Vancouver Tree Lighting Ceremony 2012

The annual tree lighting ceremony is taking place in two days!! Make sure you are there.  I will be.  Here' are some things happening at the event that night.

• Bro Jake from Rock 101 and Steve Darling from Global will co-host the event
• Former Vancouver Canucks star Trevor Linden will officially light the tree
• Appearances by members of the BC Lions along with the Felions
• Carl Valentine of the original Vancouver 86ers will be onsite
• Characters from the show “The Magic of Santa” will be present
• Local band The Voodoo Allstars will be offering new renditions of classic Christmas favorites!
• Special performances by Show Stoppers
• Try out the city’s top food carts and food artisans, such as Re-Up BBQ and Guanco Truck!
• Hot chocolate and espresso will be handed out for free all night 

See ya there!!

Vancouver Whitecaps Volunteer Party 2012

The Vancouver Whitecaps Volunteer Party always marks the end of the season for the volunteers.  This was the second year its been held at the River Rock Casino in Richmond.  Great venue and awesome food. I have to tell you that I've worked a lot of events in the city and there is no other organization that I've volunteered for that has treated their volunteers like this.  They did an outstanding job.

I met up with a couple other team leads tonight.  We were scrambling to get our stuff organized so we could present it to our Volunteer Coordinator, Lindsay Olimer.  As we hid behind the Christmas tree where there was a table a few chairs for us to sit and talk, we finalized what it was we wanted to say to our fearless leader.  Once that was done, we headed up the escalator to the Whistler Ballroom. 

These are the people I worked with all year long and now have some wonderful relationships with them.  We worked well together as team leaders and we all hoping to be back for next season.

Tables and chairs, photo collage of our season as volunteers rotated on the projection screen and many of the Whitecaps Managers and a couple players joined us for our party.

Lindsay and Bob Lenarduzzi started off thanking all the volunteers and introduced the two players who came out to enjoy the evening with us.  It was none other than Russell Tiebert and Matt Watson.  Every year we get players to come out to our party and it just makes it that much more special.  Last year we had Atiba Harris and Jay Nolly.  It was no different tonight.  It was great to see all our volunteers at the dinner.  For most of us, it felt like it had been too long.  For nine months we saw each other every other week and once the playoff run was over, it all came to a close.  Its going to be hard not to see these people again for another three months before our season opens again in March.

We had a few interactive games for the vollies and the players to take part in with us.  I managed to wrangle Alana to come over to the photo booth with me where Matt Watson was standing.  We took some pics with him wearing reindeer antlers and for some reason, I had on a red hat a gun pointed at him the whole time! Haha!  We had four shots done and the last one he wanted us to make an angry face.  So here is the result from that photoshoot.

 Russell Tiebert was busy with the foosball and Soccer Pool games with the other volunteers.  We ate, drank and visited with our friends.  Apparently this Soccer Pool game was harder than it looks. lol.

This was taken by a volunteer. Andrew. :)

One of my volunteers, Nick, with Matt Watson and Rusell Tiebert

Matt Watson with another volunteer, Steve.

At the end of the night, we did some door prizes where the volunteers won signed items by the players.  The team leads and I also presented Lindsay with a spa certificate, words of thanks from the volunteers and a bouquet of flowers.  I think we surprised her really good.  She never knew it was coming. All in all, it was a great night.  We'll do it all again in March 2013!  :)

Paul McCartney Concert at BC Place

If you had a ticket to this event on Sunday night, consider yourself extremely lucky.  I was fortunate to be working this concert as an Usher Host in tunnel 403.  This was directly across from the stage on the fourth level.  I was extremely excited about this concert.  Although  Paul's songs have been around for years, the one I remember first seeing Paul on video was the duet he did with Michael Jackson back in 1983.  Here's the video to refresh your memory.  I still love this song today.

So, let me tell you about how my night went.  I walked off Skytrain and walked towards the stadium a little earlier than I normally would just because we were told the staff would be getting checked by security at the East Entrance of BC Place. I didn't have much on me so I got in with no problem.  But this is what the stadium had looked like three days leading up to the concert.  It had animated the Union Jack letting everyone know what was going to happen in that building. I took a pic of it from Costco before I walked into the stadium.

Once I got in, I noticed a large number of security guards everywhere.  People in black suits and wearing ear pieces everywhere.  I went to our locker room to get changed into my Host uniform.  I came back and the security guards had sectioned off the East Entrance with gates.  Turns out the Sir Paul McCartney was about to arrive into the stadium in his motorcade. He got out of the black SUV and walked right onto the stage as it was on the east side of the stadium.  Apparently he was to give a pre-concert to about three hundred people who had paid over $1000 for this little treat.

He wore a t-shirt and jeans.  None of the extras on the stage were dressed as well.  It looked like a dress rehearsal.  Which is really what it was.  We got to watch some of it while we waited to get briefed by our Team Leads.  I quickly checked my tunnel at 403 and the seats to make sure they were clean of bird droppings from our residents in the building.  Once that was done, I got my flashlight.  The doors were set to open at 6:30pm but Sir Paul was still on stage singing to his fans.   People were lined up at almost every gate waiting patiently to get in.  At about 20 minutes to 7pm, he finally finished his set and the doors were opened at 7pm to allow 40,000 plus access into the building.  My section filled up very quickly and by 8pm everyone was pretty much seated and patiently waiting for the concert to start.  I started walking up and down the stairs in my section to make sure people were okay and if they had any questions to ask.  I had a few.  Actually a lot and all of them were asking the same thing.  When was the concert going to start?  It was supposed to start at 8pm but since the rehearsal ran long and everything was delayed by half an hour, the concert actually started at about 9pm.

He played all my favorites.  And he even did a tribute to his friend, John Lennon.  Imagine all the people....

This was my view from my tunnel. It was amazing.

He played Hey Jude and the entire stadium was singing along with him.  Live and Let Die was amazing with all the pyrotechnics.

He played old and new songs and it was just simply amazing.  It was three hour concert thanks to 2 encore performances.  One of his encores had the Delta Police Pipe Band on stage with him playing Mull of Kintyre.

I had heard earlier at around 9:30pm from security that Bruce Springsteen was in the building downstairs.  I thought for sure that he was going to come up on stage and perform a duet with McCartney.  But it never happened.  Strange.  Oh well, the entire evening was amazing.  I was at my Whitecaps Volunteer Party tonight and I spoke with Bob Lenarduzzi about it.  He was also in attendance last night and he was also in awe of Sir Paul.  Incredible performance by my favorite Beatle.  He was humble and fun. His staff were organized and treated everyone with respect.  Its very rare we see this kind of treatment from concert organizers. He had the city of Vancouver eating out of his hands all night.  I hope he doesn't wait another 48 years to come back to Vancouver again.  Considering he's 70 yrs old now, I think this favors us in him returning sooner than that.

CandyTown in Yaletown

I had an amazing weekend!  It started out on Saturday, the second and last day of CandyTown in Yaletown.  It was the first year for this winter festival type event.  My friend, Cindy, was organizing it.  She emailed a couple weeks beforehand looking for volunteers.  I, of course, extended my services to her.  I also contacted another fellow volunteer and friend, Nadine, to help out on this day.  We were both positioned to work at the make shift ice rink from 4pm to 9pm.  We decided to go a bit earlier in the day to check things out before we started our shift.

First, we got off at the Yaletown, Roundhouse station and walked onto Mainland Street where two blocks were shut down for the festival.  The first thing we noticed was the ice rink at which we were to volunteer at.  Trevor Linden was supposed to be in attendance to sign autographs from 12-3pm.  He was at the skate rink for a while before he crossed the street to the Scotiabank tents and sat down for the signing.  The line was long but people were great and really happy to see our former captain of the Vancouver Canucks, still involved in the community.

 

Here is Trevor Linden taking pics with people in the rink.

As we walked further down the street, we came upon the horse drawn carriage line up.  Our friend and Cindy's husband, Ken was there organizing the people for carriage rides.  Cindy was also with him.  They both gave us the low down on what was happening at the event and what our duties would be.  We told them we would take a look around and get familiar with the sites and sounds of the area before we started our shift a few hours later.  

So, we walked over to the information booth where I ran into fellow volunteers, Kiersten and Stephanie.  Hilarity ensued as neither of them really knew anything about the event and thought it was funny they were put in the information booth.  It really was on-the-job learning for them both.  At this point, Kiersten volunteered to go help out with the Reindeer as it nearing the time for both it and Santa to arrive.  Nadine and I decided to walk further down the street checking things out.

We came to the end of the festival where we stopped and listened to a jazz band playing and singing Christmas music.  We joined in and sang and danced to "Jingle Bells".  

 

 So, now as we were walking back down the path we had just come from, I looked over to my right side and who should I see but one of our beloved out of work Canucks.  Yes, folks, it was Kevin Bieksa.  I swear, I am not stalking him.  We just tend to show up at the same events.  He was with his wife and kids...I think he had an extra kid with him cause he had three.  I took a pic of him only though and as stealthily as I could. 

Here, he was with the owner of PHAT deli/bar.  Its the restaurant with the blue awning in the background there.  He was playing with his kids (not pictured) and waiting for his wife.  She came down the stairs and they started wandering around the festival.  Nadine and I also decided to venture forth looking around at the merchant's offerings.  Next thing I knew, Bieksa's kids were right behind me and trying to get by between Nadine and I.  So I moved aside to let them through.  Bieksa said "Excuse me" as the kids ran though us and he walked by me.  Nadine and I kept walking and I noticed that Bieksa had taken his kids to go see the Reindeer.  Well, let me tell you a little story about this Reindeer.

Ken had mentioned a few things to us earlier about this particular reindeer.  He was cute as a button but apparently he was a pretty moody reindeer.  He didn't like people.  He was one of the two reindeers that live on Grouse Mountain.  We got the special one. Kiersten thought he was cute and sweet as he was only a few feet off the ground and had only one antler on his head.  This particular reindeer was a nasty one.  He was biting, kicking and farting (alot) the whole morning.  He didn't like any of his handlers until one volunteer, named Karen, got into the pen with him.  He seemed to like her alot.  She seemed to be able to keep him calm.  As far as him only having one antler, most people don't realize this but the reindeers shed their antlers.  So the one on the left side had fallen off already.   He was extremely popular with the kids though.  The line ups were long and the one-horned, moody, farting reindeer behaved long enough to put on a show when needed!

We started our shift a little later at the rink and met a couple security guards that also work at BC Place.  They were fun to talk to.  We collected donations for Vancouver Children's Hospital.  We saw Cindy walking around dressed as a snowman and had to take a pic with her. 

Candy Lady was also walking around.  Had to take a pic of her.  It was another fellow volunteer of ours, Carmen.  She did a great job as well. 

After our shift ended, we helped bring back some props to the office and then headed off to eat.  Nadine and I ended up at PHAT deli/bar for some food.  Bieksa seems to promote it a lot on twitter so we thought we'd check it out.  The food was amazing, the drinks were yummy and the waiter was great!  All in all, Nadine and I had a great time. The Yaletown Candyland festival was great.  We know it will be even better next year.  I went home after all that and went to bed.  Plus, I had to get up early and work the Paul McCartney concert the next day at BC Place.  That's what my next blog post will be about.  

Vancity Athlete Autograph Signings for the Holiday Season

It is now November and there's still no hockey and the Whitecaps MLS soccer season is over too.  So, what how are the Vancouver Canucks and Vancouver Whitecaps keeping themselves busy?  Well, most of them are involved in strengthening community relationships throughout the lockout.  Great way to keep the fans happy since there's no hockey deal to be made any time soon and also great promotion for the Whitecaps as they ended their best season yet.

Here's a rundown of some of the stuff our boys have been up to and what to look forward to.

The Vancouver Whitecaps have opened a new store in Metrotown just in time for the holidays.  So now you can get the savvy soccer fan in your family a gift from the Whitecaps store.  Although it opened a few days ago, the grand opening is on November 17th and it was just announced that players, Alain Rochat and Jordan Harvey, will be signing autographs from 11am to 1pm.  This is a great time to buy something from the store and get it signed by the two players.

Former Vancouver Canucks Captain, Trevor Linden is back in town and he wants everyone to know.

Trevor Linden drove a cab around for a day.  But it wasn't just any cab. It was an electric car.  He was promoting the car as he drove unsuspecting fares to their destinations.  He seemed to enjoy himself and did quite well with directions around the city.

Trevor Linden plays cab driver to Vancouver residents.

Trevor Linden and Ryan Kesler at Guys Night Out at the Hudson's Bay Company department store in downtown Vancouver.

Best Buy Signings

Trevor Linden signing details at Best Buy Grand Opening.

Candyland Signing

 http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2012/11/candytown-transforms-yaletown-into-a-winter-wonderland/

More about the Candytown Yaletown Festival and more detailed events.

Alex Burrows back in town.  He has signed on to be the spokesman for RW & Co clothing store.  Did a signing for the store downtown at Pacific Centre for his fans.