(This
column was published in the North
Shore News on
July 26, 2000)
East Coast
tall ship party a lout-free zone
By Leo Knight
HALIFAX
-- Along with a couple of hundred thousand other people, I
passed a pleasant Saturday night gazing upon a fireworks display
framed by the majestic masts, spars and stays of one of a
hundred tall ships in Halifax harbour.
But,
one of the things that struck me, given a long experience with
the festival-ruining lager louts permeating Vancouver, was the
absence of problems in the midst of a very serious party. Sure,
there was a significant police presence, but it was more of a
jovial, yet almost bored presence. This is noticeably different
than the coiled spring intensity adopted by Vancouver area
police any time there is a large gathering of people for an
event.
Look
at North Van's Hose & Reel festival where drunks and
foul-mouthed idiots abound and the RCMP tend to police the
entrance gate rather than risk starting a full-scale riot by
trying to actually deal with the ignorant drunks who annually
ruin what should be a fun family day. Truth be told, a senior
Mountie told me many of the younger officers are too afraid to
wade into the drunken debauchery.
At
Tall Ships 2000, the waterfront boardwalks and piers were
teeming with humanity from all over the world, with a stroll of
a mere hundred paces yielding at least half a dozen different
languages overheard in passing. The beer gardens were
overflowing with merry-makers amidst the cacophony of music
emanating from sound systems, buskers and paid bands from around
the world.
Waterfront
pubs were jammed and the pints flowed as though the taps were
never closed. Perspiring bartenders looked like whirling
dervishes vainly trying to keep up with the demand of a 10-deep
gathering in front of them. The Fife & Drum pub actually ran
out of the most popular local brew, Alexander Keith's, with more
than four hours of tippling left for the thirsty crowd.
The
Split Crow, a fashionable downtown pub on a pedestrian mall,
spilled through its doors onto the cobblestones out front,
turning a good portion of the street into de facto pub space as
well. Management simply threw open the doors and windows to let
the band's music spill out with the patrons.
And
the police just kept a calm eye on the spirited, yet peaceful
proceedings.
Add
to the organized chaos, several hundred private boats jockeying
for fireworks viewing position in the harbour. Yet, as opposed
to the annual English Bay Symphony of Fire example, Staff
Sergeant Larry Bowden of the ports division of Halifax Regional
Police actually commended the boaters publicly for their
exemplary behaviour.
There
were no collisions, not even minor ones. Police conducted
literally hundreds of spot checks on vessels and not a single
charge of drinking and boating was laid. Not one.
On
the first night of the Tall Ships 2000 festival, there were a
couple of stabbings, a vicious beating with a pipe and a
shooting death that bore all the hallmarks of an execution. But
none of this urban insanity was connected to the festival. It
all was, I suppose needless to say, related to drugs and took
place in the city's north end, about 10 or so blocks from the
party.
It
turns out the shooting victim and at least one of the identified
stabbing victims were crack cocaine dealers, demonstrating that
no city is immune to the urban blight proliferating cities
across this country. While the area is predominantly black -- a
racial ghetto made possible when city fathers forced the closure
of "Africville" (sic) in the mid-1970s and moved the
residents to the area where the violence occurred -- race
relations in the city are remarkably good, also in contrast to
Vancouver.
A
few days before the arrival of the tall ships, I had the
privilege of attending a mixed-race wedding in the area. The
small Baptist church, replete with gospel music, was decorated
with plaques and other memorials to community leaders from the
past.
While
the ushers had no need to ask guests the usual "friends of
the bride or groom" question, simple observation providing
the answer, the mood was celebratory and lacking any negative
racial overtones.
The
reception proved even more pleasing. Guests were deliberately
seated randomly, ensuring social and indeed, racial integration,
making friends of strangers. Through conversation, I was able to
understand this was the norm in a city where the perception
elsewhere is one of racial disharmony.
One
of the more amusing events of the week, and, certainly, one
which also showed the differences between Halifax and Vancouver,
came from the small, yet vocal protest organized by Amnesty
International. They stood alongside the Chilean tall ship Esmeralda,
railing about alleged torture they claim occurred on board
during the tumultuous reign of the despicable General Augusto
Pinochet.
Instead
of drawing positive attention to their dubious cause, they got
heckled by local and tourist alike. Evidently, the fact that the
ship is an inanimate object and all but three of the crew had
not even been born during the Pinochet years was lost on the
feisty, if ill-advised little group.
While
we all take pride in the beauty of our fair city, we seem
somehow incapable of acting as civilized as our East Coast
cousins. What used to be a two-week showcase of Vancouver, the
Sea Festival, has been reduced to the four nights of the
Symphony of Fire, largely because of the antics of the
ubiquitous crowd of idiots.
We
boast of being a world-class city and can't even host a New
Year's party in public when cities across the country, and
indeed, around the world, partied in the year 2000 with abandon.
In
Halifax, the last of the tall ships will have barely cleared
McNab's Island when the annual Busker Festival will draw
thousands more to the bustling waterfront.
Evidently,
we need often go elsewhere to see what we are missing.
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