Earlier today, Rick Hansen made a brief stop at Vancouver City Hall to greet fans, City of Vancouver employees, sign the city registry and transfer a 25th Rick Hansen Commemorative Medal to Marnie Essery. Marnie has been a member of the BC Paraplegic Association for 20 years and has chaired the Inter-Municipal Advisory Committee on disability issues for 25 years.
He was received with a large fanfare, as he arrived together with the Man in Motion tour bus. The theme song to 80’s film St. Elmo’s Fire played from the speakers as he approached the West 12th Avenue City Hall entrance.
The Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay, a cross-Canada journey which retraces the Canadian portion of the original Man in Motion World Tour, is making a few stops around the city before the big finale at this evening’s Pacific Coliseum concert. There will be an additional noon event at the Terry Fox Plaza outside BC Place.
Rick’s been on the road now for 256 days. He began his relay on August 24, 2011 in Cape Spear, Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Man in Motion Tour is aimed at honouring difference makers in communities from coast to coast. With his arrival in Vancouver, 7,000 exemplary citizens have now passed the singular Rick Hansen Medal all the way across the country through 600 communities in different cities, provinces, and territories.
