IS there anything fun happening for NYE in this city?

[touraccuracy]

Most clubs/bars/hotels I looked at at the high end, $100-120+ events, with a few exceptions of $35-60+ at the lower end.

I ended up going to Van Dusen Gardens for the festival of lights, then getting thai food on Main, then walking the seawall and watching the (pretty small time) Edgewater Casino fireworks from that man-made island by the Olympic Village before hitting a suburban houseparty. Made the most of it, I think.

[entheosfog]

Best deal in the nightclub scene was The Astoria for the new year's edition of East Van Soul Club: only 12 bucks!
But the Waldorf was $60. I love the place, but for what it is, that's way too high.

[s211]

Originally Posted by jlenko

Ever since a bunch of idiots ruined First Night, there hasn't been anything big and organized in Vancouver.

Exactly. What is it with Vancouverites and their inability to hold an event like First Night without public consumption of liquor turning into a hick-filled bro-fest?

[jlenko]

Originally Posted by s211

Exactly. What is it with Vancouverites and their inability to hold their liquor?

Fixed that for ya.

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by jlenko

Ever since a bunch of idiots ruined First Night, there hasn't been anything big and organized in Vancouver.

What's the background of this? What happened and when?

I also happened to be in town on NYE, but as I arrived from a long-haul flight at 7pm, I slept through the evening. Only at midnight I was awake for a short moment to hear some wooing from outside, but no fireworks anywhere. Quite a different from few NYEs I spent in Berlin, Germany. There the amount of fireworks regular folks fire during the night is just astonishing.

[SpongeG]

back in the day there was a first night festival held every new years eve, it was billed as a family friendly event, it was held at granville island, had lots of free things going on, I think you had to buy a $5 button to get on site

than a bunch of drunk people started to show up and ruined the family atmosphere etc. I can't remember the full reason for it stopping, but probably not enough money to hire more police

the real problem was it was the only public/general event going on and people wanted something to attend that night - at the time granville street wasn't like it is today so there wasn't even that to hang out/on

This all started to happen around the time we were more exposed to what was going on in the rest of the world, we could see coverage on CNN, the internet was showing a lot of stuff etc. and people wanted more but there was nothing but the first night event

i can't remember when the last one was held - maybe the 90s?

i know for nye 2000 when we crossed from 1999-2000 the city was extremely ridiculous, they told people to stay home, don't ocme downtown you are not welcome here, there were police everywhere, robson street stores boarded their store windows and it was very anti-fun

me and my friends walked from the west end to a party at the library and all along the way the police were on all the corners telling people standing there for too long to move on etc.

[Coldrsx]

i know for nye 2000 when we crossed from 1999-2000 the city was extremely ridiculous, they told people to stay home, don't ocme downtown you are not welcome here, there were police everywhere, robson street stores boarded their store windows and it was very anti-fun'

I recall that and still chuckle to this day... Mind you, we were in togas.

[s211]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

back in the day there was a first night festival held every new years eve, it was billed as a family friendly event, it was held at granville island, had lots of free things going on, I think you had to buy a $5 button to get on site

than a bunch of drunk people started to show up and ruined the family atmosphere etc. I can't remember the full reason for it stopping, but probably not enough money to hire more police

I seem to recall that the back-breaking straw was around 5-6 years ago, when the VAG mud pit was used for a first-night kind of event, and it ended up being the front lawn of Animal House.

[DKaz]

I remember going to Canada Place in 94 or 95, can't remember if it was for Canada Day or New Years.

[mr.x]

I was also out with friends that night, it was either going to an way overpriced nightclub/private event or wandering aimlessly in the streets with the crowds. The demand's definitely there for a First Night public event.

We eventually made our way to Edgewater Casino at the Plaza of Nations....that had to be the worst countdown and fireworks ever.



But anyway, I've heard something is being organized for the coming New Year's Eve.

[s211]

Originally Posted by mr.x

But anyway, I've heard something is being organized for the coming New Year's Eve.

Sponsored by a beer company, I'll lay odds.

[spaceprobe]

why did CTV hold their televised event in Calgary and Edmonton in addition to their regular one at Toronto city hall rather than in Vancouver?

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by spaceprobe

why did CTV hold their televised event in Calgary and Edmonton in addition to their regular one at Toronto city hall rather than in Vancouver?

What would they cover in Vancouver?

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by Klazu

What's the background of this? What happened and when?

I also happened to be in town on NYE, but as I arrived from a long-haul flight at 7pm, I slept through the evening. Only at midnight I was awake for a short moment to hear some wooing from outside, but no fireworks anywhere. Quite a different from few NYEs I spent in Berlin, Germany. There the amount of fireworks regular folks fire during the night is just astonishing.

What would have happened is that the city's and provinces over the top regulation of public celebrations, and the lack of them meant that they ended up with every drunk ahole in the city showing up for a rare, and undersized public new years event and ending up being very noticeable. This would have been predictable as that's what you should get when you "cage" people all year long and give them one small moment of "release". Plus you will always have that small segment of society that drinks too much and causes trouble, and that segment is not going to miss their one little measly opportunity get a bit wild in public. The problem is that the city hasn't learned, instead of "blaming" its self it ended up blaming its citizens, which is ridiculous. I can also see for a fact that the city, the province nor the police have learned their lesson because just a couple years ago we had the Stanley cup riot, and once again the police didn't blame them selves, the city didn't blame its self, the province didn't blame its self, noo they blamed the people once again. What they should do is blame them selves, look in the mirror and see what "they" did wrong, see what went wrong and why, where did they screw up.

The problem here is that even if the city does hold some token public event it will have problems again, the city will blame the people again, and they will use it as a excuse to cancel it again instead of doing their job... that's politics for you, the easy way out, blame someone else for your screw ups.

Anyways...that Berlin video is pretty impressive. But here is a video from just one western suburb of Sao Paulo...its like this all night, for hours.also_astonishing ...one more for fun from the evening...gotta watch the full video with the sound up to just get a small appreciation of the intensity.

[mr.x]

You've seen nothing yet until you've watched what they do every year in Iceland of all places: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8m-B1cb9S8

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by mr.x

You've seen nothing yet until you've watched what they do every year in Iceland of all places: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8m-B1cb9S8

That looks pretty impressive. Here you would have the police chasing people down and arresting them or giving tickets...

If you plan to light up the skies this Halloween season, you'll need a permit to buy and use fireworks, and must be 19 years of age or older.
To get a fireworks permit, you can visit our website or phone 604-873-7593. Permits are free, but you must successfully complete a fireworks safety test to acquire one. Permits are available anytime during the year.
Fireworks may only be purchased from October 25 to October 31. They may only be discharged on October 31. You must show ID and your permit each time you purchase fireworks and carry both when you use fireworks.

Read this if you aren't embarrassed enough of the cities anti fun attitude.
http://vancouver.ca/home-property-de...d-permits.aspx

this thread is actually depressive.

[Dave2]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

i know for nye 2000 when we crossed from 1999-2000 the city was extremely ridiculous, they told people to stay home, don't ocme downtown you are not welcome here, there were police everywhere, robson street stores boarded their store windows and it was very anti-fun'

I recall that and still chuckle to this day... Mind you, we were in togas.

99-00, or 00-01.. CNN (?) had a four split screen showing four Pacific Time cities. The Vancouver quadrant was a black square.

There *was* a fireworks display in North Burnaby, thanks to a resident who saved some from Halloween. SOMEONE CALL 911!

[spaceprobe]

Originally Posted by Jebby

What would they cover in Vancouver?

Sorry...i meant CityTV.

They would create a show to cover....just like in Calgary. Calgary didn't have much of a New Years Eve celebration either until CityTV started it last year (ie....2 NYEs shows have been down so far). They set up a large stage and bring in singers etc. A show is therefore created for them to cover.

[Klazu]

One more video from Berlin's Neukölln neighbourhood. It's a poor neighbourhood with tens of thousands of Turkish immigrants and they celebrate like it would be a warzone. You wouldn't get me there on NYE!

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by Klazu

One more video from Berlin's Neukölln neighbourhood. It's a poor neighbourhood with tens of thousands of Turkish immigrants and they celebrate like it would be a warzone. You wouldn't get me there on NYE!

Neukölln has some pretty good bars and is a very cheap place to get hammered :p

It may be a "poorer" neighbourhood, but it's just as safe as most places in Berlin.