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Canada Day boat ballet: False Creek Ferries to bring back its little dancing ships

It's the best dancing boat performance Vancouver sees all year.
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False Creek Ferries doing their 'ferry ballet.' Photo via Instagram/False Creek Ferries

What's Canada Day in Vancouver without a little boat ballet?

For years the False Creek Ferries have marked Canada's birthday on their namesake waters, synchronizing their maneuvers in moves called the "Circle of Death" and "Crossover" among others.

This year they'll be back at it, after taking a year off in 2021. On July 1, those out early will get to see the aquatic performance first as the first show will take place off the seawall near Olympic Village starting at 8:30 a.m.

There will be a few performances throughout the morning, says operations manager Jeremy Patterson, as the "ballerina" boats head towards English Bay. He says they expect to do shows near Yaletown, Granville Island, and where False Creek meets English Bay, wrapping up around 10 a.m.

"The best viewing of the ballet can be enjoyed from the Burrard, Granville, and Cambie bridges, the False Creek Seawall, Sunset Beach, and the pier above the Ferry Dock on Granville Island," says the family-owned company in a press release.

This year marks the 40th year of False Creek Ferries crisscrossing the stretch of water; they launched in October of 1982 with two boats running between Granville Island and the West End. Now they operate 17 vessels, stopping at nine stops all year.

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