Some of you will remember we put out an urgent appeal last May for people to get involved in the Celebration of Lights, a contest put on by VANOC for the unveiling of the 2010 Olympic logo. The idea was that all the communities could present a vignette of how they celebrated the official launching of the logo and we submitted our video that showed an RCMP in red serge bringing a unlit torch to the beach fire, passing it off to a little girl who walked it into the water and passed it to a paddlers and the canoes headed off to waters unknown. The children then floated candles they had prepared earlier as an invitation to the world athletes to come to participate it the 2010 Olympic games. Well, we won!!!! CTV will be up here soon and we’ll get to do it all again but this time with a professional director (not me!!) and camera crew. This video will be shown all over the world! Yeah!!!! Thanks to those who came down to support us – it was stressful due to her short notice and planning timeframe but you can see what can be done when passionate people get involved!

 

Read the submission and watch the video created by Amos Harding....

Event Submission – Imagine 2010 April 23, 2005 Sunshine Coast Spirit of BC Committee Light the Night Community Background The Sunshine Coast stretches from the shores of Howe Sound to Desolation Sound on the west coast of British Columbia dotted with thriving communities as diverse as the natural landscape. The Lower Sunshine Coast includes the communities of: Gibsons Gibsons Landing village and Upper Gibsons Roberts Creek Gumboot Nation Sechelt Wilson Creek, Davis Bay and Sechelt Inlet Halfmoon Bay Redroofs, Secret Cove & Thormanby Island Pender Harbour Garden Bay, Madeira Park, Ruby Lake Egmont & Earl's Cove The Sunshine Coast Spirit of BC Committee represents the communities of the lower Sunshine Coast as we countdown to 2010. Event Concept When we first heard about the 2010 Legacies Now request to participate in this milestone event we decided to create an outdoor family event, interactive, symbolic but most of all – fun. Our target audience were the kids of the Sunshine Coast. The message - show your Sunshine Coast spirit for the unveiling of the VANOC 2010 emblem on April 23, 2005. Our brand “Light the Night” with a floating torch ceremony gave us the theme on which to build an event for the 2010 emblem unveiling. Event Activities To engage our family participants we planned four activities under the branding of “Light the Night” show your Sunshine Coast spirit in a floating torch ceremony. To make things interactive with the kids volunteers designed a floating paper lantern that would be launched in the ocean by the kids as part of the evening’s festivities. This turned out to be the highlight of the evening for our youngest citizens. Activities included: Kid’s Workshop – Light the Night How to Make a Mini Torch Lantern Children decorated a white paper bag with crayons, markers and the creative genius of their active minds. Over the hour between 6 to 7 p.m. we had over 30 kids create their floating lantern. Volunteers attached pontoons to make the lantern sea worthy. Family Ceremony – Light the Night Invitation to the World Families gathered on the beach to send our communities’ invitation to the world to join us in 2010 by lighting the night by water. Two canoes accepted a torch in a symbolic gesture from an RCMP honour guard: one canoe for Whistler, the other representing Vancouver. Kids Lantern Launch – Light the Night Congratulations Vancouver Greetings to the world’s athletes and congratulations from the children of the Sunshine Coast who showed their coast spirit with a mini torch procession. Volunteers placed tea-lights in the lanterns for the kids who formed a lantern water brigade to launch them into the ocean to commemorate the unveiling of the 2010 emblem. “Hey it really floats!” was the quote of the event. This proved to be a big hit with our future athletes and artisans ranging in ages from 1 to 13. Happy emblem day Vancouver! Please note that once the kids moved into the clubhouse to watch the unveiling on TV our paddlers retrieved the paper lanterns. (Mum’s the word – one four year old boy was sure his floating lantern would make it to Vancouver.) Imagine 2010 Live in the Clubhouse – Light the Night Emblem Reaction Families retreated to the clubhouse to watch the emblem unveiling and celebrated the new logo with a cup of hot chocolate. We were also were entertained by a local musician who had written a song about the Sunshine Coast and 2010. Post Event Synopsis The event was planned and executed by a small group of volunteers with donations from individuals and in-kind corporate supplies such as the torches and hot chocolate. Our budget was to say the least on a shoestring and yet we met our goal. We raised awareness in our community for 2010 and created an event that was spirited family fun. The entire event was very well received by the participants and the Committee is contemplating how we might adapt the popular lantern launch into a lumière festival that could move around the communities of the lower Sunshine Coast throughout the early summer or fall seasons.