PREVIEW
What: Spirit of 150 Victoria — First Night
When: Saturday, 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Where: Inner Harbour
Admission: Free
Information: Spirit150Victoria.ca
Producers of Saturday's New Year’s Eve celebration at the Inner Harbour are envisioning large-scale fun for Victoria’s biggest year-end party in 20 years.
“We’re going to animate the harbour like it has never been animated before,” said Nick Blasko of event producer Atomique Productions. “We’re trying to paint the harbour in a completely different light — pun intended.”
Atomique Productions, which is producing the event for the Greater Victoria Spirit Committee, planned Spirit of 150 Victoria — First Night to accommodate between 20,000 and 30,000 revellers. The four-and-a-half-hour free celebration, the first New Year’s party of its kind since 1997, wraps at 9:30 p.m. following a fireworks display that Blasko is calling the biggest in the city’s history.
“It’s a fireworks show, first and foremost,” he said. “But the tweak to this one is that it is timed to [the midnight start in] Ottawa, on purpose.”
Victoria and Ottawa are two of the 19 urban centres on Saturday that will kick off Canada 150, a country-wide federal initiative celebrating the 150th anniversary of Confederation (also included in Victoria’s year-long tribute is Canada Celebration, which is set for June 21-July 1). Both events were made possible by federal grant funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage, which awarded $224,000 to the city for events celebrating the nation’s sesquicentennial.
Much of the entertainment on Saturday will be in the area near the junction of Government Street and Belleville Street. The area will be closed to car traffic, which should only add to the atmosphere, Blasko said. By design, the area is tailored to accommodate families and young children, with 12 food vendors and ample washrooms nearby.
Large video screens will broadcast the performances from key points.
“It’s really a family-friendly event,” he said.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, who will speak at the event, is excited about what Spirit of 150 Victoria — First Night offers from both an artistic and multicultural perspective. The program begins at 5 p.m. with a First Nations welcome ceremony and will also include performances by the Lekwungen Dancers and the Esquimalt Singers and Dancers. The City of Victoria has declared 2017 a Year of Reconciliation, Helps said, and she will be working closely throughout to further the issue of reconciling with First Nations.
“I’m really curious to see looking back at this time next year how things are different,” Helps said. “I think there will be significant progress made.”
Newly created work from the City of Victoria’s artist-in-residence, Luke Ramsey, will also be projected onto the Parliament Buildings and the Empress Hotel, Blasko said. The idea is to give the Inner Harbour and its environs the feel of light floating on water.
It will be a bustling enterprise, to be sure. Blasko said all hotels in the area are 90 per cent occupied, and the range of entertainment being offered — from a Harbour Ferry “ballet” to mountain bike trials — will make for an action-packed four-plus hours. The difficulty for Blasko and his team was planning an event that needed to appeal to such a diverse group of attendees.
“It’s not like you can look at ticket sales and know how many you’ve sold,” said the co-producer of popular festivals Rock the Shores and Rifflandia. “You have to think of it differently. It’s a free, public event so you have to design it differently, as well.”
When the audience sees the fireworks display that has been put together — one that he suggests will eclipse that of the annual Canada Day celebration — few will be disappointed, Blasko promised.
“Think big,” he said.
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Spirit of 150 Victoria schedule for New Year's Eve
Saturday’s schedule
5:00 p.m. – Welcome blessing by Elder Elmer George and Suzie Thomas
5:04 p.m. – Greetings from Chief Ron Sam of the Songhees Nation and Chief Edward Thomas of the Esquimalt Nation
5:10 p.m. – Lekwungen Dancers
5:25 p.m. – Esquimalt Singers and Dancers
5:38 p.m. – Prime minister’s address
5:43 p.m. – O Canada (École Campus View Elementary School)
5:45 p.m. – Harbour Ferry Ballet
6:00 p.m. – Jérémie & The Delicious Hounds
6:10 p.m. – Trial bike performance at Ship Point
6:40 p.m. – Harbour Ferry Ballet
6:55 p.m. – Alex Cuba
7:10 p.m. – Trial bike performance at Ship Point
7:45 p.m. – Mayor Lisa Helps reads address from Canadian Heritage
7:48 p.m. – Canadian Heritage video in English and French
7:57 p.m. – Queen’s address
8:00 p.m. – Dear Rouge
8:15 p.m. – Trial bikes performance at Ship Point
9:00 p.m. – Fireworks
9:13 p.m. – Outro video in English and French
