BC Cheers 2010 Olympic Countdown

(ATR) The three-year countdown to Vancouver 2010 officially begins today with a month of celebrations. The official public observation of the three-year countdown to Vancouver''s 2010 Winter Olympics is outside the Vancouver Art Gallery today. The noon hour ceremony will climax with the unveiling of Omega''s custom-made countdown clock at 12:31 p.m. Pacific. The event will be carried live on TSN.ca. TSN is part of the CTVGlobemedia group that holds broadcast rights in 2010. Guests attending the public ceremony include Premier Gordon Campbell, Mayor Sam Sullivan and federal Olympics minister David Emerson. The clock is attached to a six-meter high, three-meter wide, 1,170-kilogram sculpture. histler marks the Monday milestone with a countdown cake at the 2010 Info Centre, followed by Sport of the Day demonstrations for two weeks. Visitors will see a different Olympic or Paralympic sport each day, with demonstrations, displays, and talks from experts. Amateurs will compete in the 2nd annual 2010 Street Hockey Tournament at the Info Centre on Feb. 17 and 18. Whistler''s Celebration 2010 lasts throughout February and also features films, stories, and art from British Colombia and greater Canada. The Whistler Arts Council and other sponsors hope to build Whistler pride, Olympic spirit, and create a record of their community in the years leading up to the Games. The province of British Colombia and 2010 Legacies Now are in charge of Spirit of BC Week, 2007. Events throughout the province from Feb. 9 through 17 give citizens a chance to connect to the Olympic legacy and celebrate their own culture. On Feb. 17, the City of Vancouver opens the Pacific Coliseum for free public skating and ice performances by top athletes. VANOC also will hold a mystery event on February 28. The committee will not release details yet. Planning Ahead Feb. 12, 2010, will be the biggest Friday in Vancouver since EXPO 86 began May 2, 1986. The XXI Olympic Winter Games'' opening ceremony at BC Place Stadium will be a star-studded affair to kick-off the 17-day games of ice and snow in a city known better for rain. Tickets won''t be cheap. The 2003-published bid book estimated prices ranging from $77 to $710 each. VANOC is searching for an executive producer. Application deadline is March 1 with hiring by end of summer. "It''s clearly a major feather in anybody''s cap, the ceremonies are one of the most watched events in the world from a TV perspective," said Terry Wright, VANOC''s executive vice president of service operations and ceremonies. Opening and closing ceremonies will cost in the tens of millions of dolllars to produce and need a cast of thousands. Peter Gabriel, Yoko Ono, Sophia Loren and Luciano Pavarotti appeared in Turin''s opening ceremony, produced by Italian Marco Balich. Salt Lake''s 2002 Winter Olympics contracted American veteran Don Mischer Productions. Montreal''s Cirque du Soleil, part of Vancouver''s Come Play with Us interlude at Turin''s closing ceremony, is another anticipated bidder. Quiet at BC Place The location of the 2010 opening ceremony won''t be part of this month''s pre-Olympic hoopla. Vancouver International Boat Show finishes moving out of BC Place Stadium today. The stadium calendar is empty Feb. 13 and 14 before the busy month of trade shows resumes. WorkSafe BC, the provincial occupational health and safety agency, is awaiting a joint management/staff report into the Jan. 5 roof rip and collapse. NDP Opposition critic Guy Gentner said a public inquiry into the dome disaster is what''s really needed. The 24-year-old air-supported fabric roof fell and tore open under the weight of snow, ice and slush because the steam-powered snow melting system wasn''t used. It was reinflated Jan. 19. Costs aren''t known. With reporting from Vancouver by Bob Mackin.