Canadian city Burnaby wants to replicate Derry's Halloween success

Burnaby, in British Columbia, Canada is making a move to become a destination for all things spooky and scary and emulate Derry’s world famous Halloween festivities.
By Gillian Anderson
Published 2nd Nov 2022, 16:17 BST
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It’s part of the city’s five-year plan to become a true Halloween city, hoping to attract tens of thousands of visitors to events leading up to the big night and they even sent a delegation to Derry in 2019 to check out their Halloween events thanks to the Maiden City’s worldwide reputation for its dedication to October 31.

“They really engage their community and they would engage their schools and get them involved,” said Mayor Mike Hurley, who was born in Northern Ireland.

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“There are up to 90,000 people each night attending Halloween festival events in Derry.

The Halloween carnival parade ‘On the Ninth Wave’ make their way along the Strand Road on Monday evening. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2244GS – 081The Halloween carnival parade ‘On the Ninth Wave’ make their way along the Strand Road on Monday evening. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2244GS – 081
The Halloween carnival parade ‘On the Ninth Wave’ make their way along the Strand Road on Monday evening. Photo: George Sweeney. DER2244GS – 081

“It just turned into a fabulous community event and now people from all over Europe are going there to enjoy the celebration in Derry.”

Burnaby, situated to the west of Vancouver, has made it its mission to be the number one Halloween destination in Canada by 2027 and this year they held their first ever, month-long Halloween festival.

Chris Peters, executive director, Tourism Burnaby said: “We heard about Derry in 2019 and presented a proposal to council, who thought it was a great idea.

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“We took a trip with a couple of councillors and city staff, and attended events to check out how we could adapt it to Burnaby.”

Burnaby.Burnaby.
Burnaby.

“There’s nothing like it in Canada,” Peters added. “Our goal is to have 50 events by 2027.

“The main thing we took away from Derry’s festival was that largely everyone in the region took part in some way and really built community, and that’s truly at the heart of what we’re trying to do.”

It is estimated that over 100,000 people took part in these year’s festivities in Derry, Strabane and Inishowen in Donegal.

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The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Councillor Sandra Duffy, said: “What can I say! I always look forward to Hallowe’en but this year was particularly special, with the full return of our Carnival parade and all the Hallowe’en trimmings.

"Although the weather presented some challenges throughout the weekend, it has been amazing and we just haven’t stopped.”

Gillian Anderson

Local Democracy Reporter

Related topics:DerrySandra DuffyMayor