Tens of thousands of people braved the late July heat Sunday for the final day of Splash Around Town, the re-imagined version of the Victoria Symphony’s Symphony Splash, which was staged on land instead of a barge floating in Victoria Harbour.
After a two-year COVID-19 hiatus, an issue with stage insurance meant a shift from sea to land for the event’s return, and some mourned the format of festivals past, which saw huges crowds gathered around the Inner Harbour and in various flotation devices on the water to catch the show, performed on an industrial barge-turned-floating-stage.
“I love the live music, I love that they do standards that everybody recognizes. I love that they end with the 1812 Overture and live cannon all at the same time, with fireworks,” she said. “It’s really nice watching the children respond to the music,” she said. “The children respond so naturally and the fluidity of a child’s movements to the music – and their interpretation – it’s just lovely. You’re sitting in your chair thinking, I wish I could still do that!”