Exclusive: PNE day-by-day attendance revealed

The Pacific National Exhibition's 2013 Fair -- its 103rd to date -- was not marred by weather, but instead power outages at Hastings Park on the middle Saturday and the last Thursday. In fact, those were two of the worst days for attendance at the Aug. 17-Sept. 2 Fair, according to statistics that are  published below for the first time.

What you already knew: The grand total over 15 days was 712,049, a decrease from the 763,689 a year earlier (when the fair was 17 days long) and far short of the 800,000 goal set by organizers. (By comparison, the centennial fair in 2010 drew 937,485.) PNE vice-president of finance Roger Gil told me gate revenue has not been reconciled, but will be reported to the board of directors for its next meeting. (PNE board meetings are held behind closed doors, despite it being a public body.)

What you didn't know: A power outage delayed the opening of gates on Aug. 24 so the attendance for the middle Saturday of the Fair -- traditionally one of the biggest days -- was a disappointing 48,874. Another power outage happened in the evening on Aug. 29. The day's weather was mixed -- partly cloudy, sometimes rainy -- but only 26,363 came through the turnstiles. That was the worst-attended day of the entire Fair. Organizers were hoping for more because Aug. 29 was the day Vancity credit union debit and credit cardholders were admitted for $5 each.

The best-attended day was the third day -- Tues. Aug. 20 -- with 76,902 fairgoers. Why was that? Well, Port Metro Vancouver sponsored free admission to all comers from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. There was also a free two-hour promotion on Aug. 27, to make-good for the Aug. 24 power outage. That Tuesday's total  was 64,580.

Tickets and parking at the 2013 Fair were both cut from $20 to $16 each and kids under 13 were free. The touring Chinggis Khan exhibition, the only brand, new marquee attraction at the Fair, was an extra $3. There was no price break at the gates during the middle weekend of the civic fair, which was in competition with the free admission, civic-sponsored 125th anniversary of Stanley Park. The PNE drew 48,874 on Aug. 24 and 53,048 on Aug. 25. It is not known how much the free festival at Stanley Park impacted the PNE's revenues, but it certainly was not a business-wise move by the Vision Vancouver-dominated city council. The true anniversary of Stanley Park could have been observed on Sept. 27, the date it was opened in 1888.

The PNE fairgrounds were closed on Aug. 19 and 26 to cut costs.

Next year's fair runs Aug. 16-Sept. 1, 2014.

Day	Date	Attendance
Saturday	August 17, 2013	29,976
Sunday	August 18, 2013	31,129
Monday	August 19, 2013	0
Tuesday	August 20, 2013	76,902
Wednesday	August 21, 2013	36,039
Thursday	August 22, 2013	36,594
Friday	August 23, 2013	45,547
Saturday	August 24, 2013	48,874
Sunday	August 25, 2013	53,048
Monday	August 26, 2013	0
Tuesday	August 27, 2013	64,580
Wednesday	August 28, 2013	33,499
Thursday	August 29, 2013	26,363
Friday	August 30, 2013	41,126
Saturday	August 31, 2013	66,222
Sunday	September 1, 2013	67,588
Monday	September 2, 2013	54,562

TOTAL

712,049

What do you love or hate about Vancouver's annual PNE Fair? Did you go to the 2013 Fair? Leave your comments below or email me here.

Time ticking for Nine O'Clock Gun

The end is nigh for the Nine O'Clock Gun in Vancouver's Stanley Park.


The most famous sound of the city, heard around the region every night, is to be immediately replaced. A staff report to the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation cites the cannon's connotations of war and violence, along with increasing maintenance costs.

Vancouver's Nine O'Clock Gun (Xenyx at en.wikipedia)

It recommends the Vision Vancouver-majority board approve an open-microphone and long-range acoustic device be used instead to transmit a different live or recorded sound nightly for five seconds or less.


"Just as B.C. Place Stadium can change the colour of its exterior lights on a nightly basis, the sound heard around Metro Vancouver at 9 p.m. every evening can and should be different," the staff report said. "This will further enhance the city and region's character and offer new creative and promotional opportunities to the arts and cultural community."


A list of potential sounds includes a Buddhist temple gong, Vancouver Canucks' goal fanfare, Bryan Adams' guitar riff, Sarah McLachlan warble, Nardwuar the Human Serviette's "Doot-doola-doot-do," an excerpt from a Southsiders' chant, the lion roar sound effect from B.C. Lions' games, the Hastings Racecourse bugle fanfare, a dog whistle, ahooga horn and whoopee cushion.


The project would come at no cost to taxpayers, because one sound every month would be sold to a corporation. The report offered the Intel chime or Nokia ring tone as examples of such commercial sounds that would put money into city coffers for operation of the microphone and LRAD and area landscaping.


The staff report proposes selling the cannon to the highest bidder on the e-Bay auction website, but recommends against using Craigslist.


The gun is said to be a naval type, 12-pound muzzle-loader that was cast in 1816 by H&C King in the London, England borough of Woolwich during the reign of King George III. It was brought to Vancouver around 1894 and fired for the first time here on Oct. 5, 1898 to aid marine navigators. In 1969, University of B.C. Engineers briefly kidnapped the Nine O'Clock Gun. In 2008 they painted it red. It was restored for the city's 1986 centennial. The sound of the blast has carried as far away as Mission.


The pavilion, designed by architect Gregory Henriquez, will remain and house both the microphone and LRAD.


The city's noon-time O Canada horns at Canada Place will remain as-is. Those were originally installed at the B.C. Electric Building, but are now the custody of a federal Crown corporation.


A news conference is planned for beside the Nine O'Clock Gun at Hallelujah Point in Stanley Park just before noon on April 1st.

Cup Crazy

Has the Stanley Cup been to Stanley Park?

Why, yes it has. And I was right there with it, at the foot of the statue of Lord Frederick Arthur Stanley of Preston: the former Conservative Member of the British Parliament, the Earl of Derby and Canada's Governor General from 1888-1893.

When Labatt was the official beer of the National Hockey League, it conducted its Cup Crazy promotional tour across Canada.

The tour came through North Vancouver in 1999 and made a stop at the North Vancouver city fire hall.

I was working for the North Shore News newspaper at the time and arranged for West Vancouver resident and Hockey Hall of Famer Clint Smith to show up for a photo with the grandest trophy in North American sport.

Smith was a member of the 1940 Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers.

Hold your booing, please.

Mr. Smith, who lived to be 95 before being called up to the Heavenly Hockey League in 2009, was a Saskatchewan native. Before becoming a Ranger in 1936, he spent three years as a Vancouver Lion in the North West Hockey League. In 1933-34 he scored 25 goals and assisted 14 in just 34 games.

By virtue of being a Hockey Hall of Famer and a member of a Cup-winning team, Mr. Smith, whose nickname was "Snuffy," got to hoist the Cup. Needless to say, it made his day.

It made my day when I continued on with the Labatt and Hockey Hall of Fame crew for lunch and a jaunt into Stanley Park where we posed with the Stanley Cup at the popular statue of the park's namesake.

Lord Stanley never witnessed a Stanley Cup game. But he did enjoy Vancouver's most famous park. It opened on Sept. 28, 1888, but Lord Stanley himself came for the official dedication on Oct. 29, 1889.

I predict the Stanley Cup will return to Stanley Park sometime during June 2011. And Vancouverites will be proud of calling the park -- and the trophy -- theirs.