MyWestworld

Top 5 Trickiest Olympic Visitor Questions

Posted on 16. Feb, 2010 by Rob Howatson in Living, teaser

OLYMPICS UPDATE

What every volunteer Olympic ambassador needs to know

by Rob Howatson

As a lifelong Vancouverite, I love this city and accept that it is my civic duty to wear an Ask Me! button during the 2010 Games, but it is with some trepidation that I don the pin. It’s not that the buttons themselves look goofy. The City of Vancouver’s Ask Me! Happy to Help button has a pleasing, blue gradient background with an Olympic logo on it. Whistler has the Ask Me I’m a Local button which features an eco-trendy splash of green, fitting for the grassroots campaign started by Sea-to-Sky resident Janis McKenzie and ski tourist Dan Perdue.

And then there is the red button that I will be wearing. It is a harmless smiley face with the eyes replaced by the words: Ask Me. My wife brought two home from work. Her office got them from Translink which is distributing them through its Employer Pass Program, a green initiative that offers discounted transit passes to companies with 25 or more staffers pledging to use public transit.

My concern is that as I move about the city, with this red beacon on my chest, some disoriented tourist may ask me a question that I can’t field, and I will have failed as an ad hoc ambassador. So in preparation for my role as self-appointed, street concierge, here are some tough questions I’ve studied up on in advance.

Q: Where can I get a great bannockwich?
A: At the Four Host First Nations’ 2010 Aboriginal Pavilion, located at Georgia and Hamilton Streets.

Courtesy Purdy's Chocolates

Q: (from a visitor with a stutter) How do I get to the corner of Duke-Duke-Duke-Duke and Earles?
A: Get off at 29th Avenue Skytrain station, walk east to Earles Street and go five blocks south. Pause briefly at Duke and Earles to hum the 1962 Gene Chandler doo-wop hit, then keep going to Kingsway, where you will find Vancouver’s beloved Purdy’s chocolate factory. Purdy’s is the city’s oldest chocolatier, and the small retail store attached to the factory is a great place to get fresh-from-the-copper-kettle delectables such as truffles infused with luscious Mission Hill Vidal Icewine ($12.95) or Olympic souvenir boxes packed with hedgehogs and maple melties ($12.95).

Q: I wish to shake my booty? Any suggestions?

Courtesy Ellie O'Day/Boca del Lupo

A: Dance Marathon is an immersive and competitive theatre performance where you compete against other audience members in an actual dance marathon. Warning: If you are a good booty shaker, you and your partner may be out on the floor for up to four hours. Wear sensible shoes. February 9, 10, 11 and 13, 7 p.m. at the Roundhouse Community Centre (at Davie & Pacific). Tix $30

Q: Where can I see my name in lights?
A: Not sure about your name, but you can certainly see your aim in lights. Go to vectorialvancouver.net. Participate in Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s interactive light sculpture project, which runs until February 28. Twenty robotic searchlights have been positioned around English Bay. You can program a short dance for them online. Once you are happy with your proposed choreography,  submit it together with your name, location and dedication. Every night from dusk to dawn, new designs are activated from the website’s queue. The project automatically creates a personal webpage for each participant, documenting his or her contribution with views from four project webcams.

Q: How y’all gonna pay for this little sports tourney?
A: (Silently remove English Ask Me button and replace with Farsi one. Then smile, shrug and pray that this inquisitive tourist doesn’t speak Persian. (The City of Vancouver Ask Me buttons are available in 24 different languages.)

Tags: 2010 Winter Olympic Games & Parlympics, Ask Me Buttons, best bannock, Four Host First Nations Pavillion, Purdy's Chocolates, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer interactive light show, Vancouver's Dance Maratho