Sheena Easton and Aaron Pritchett Perform to Thousands at 29th Annual Canada Day at Canada Place

VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - July 04, 2016) - More than 900,000 people took part in the various events at the 29th Annual Canada Day at Canada Place, which included a daytime festival, parade and two-barge fireworks display. The highlight of the festival, presented by Port of Vancouver, was an 80's themed exhibition and performances to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Canada Place that opened as the Canada Pavilion for Expo 86.

"A lot of planning went into bringing the Expo 86 theme to life," said Gillian Behnke, Manager of Community Relations & Communications at Port of Vancouver. "It was a wonderful way to commemorate the 30^th anniversary of this incredible building, situated in the heart of the port as a symbol for Vancouver and for Canada."

The free family-friendly daytime festival included live musical performances by Grammy Award winning artist Sheena Easton and Aaron Pritchett and entertainment from the world's best extreme pogo demo crew, Xpogo. A special daytime ceremony welcomed 60 new Canadian citizens to the country at the Citizenship Ceremony, and the evening offered a Canada Day parade and the Canada Day Fireworks Show.

"We're so thankful to our production team, our generous sponsors and the amazing volunteers," said Behnke. "They helped to make the day such a huge success and to provide a fun, inclusive and safe environment for our guests. We had close to 250,000 people participate in the daytime activities, 300,000 turnout for the parade and 450,000 watch the fireworks show."

The 29th Annual Canada Day at Canada Place event is presented by Port of Vancouver and made possible thanks to the generous support of partners including the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Canadian Forces, Coast Capital Savings, CN, Nature's Path Foods, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the Vancouver Convention Centre, City of Vancouver, WestPark and Seaspan. Media partners include Global BC, Vancouver 24 Hrs, Shaw, OMNI Diversity Television, Vancity Buzz, CHMB AM1320, CFOX, News Talk 980, CKNW, and Rock 101.

About Canada Place

Canada Place at Port of Vancouver is an internationally-recognized landmark and venue for world-class events and inspirationally Canadian experiences. For the last 30 years Canada Place has served as a hub for national celebrations, including National Aboriginal Day, Saint-Jean Baptiste and Canada Day at Canada Place. Next year will mark the 150th anniversary of Canada's confederation and, located in the heart of Vancouver's waterfront, Canada Place is perfectly positioned to serve as a hub of celebrations on the west coast with an incredible year of programming. Canada Place is also homeport to the Vancouver-Alaska cruises, and houses Vancouver Convention Centre East, Pan Pacific Hotel, FlyOver Canada, World Trade Centre and WestPark. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority manages the Port of Vancouver and is the owner and operator of Canada Place. The Port of Vancouver is Canada's largest port and the third largest tonnage port in North America, facilitating Canada's trade with more than 170 world economies. Located in a naturally beautiful setting on Canada's west coast, port terminals and tenants enabled the trade of approximately $200 billion in goods in 2015, generating an estimated 100,000 jobs, $6.1 billion in wages, and $9.7 billion in GDP across Canada. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is responsible for the stewardship of federal port lands in and around Vancouver, British Columbia. It is accountable to the federal minister of transport and operates pursuant to the Canada Marine Act.

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