While not a traditional door-to-door wassailing, the annual Shoreside Celebration brings families together in a free, Christmas get-together.
The Deep Cove event has been happening for about 20 years and Jody Shaw, who helps organize it through the North Vancouver Recreation and Culture community events office, says it has become a local tradition.
“It’s a warm community celebration,” she explains. “It’s quite joyful.”
The Shoreside Celebration in Panorama Park coincides with the Carol Ships Parade of Lights, which features a sailpast of decorated boats to various marine areas, including West Vancouver, Lighthouse Park, Eagle Harbour, and Deep Cove, over the course of several weekends starting in early December.
The decorated parade of boats has been making the rounds at this time of year for about five decades, and the society that runs the event notes on its website that it helps raise money for B.C. Children’s Hospital.
The Shoreside Celebration is scheduled to provide viewing of the boats as they enter Deep Cove harbour this Saturday night.
Festivities start before that, at around 7:30 p.m., with live music, a fire juggler, balloon animals, face painting, and crafts for kids. There is also a large bonfire that Shaw says “just draws people in.”
Students from Seycove secondary will be on hand to sell hot drinks and cookies as a fundraiser. The boats are scheduled to arrive in the harbour around 8:30 p.m., and will circle several times as the event goes on.
Santa is getting a ride to the event on a fire truck and should arrive around 7:45 p.m.
