Organizers are busy with the last few details for this year’s Sea Cavalcade in Gibsons.
The theme of the July 23-24 festival is Circus by the Sea and will feature well-established favourites like the parade, the Sea Cav Mile, the Keats to Armours swim and the Saturday night fireworks.
Sea Cav is also getting ready to welcome the Royal Canadian Navy’s HMCS Oriole – a sailing ship based at Esquimalt.
Lt.-Cmdr. Michael Wills, who serves as Oriole’s captain, said the 101-foot (31-metre) Oriole is the oldest commissioned ship in the RCN fleet, and one of the oldest ships of its kind still sailing in the Pacific Northwest. In navy terms Oriole is a “sail training vessel” and Wills said the crew is mainly RCN sailors, but from time to time it includes Sea Cadets and high school students from a program called Youth Adventure Challenge.
“It’s evolved from a naval officer training platform to now, where we primarily do a variety of outreach activities,” Wills said. The ship will be open for visitors, but Wills cautions that people with mobility problems may have problems getting onboard.
Wills said visitors are always curious about the history of the ship, which was built in 1921 for the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto.
He also said it’s not unusual for someone who experienced a bit of Oriole’s history firsthand to turn up.
“What’s most interesting is how many people have sailed on board over the years, so it’s not uncommon to have someone in their 60s come on board and say they sailed on board in the late ’70s or early ’80s.”
Oriole is expected to arrive in Gibsons Harbour on the evening of July 22, and will be there throughout Sea Cav weekend.
New events for 2016 include a clown contest (in keeping with the circus theme) on Saturday morning, and kayak and stand-up paddleboard races between Armours Beach and Keats Island on Sunday.
One challenge the organizing committee has been dealing with this year is increasing costs for liability insurance.
Co-chair Jon Glencross told Gibsons councillors back in March that the bill is now over $8,000. Town officials have been looking into ways to help reduce that cost. Gibsons already provides around $16,000 for Sea Cavalcade every year, which is mainly to pay for the fireworks display.
