Print

Mail

wiki links

Baishawan Canada D'eh beach bash better than ever

Organizers of this year's Canada D'eh party at Baishawan have learned from previous mistakes and are putting on extra buses and providing more food and drink. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF CST

Marcus Maidment stops his scooter because he's spotted an expat buying a newspaper at a 7-Eleven. As the man walks out of the convenience store, Maidment politely introduces himself and the party he's promoting.

Maidment is one of a handful of volunteers who have been hitting the streets everyday for the past few weeks with a bundle of flyers talking to groups of locals and foreigners and promoting the Canada D'eh party at Baishawan (白沙灣) tomorrow.

"The response has been overwhelmingly positive," he said. "We've already had 50,000 hits on Forumosa and expect at least 5,000 people to attend."

The positive response is hardly surprising considering that the party is located on a huge farm beside the ocean and features an impressive lineup of events and performances.

"We've also made transportation easy and accessible," Maidment said.

For the kids

The celebrations begin at 1:30pm with activities geared towards children. Players from the Chinese Ice Hockey League (CIHL) have erected a tent to teach kids how to shoot a hockey puck like a pro.

"We might even have a fully dressed goalie," said Dave Campbell of the CIHL.

For those who like to kick a ball, Taiwan's Master Football Academy (MFA) will operate a kid's football clinic.

Other afternoon activities include beach volleyball playing and competition, horseshoe, tug-of-war and face painting. Local color will also be on show as 30 Aboriginal performers are scheduled to strut their stuff at 3:40pm.

Party Notes What: Canada D'eh bigger, better Baishawan beach party Where: Baishawan (白沙灣) When: Tomorrow from 1:30pm to 11pm Cost: Advance tickets are NT$400; NT$500 at the gate; children under six get in for free while those aged six to 12 can enter with half-price tickets. Adult tickets include 5 drink and food coupons Getting there: Take MRT to Hongshulin (紅樹林) station - one stop before Danshui (淡水) - and hop on a free shuttle bus Details: Comprehensive details of the event, including a map, can be found at www.canadiansociety.org

At 7pm, Taipei County Magistrate Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) and Ron Macintosh, executive director of the Canadian Trade Office, will ride onto the site on horses followed by Kim Fleming, president of the Canadian Society in Taiwan (CST), to cut a celebratory cake.

The cake cutting ceremony ends with fireworks and then the evening's lineup of stage activities starts.

Let's party

The band lineup includes Riddim Outlawz, BoPoMoFo, NEON, Jahmecca Soundcrew and David Foster Syndicate, among others.

Complimenting the tunes are belly dancers and a bartender fire show featuring some of Luxy's highly dexterous staff members.

Though the event at Baishawan ends at 11pm, Maidment says the party will continue at Luxy late into the evening.

The last eight of buses of the evening will take revelers directly to Luxy. Admission is half price. See this week's Vinyl Word for more details.

All are invited

Though the party celebrates Canada Day, Fleming says you don't have to be Canadian to attend.

"We are expecting big numbers," he said. "Two years ago we had only sold 200 tickets before the event and 1,600 people showed up." Over 400 tickets had been sold by Tuesday.

With the unexpectedly high numbers in 2005, the party quickly ran out of food and drink.

"That shouldn't happen this year," said Kevin Dempsey, a CST director. "We have the Taiwan Beer truck and the Lipton truck."

Fleming added that there are enough hamburgers, hotdogs and drinks for 6,000 people. The party also includes two pig roasts.

Previous Canada Day parties also found many attendees waiting for as long as an hour for buses to ferry them from Hongshilin (紅樹林) MRT station to Baishawan.

"We don't want to see a repeat of two years ago," said Fleming, referring to the five buses that were hired in 2005. "This year we've rented 18 buses in total," he added. With the addition of 13 buses, Fleming says revelers shouldn't have to wait for more than 10 minutes. For those wanting to drive, a parking lot close to the site can hold up to 200 cars and is free.

"But why drive when the MRT is so convenient?" asked Dempsey. "You can save 45 minutes by taking the MRT to Hongshilin and then the bus to the beach."

With Taipei's frequent showers over the past few weeks some are concerned that the party might get washed out.

"The weather in Taipei and Baishawan are completely different," Dempsey said. "It hasn't rained [at Baishawan] on this weekend in 31 years."

This story has been viewed 1535 times.