VANOC headquarters in Vancouver.Rafal Gerszak
More than a month after the 2010 Winter Games ended, buyers still flock to the Bay's so-called Olympic superstore, scooping up merchandise. And huge Olympic-themed wraps continue to adorn a few buildings downtown.
But just about everywhere else, vestiges of the Games are going, going, gone.
VANOC itself shed more than 800 staffers last week, leaving a hard core of 400 or so employees rattling around its spacious, six-story headquarters. Those numbers will be whittled down, too, over the next few months, until fewer than two dozen are left during the dog days of summer, with most beavering away on the organizing committee's final financial report, expected at the end of September.
It's getting lonely at the top.
"I am surrounded by empty desks," VANOC communications vice-president Renée Smith-Valade said yesterday. "It's quite something."
Chief financial officer John McLaughlin said there was "a bit of a gathering" last week for the hundreds of departing employees, and many hugs. "You just don't know when you're ever going to see them again. It's all quite odd. Now, we've got people tucked into corners all over the building.
"You don't know who's in and who's out. We're getting smaller and smaller."
Mr. McLaughlin said the VANOC offices will be returned to their owner, the City of Vancouver, in late April or early May. The city has agreed to let VANOC use one floor until its work is done.
The east side building will eventually serve as administrative headquarters for the local police department.
Meanwhile, thousands of residents thronged the ice on which Canada won five medals, including two golds, for one last skate at the famed Richmond speed skating oval.
Starting today, the ice will be gradually melted down to allow conversion of the oval into a massive community sports and fitness centre, including hockey rinks, basketball courts, running tracks, rowing training facilities and a full-floor workout gym with more than a hundred pieces of equipment.
Aran Kay, assistant communications manager for the award-winning oval, said more than 10,000 skaters showed up during the long weekend to relive some of the excitement from the Olympics.
"There was a little bit of disappointment, too, that the speed skating ice is disappearing, but people are also looking forward to the oval's new function as a centre of excellence for sport, health and wellness."
Mr. Kay said the ice can be restored for future world-class speed skating events, should any be scheduled for Richmond, while the new hockey ice will be fine for short-track speed skating. "It's just a matter of putting up the boards and the padding."
He said the $178-million facility is expected to break even through memberships, admissions and sports league rentals. "Richmond is really getting its money's worth out of this."
Post-Olympic conversions are taking place at other venues, as well, with security fences and Winter Games tents and trailers long gone.
The Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre, where curling took place, is being transformed into a new aquatic centre, a curling club with eight sheets of ice, a hockey rink and community centre. "The curling ice has been taken out, but it will take until next summer before everything is completely finished," said Joyce Courtney of the Vancouver Park Board, which has jurisdiction over the facility.
Plans are also proceeding for the financially troubled Olympic Village that wowed athletes and coaches who bunked at the waterfront residences during the Games.
VANOC has removed the few remaining mattresses, bed frames and assorted pieces of furniture used to stock the athlete units, and the hundreds of apartments will soon be offered to the public in an attempt to retire the nearly $1-billion in debt the city incurred when forced to take over financing of the project from private developers.
Before the units go on sale, the city is holding a gala open house on May 15. "All the Olympic trappings should be gone by the end of April, and this will be an opportunity for the public to walk around the site and really look around," said city spokeswoman Wendy Stewart.