Mark Cohon, CFL Commissioner and The Grey Cup arrive in Vancouver aboard a Canadian Naval boat on Wednesday.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
For BC Lions fans, it was a heartbreaking year. Their team won just four games at home, star players got sidelined by injuries, and instead of a roar, their season ended with a 50-17 whimper against the Montreal Alouettes.
Prairie favourites the Saskatchewan Roughriders also got ousted.
Still, tens of thousands of Vancouver CFL fans will flock downtown for the weekend-long Grey Cup Festival, and for the big game Sunday, which sees the Calgary Stampeders take on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. More than 15,000 more are expected to head in from out of town.
"This is the 102nd Grey Cup, so this celebration is steeped in deep, deep history, and the Grey Cup Festival that comes with it is something that brings fans from right across the country together," says festival organizer Jamie Pitblado, who went to his first Grey Cup as a kid in Toronto, and has gone nearly every year for a decade. "And it's not so much about who's in the game; it's about being at the game."
Leading up to Sunday's big kickoff, there are three days of football-themed festivities that include a daily all-weather street festival with free concerts and a kid-friendly family zone; a Grey Cup Parade where fans cheer on famed alumni including Damon Allen, Don Narcisse, Geroy Simon and Tommy Europe; a CFL legends luncheon where Lui Passaglia will be named man of the year; and a charity casino night where as many as 40 alumni – among them Mr. Simon, Travis Lulay and Gerald Roper – will be among the players and croupiers.
There are also team parties happening across the city, as well as three nights of concerts at the Vancouver Convention Centre, including an indie night featuring Hey Ocean!, a country night with Tim Hicks at the top of the bill, and a classic rock night with Trooper, 54-40, Sass Jordan and more.
Then on game day, Mr. Pitblado says fans will paint their faces, don their fan gear, get pumped up at tailgate parties, and make the pilgrimage to BC Place, where they'll take in an estimated 20,000 hot dogs, 37,000 litres of beer and two miles of popcorn tubes as they cheer on the players – despite the fact that there are no Lions among them.
"More than anything, people just want good games – close games, exciting games, down-to-the-finish games," he says, "so they feel like they just witnessed something pretty spectacular."
The Grey Cup Festival is on through Sunday. The 102nd Grey Cup Championship happens Sunday.