policy, which they hope will extend to other food vendors.
Other feature attractions include the Japanese cultural show, an ethnic food fair and a youth rock fest featuring local youth bands and a skate board competition. This year, the headlining group on the main stage will be Tillers Folly, a group of three who will bring a combination of Irish Celtic, bluegrass and folk music to the stage.
The day will begin at 6:30 a.m. with the pancake breakfast. The Children’s Bike Parade takes off 9:30 a.m. and is followed by the Canada Day Parade at 10:00 a.m., which starts at Garry Point Park and ends along Moncton Street at Railway Avenue.
For complete details including a schedule of events, parade map, road closure notice and parking information, please visit the Steveston Salmon Festival website at www.stevestonsalmonfest.ca.
