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COMMUNITY COMPASS: Crowd celebrates Canadian holiday a few days early

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Thousands of people — Canadians and non-Canadians alike — joined a beach party in Tamsui (淡水), Taipei County, on Saturday to celebrate Canada Day a little early.

The annual event was organized by the Canadian Society in Taiwan at Shalun (沙崙) beach in Tamsui, four days before the official Canada Day tomorrow.

Thousands enjoyed music, food, sports, face painting and other beach activities from noon to midnight on Saturday.

With more than 5,000 people attending the event, the organizer said that it was the biggest Canada Day beach party outside of Canada.

ENTERTAINMENT

Throughout the day, musicians such as Colby O’Donis, Won Fu, Skaraoke, Music Plant and Neon, as well as DJs including Dominik Hooker, Marcus Aurelius, Rick Kraft and Mr. Gin performed for the crowd.

After sunset, a cake-cutting ceremony was held and fireworks were set off to celebrate Canada’s birthday.

“I had a great time today — I enjoyed the sporting events,” Bryant Beamish, who had just finished playing volleyball, told the Taipei Times. “It feels good to have a piece of home in Taiwan.”

Beamish added that the only thing he had to complain about was the weather — it was cloudy all day with isolated sprinklings of rain.

TWO GAMES

Although the party was to celebrate Canada’s national day, Yankuba Manga, a Gambian student at National Taipei University of Technology, said he enjoyed the day because “we just won two soccer games against the Canadians.”

Robbie Hertzman, from Montreal, said he enjoyed the day by simply sitting on the beach and talking with friends.

“This is a nice beach and it feels good just to hang around with friends,” he said with a smile.

Despite the fun, a few people complained that the event was a bit disorganized, saying they could not always get answers from the information desk about where and when everything was.

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