We鈥檝e come a long way, baby.
The huge crowds at downtown viewing sites for the Canucks鈥� drive to win their first Stanley Cup have been celebratory and well-behaved. No matter that they鈥檙e crammed into narrow city blocks straining to see what they can on distant big screen monitors.
The surrounding municipalities have also jumped on board, multiplying the sites as the series moved to Boston for games three and four. Surrey, Burnaby, Abbotsford and Richmond all set up big screens for large gatherings of fans to soak in the vibe.
It鈥檚 human nature to share the company of others at monumental occasions. Most world-class cities have some sort of easily accessible location to host huge gatherings of people.
But limited space and short-sighted urban design have left Vancouver without such a venue. That absence was a contributing factor to the 1994 Stanley Cup riot, when post-game crowds ran amok downtown because they had no place to go, and the ensuing chaos left a black mark on the city鈥檚 reputation.
But the lessons learned from that experience were put to good use during the 2010 Winter Olympics, when organizers created satellite gathering sites to serve the crowds seeking some Olympic buzz.
It worked. A good time was had by all.
The addition of suburban sites has spread the party atmosphere around the Metro Vancouver region.
The lack of stories on the nightly news about trouble at these sites is testimony to how well they鈥檝e been managed and how far the region has come since 鈥�94.
And if the home team can hold up its end of the bargain, there might be a whole lot more worth celebrating in the next few days.
鈥擳he Burnaby News Leader
