False Creek ferry boats stage annual Canada Day ballet choreography

False Creek Ferries' fleet of miniature passenger ferries traded their regular routes for a choreographed Canada Day flotilla on July 1, staging the company's annual "Ferry Ballet" with 10 boats — dedicating half its fleet to the spectacle.

The two-hour performance between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m. saw small ferry boats move in close formation through False Creek, with skippers navigating tight turns, crossovers, figure eights, and other manoeuvres while regular marine traffic continued around them. The tradition has been running for nearly 30 years, according to Llowyn Ball, a captain with False Creek Ferries who has been choreographing the performance on and off for more than a decade.

This year's performance involved nine regular ferry boats and the fleet's open boat, which carried members of Vancouver's Symphony 21 orchestra and added a musical element to the show. The funding for this musical component came from the Musicians Performance Trust Fund.

The performance moved eastward from Granville Island to just before the Cambie Street Bridge, then westward as far as Vanier Park and Sunset Beach Park, before ending in the False Creek segment between Burrard Street Bridge and Granville Street Bridge near Granville Island. At least a thousand people lined both sides of the False Creek shoreline, with especially large crowds on the Burrard Street Bridge.

False Creek Ferries has 20 boats in its fleet total, but kept the other half in regular service to maintain scheduled routes for commuters. In previous years, the performance reached near Science World at the easternmost end of False Creek, but that wasn't possible this year due to the security perimeter established around BC Place Stadium for the FIFA World Cup tournament.