LANGLEY Canada Day and Langley’s International Festival held at the Willoughby Community Park, beside Langley Events Centre, on Monday and Tuesday was a tremendous success. It was the first time when Langley’s two biggest celebrations merged, and the Langley’s International Festival Society joined hands with the Fraser Valley Regional Library, Langley Events Centre, Langley School District, Tourism Langley, and Township of Langley to have one big celebration, and the experiment was extremely successful.
Many dignitaries including MP Mark Warawa, MLA Mary Polak, Township of Langley Mayor Jack Froese, Langley Councillors Grant Ward, Steve Fergusson, Kim Richter, and David Davis, and City of Langley Mayor Ted Schaffer, City of Langley Councillor Rosemary Wallace, and Elizabeth Mayorga, Consul General of Mexico, and William Heng-sheng Chuang, Director General of Taiwan, joined thousands of others to celebrate Canada’s 147th birthday. Over 50,000 people of all ages attended the event and enjoyed a variety of entertainment through colorful ethnic performances, visual arts, visiting the international marketplace, tasting a variety of foods, fireworks, and many other activities.
Bob Barrett, the president of the Langley’s International Festival Society said: “I am so delighted with the success of this great event. All our gratitude goes out to the many people who put so much time and effort into making this event a fabulous family affair. I appreciate the support that our society received from our federal, provincial and local governments.”
Shar Dubas, Founder of Langley’s International Festival Society, said: “The Langley Canada Day / Langley’s International Festival was a huge success this year with beautiful weather, new venue and lots of free parking.”
The new venue for the Canada Day really worked well to make it a more enjoyable experience for the community. This year, it had a full-line up of performing artists for the main and the children stages as around 250 dancers and musicians entertained the attendees. In the marketplace, a diverse selection of original artisans, hand-made crafts, clothing, and jewellery drew everyone’s attention. Multicultural food, Children’s Chalet, Kids Have Talent, Cultural Art Gallery, community organizations’ information booths, car show, dog shows, the pony rides, bicycle stunts, the Circus Lab, fireworks and so on were the other attractions. The Parade of Nations was an inspiring activity that united hundreds of people with different ethnic background and national attires, holding flags of many countries, creating an extraordinary multicultural experience.
Rob Hopkins, MC of the ceremony, did an outstanding job in making the celebrations very exciting. Langley’s International Festival Society thanked the media, the sponsors, the community organizations, volunteers, and the community for making this year’s event such a big success.
Visit langleycanadaday.ca, internationalfestival.ca, facebook.com/LangleyCanadaDay, or facebook.com/internationalfestival.ca to have a look at photos of the event, sharing in the experience, and staying updated for next year’s celebrations.
