Hastings Park

Hastings Park — Vancouver’s fairground, forest sanctuary and place of memory, all on one site

Hastings Park is not a park in the ordinary Vancouver sense. It is roughly 62 hectares in the city’s northeast corner containing a century-old amusement park, a 1968 arena that hosted Olympic figure skating, a working racetrack, a summer fair that predates the First World War — and, in among all of that, four hectares of restored forest, a Japanese memorial garden, an Italian garden and a set of playing fields where a stadium used to be. It is also the place where roughly 8,000 Japanese Canadians were confined in livestock buildings in 1942 before being sent inland, and the site does not hide that. Come here expecting noise and a midway and you will find them; come expecting quiet and you will find that too, a few hundred metres away. Few urban parks in Canada carry this much history and this much contradiction on one piece of ground.

Highlights

• The Sanctuary — about four hectares of restored forest and pond built on the footprint of a former exhibition pavilion, dense with greenery and birdsong, and the single best argument that this is genuinely a park.
• Momiji Garden — a Japanese commemorative garden completed in 1993 to a design by Ken Nakajima, created by the Vancouver Japanese Gardeners’ Association in memory of the Japanese Canadians detained here in 1942.
• Playland — the amusement park that opened in 1926, home to a wooden roller coaster dating from 1958 that was added to the city’s heritage register in August 2013.
• Pacific Coliseum — completed in 1968, home of the Vancouver Canucks from 1970 to 1995, and the venue for figure skating and short-track speed skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
• The Italian Garden — a formal garden completed in 2000 as part of the restoration programme, one of three green spaces returned to public park use between 1999 and 2001.
• The annual fair — the Pacific National Exhibition has run an annual fair on this ground since 1910, making it one of the oldest continuous fairs in the country.

What’s inside

The site is shared: the Pacific National Exhibition operates a large portion of it, while the city holds the rest as park. In practice the two knit together, and you can cross from a midway to a forest pond in about five minutes.

• The Sanctuary — restored woodland, a pond, boardwalk-style paths and native planting, open free of charge year-round.
• Momiji Garden, on the south side of the garden auditorium building, with a memorial focus and Japanese planting and stonework.
• The Italian Garden, formal in layout and horticulturally maintained by specially trained PNE gardening staff.
• Empire Fields — playing fields with a running track on the site of the demolished Empire Stadium, plus a skate park added during the restoration works.
• Playland, the Pacific Coliseum, the Hastings Racecourse and the fairgrounds buildings, including the historic livestock building.
• Creekway Park, a daylit stream corridor with walking and cycling paths that links the site north toward the shoreline of Burrard Inlet.

What to do and who it’s for

• Families — the amusement park, the fair and the playing fields make this one of the highest-energy days out in the city for children of almost any age.
• People seeking quiet — the Sanctuary and the two gardens are genuinely restful, and most fairground visitors never walk that far.
• History-minded visitors — the 1942 internment site, the memorial garden and the interpretive material make this an essential stop for anyone learning about Japanese Canadian history.
• Sport fans — hockey, concerts and major events at the Coliseum, thoroughbred racing at the track, and community sport on the fields.
• Runners and walkers — the track at Empire Fields plus the linked path corridor toward the inlet make a solid loop that does not require leaving the site.
• Birdwatchers and gardeners — the Sanctuary’s pond and native plantings attract urban wildlife, and the two formal gardens reward a slow, close look.

Getting there and practicalities

The park occupies the northeast corner of Vancouver in the Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood, sloping toward the water with mountain views on clear days. TransLink buses serve the site directly, including the R5 RapidBus along its southern edge; from the SkyTrain Millennium Line, Renfrew and Rupert stations are a short bus ride or a brisk walk to the south. The park grounds, gardens and Sanctuary are free and open year-round; Playland, the fair and Coliseum events are ticketed separately and run on their own seasons. Parking on site is extensive but fills completely during the fair and major events, when transit is by far the easier choice. Allow an hour for the gardens and Sanctuary, half a day if you add the fields and the walk north, and a full day for the fair. Seasonal realities are pronounced: Playland runs on a warm-weather schedule, the fair occupies the second half of August, and Vancouver’s rain means the Sanctuary paths can be muddy from November through March, when the forest is at its greenest and emptiest.

When to visit

Spring brings blossom to the gardens and the first dry-ish days on the Sanctuary paths, with the racetrack season opening and the fields busy with community sport. Summer is the site at full volume: the amusement park running daily, the fair filling the second half of August with crowds, livestock, concerts and fried food, and long northern evenings that keep the midway lit past nine. Autumn empties it out fast — Momiji Garden’s maples do what their name promises, the Sanctuary turns gold and russet, and you can have the quiet corners almost to yourself. Winter is grey, wet and green in a way only the coast manages: no fair, no midway, but a forest that never quite loses its leaves entirely, arena events indoors, and mountains visible across the water whenever the cloud lifts.

Worth knowing

The land was granted in trust to the City of Vancouver by the Province in the late 1880s for the use, recreation and enjoyment of the public. The name comes from the old Hastings Townsite, also called New Brighton, an early resort and port on the inlet. Horse racing began here in 1892 and has continued ever since; the Vancouver Exhibition Association was founded in 1907 and has run an annual fair on the grounds since 1910; Playland opened in 1926. Empire Stadium was built for the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and hosted the “Miracle Mile” on 7 August 1954, when Roger Bannister and John Landy both ran under four minutes in the same race; the stadium was demolished in 1993. The darkest chapter is 1942. For roughly nine months, about 8,000 Japanese Canadian men, women and children were held in the livestock buildings and other structures here before being dispersed to internment and work camps in the British Columbia interior and beyond. The detention centre closed at the end of September 1942, though the tuberculosis hospital on site operated into the spring of 1943. Momiji Garden, completed in 1993 to a design by Ken Nakajima, was created by the Vancouver Japanese Gardeners’ Association with substantial donated labour and funding that included the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation, and stands as the site’s principal memorial. In 1990 the city decided to restore Hastings Park to dominant park use; the Hastings Park Restoration Plan was approved in 1997, and between 1999 and 2001 some 10.7 hectares were returned to parkland — the Sanctuary in 1999, the Italian Garden in 2000, and Empire Fields with a skate park in 2001. The Pacific Coliseum and the wooden roller coaster were both added to the city’s heritage register in August 2013. All of this stands on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Visitor tips

• If you want the park rather than the fairground, come outside fair season and head straight for the Sanctuary and the gardens — they are free, quiet and a short walk from the busiest part of the site.
• During the August fair and major arena events, leave the car at home. On-site parking fills, and the bus corridor along the southern edge is frequent and direct.
• Give Momiji Garden proper time and read the interpretive material. It is a memorial first and a garden second, and the context changes what you are looking at.

Questions and answers

Is Hastings Park free to enter? The park grounds, the Sanctuary, Momiji Garden and the Italian Garden are free and open year-round. Playland, the annual fair, racing and arena events are ticketed separately.

How big is it? Around 62 hectares, roughly 150 acres. A substantial portion is operated by the Pacific National Exhibition, with the remainder held by the city as park.

What happened here in 1942? About 8,000 Japanese Canadians were confined in the livestock buildings and other structures for roughly nine months before being sent to internment and work camps. The detention centre closed at the end of September 1942; the on-site tuberculosis hospital ran until spring 1943.

What is the Sanctuary? Roughly four hectares of restored forest and pond created in 1999 on the site of a former exhibition pavilion. It is the quietest part of the park and free to visit.

Is the roller coaster really that old? The wooden roller coaster dates from 1958 and, along with the Pacific Coliseum, was added to the City of Vancouver’s heritage register in August 2013.

What Olympic events were held here? The Pacific Coliseum hosted figure skating and short-track speed skating during the 2010 Winter Olympics, with events running through the second half of February 2010.

How do I get there by transit? TransLink buses serve the site directly, including a RapidBus route along the southern edge. From the SkyTrain Millennium Line, Renfrew and Rupert stations connect by a short bus ride or a walk.

When is the annual fair? The Pacific National Exhibition fair traditionally occupies the second half of August, running to the Labour Day long weekend. It has been held on this ground since 1910.