After years of filling Brennan Park to the rafters for Remembrance Day ceremonies, the Royal Canadian Legion Diamond Head Branch 277 is moving it outdoors this year.
“The reason for it is we’ve got too successful,” said Legion poppy chairman Ed Robertson.
“We were well over capacity.”
With more and more people filling up the space inside Brennan Park in recent years, there was concern about safety and fire regulations.
The ceremony will take place on Friday at Stan Clarke Park at the end of Cleveland Avenue.
“We’ll have everybody right at the cenotaph,” he said.
To start off, they considered having it at the nearby pavilion, said Robertson.
The District of Squamish was willing to help with costs for providing cover and a sound system, but there are getting to be fewer volunteers, so they made the decision to move the event to the cenotaph.
The good news, though, has been the strong turnout in recent years by the public to honour veterans.
Robertson said they have been over capacity for the last few years and have had to ask many, even mothers with children in strollers, to stand outside. There was a need to move the event back outdoors, which means there will be no seating or cover in the event of rain.
Robertson encourages people to be downtown and find parking if they are driving by 10:30 a.m. on Friday.
The actual service will start about 10 minutes before 11 a.m.
“We want to have the silence at 11 o’clock,” Robertson said.
The ceremony had been at Brennan Park for years and, before that, at the high school.
However, prior to these venues, the event had taken place at the cenotaph and the colour party marched from the school to the site at one time.
