The Paralympic Opening Ceremony is this Friday, March 12, 2010. This will be the final event hosted in the BC Place stadium area for the 2010 Winter Games.

The Ceremony will follow the same timeline as the previous ceremonies at BC Place, beginning at 6pm; gates open to the public at 2pm, with a pre-show starting at 5pm.

There have been small changes to the road closures which will be in effect for the ceremony, beginning as early as 10am until midnight on March 12 only:

• Cambie Bridge
• a few blocks of Beatty and Robson Street
• Georgia viaduct closed (Dunsmuir viaduct will now remain open at all times)
• Quebec Street will be open to southbound vehicle traffic only between Keefer and Pacific Blvd.
• Carrall Street will be closed vehicle traffic between Keefer and Pacific from March 10-12
• Temporary Pedestrian Corridors will be set up along a few blocks of Hamilton, Georgia, Dunsmuir, Smithe, Expo and Nelson to help facilitate pedestrian flow to the stadium for the event.

A full list of road network changes for Friday can be found on the city’s website here: http://olympichostcity.vancouver.ca/gettingaround/road-parking-restrictions/venue-area-road-closures.htm#1

Residents and businesses of 800-600 blocks of Beatty Street and 0-100 blocks of Robson Street in the stadium neighbourhood please be advised of Friday’s events: To facilitate the closures along a few blocks of Robson Street (0-100 between Beatty and Cambie) and Beatty Street (600-800 blocks between Dunsmuir and Smithe); they will install a Modu-Loc fence along the gutters in roughly the same way as Sunday, Feb 28; however, the fence installation will not begin until 8am Friday a few hours before the road closure, and it will be taken away later that night a few hours after the opening ceremony is over. They will ensure there are more breaks in the fence to facilitate business and resident access until the road is closed for the afternoon.

Generator Update

Generators will be reactivated around BC Place Stadium beginning Wednesday, March 10 until the end of the Opening Ceremony on Friday, March 12. After that time they will be decommissioned and removed from the site.

About the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games

Tickets to the Opening Ceremony are almost sold out but some tickets can still be purchased online at vancouver2010.com/tickets, by phone at 1.800.TICKETS or in person at one of the ticket centres (there are two venue box offices are on site, one on the east side and one on the west). Ticket prices range from $30 - 175.

Paralympic sport events will take place at Vancouver Paralympic Centre (Wheelchair Curling) and UBC Thunderbird Arena (Ice Sledge Hockey). Other events will take place in Whistler at Whistler Creekside (Alpine events) and WhistlerParalympicPark (Nordic events). Again, tickets can be purchased online, by phone or in person at venue box offices – Main Ticket Centres are also located at Robson Square and WhistlerVillage.

There are still free public events on going in Vancouver for the Paralympic time as well. For a ‘top ten’ list, you can visit the City of Vancouver website: http://olympichostcity.vancouver.ca/mediaroom/feature-stories/top10-free-events.htm

The Closing Ceremony for the Paralympic Winter Games will take place in Whistler on Sunday, March 21, 2010. There will not be a vehicle checkpoint on the highway. You can drive to designated spectator parking lots at the base of WhistlerParalympicPark near the Callaghan Valley Road and park for free. From there, special spectator shuttles will take you to WhistlerParalympicPark or Whistler Creekside. Public transportation within Whistler is included with your ticket on the day of the event. Learn more — online spectator guide.

After March 12, 2010

The Opening Ceremony marks the end of our activities at BC Place Stadium. Heavy “load-out” activity will commence immediately following the event and will occur over a number of days. Expo and Pacific Boulevards will remain closed until midnight the morning of March 16; however commuters may still encounter periodic lane closures as crew work on removing the PIDS fencing along the roads.

We want to thank all of you for your support of the Games. Our success to date has been a great measure of the willingness and flexibility of our community to help us stage the Games in such a complex and challenging urban environment. We hope you have found some time to enjoy the Games and we wish you well with many thanks once again for all your support (and your patience!).

We may be in touch over the next few days if any new information comes to light, however just in case please be advised my term with VANOC will be over as of March 13, 2010. If you have any questions following that date, please contact the Operations Engagement Team at 604.404.0707 or 604.403.2309. Another option (after VANOC closes shop in April) is to call 3-1-1 to reach the City of Vancouver.