Comments on: Ten Things You Won’t See at the PNE This Year

By: The PNE Prize Home: Party Like it’s 1957! | Eve Lazarus

The PNE Prize Home: Party Like it’s 1957! | Eve Lazarus — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 14:01:33 +0000

[…] 10 Things you won’t see at the PNE this year […]

By: Colleen Hodgson

Colleen Hodgson — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 18:47:48 +0000

In reply to Maureen. I totally agree with you, demolition derby , sorry for the spelling. the Lumbermans show, the PNE parade also the market place was all in one place, oh how I spent hours there and would see all the neat new things. I also miss the sky glider, especially now as I have trouble walking from one end to the other.

By: gloria Moore

gloria Moore — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 06:40:48 +0000

My grand mother and my mom both worked out there selling tickets at the rides and then you would go line up at that ride we use to go and ride quite a few rides free as we knew a lot of the guys working there it was traditon to go every yr to the parade the to the pne the roller coaster was the best ride my sisters worked out there and so did i in 1974 wow time sure flies but i still go once a yr with my old school mate since grade 3 we love it just for fun

By: Maureen

Maureen — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 16:17:45 +0000

Oh how I looked forward to going to the PNE. Getting the tickets with our final report card.
Watching the parade on TV. To a kid it was the greatest place on earth. I wish the Federal Government would take it over and rebuild it. Bring back the parade and all the fun activities and entertainment for families.
Thanks for the memories.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 05:15:41 +0000

Who remembers having to pay to use the toilets? We use to climb under the stall door. I too miss the way the pne use to be.I can’t be bothered to go anymore.Just seems like a rip_off nowadays

By: Joe o’c

Joe o’c — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 18:29:57 +0000

In reply to Sherry. Address on Dundas ? Mine 3851!

By: Lily

Lily — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 00:55:45 +0000

I don’t remember all of these as i was a kid but the ones i do … such great memories!!! I wasn’t allowed on the rollercoaster and my dad let us kids run free and we picked a meeting spot lol … guess who found me and was waiting at the exit of tge roller coaster lol it was worth it though … lol

By: Sherry

Sherry — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 15:09:46 +0000

I used to live on Dundas Street and, as such, spent many hours at the PNE. We used to get free entry passes with our report cards at the end of the school year.

By: Carol Forrester

Carol Forrester — Sun, 22 Aug 2021 19:34:28 +0000

The PNE was an annual must when I was growing up. I am old enough to remember the Shoot the Chute and the military displays. I have ridden the roller coaster from the beginning and loved it! The Pure Foods Building was a highlight, would could resist those warm Fisher Scones dripping with butter and jam. The smell of frying onions and candy floss, the barkers shouting to the crowed hawking their wares. But for me, that all time greatest was the legendary Beatles concert at Empire Stadium Aug 22 1964, what an experience that was!! I miss the PNE of old and the opening day parade, but tempus fugit – I have not attended for years.

By: Linda Boyd

Linda Boyd — Sun, 22 Aug 2021 19:05:40 +0000

I loved going to the PNE as a child. There was a Media Day, where all the kids of employees of the Sun and Province got to take their kids and get a bit of a break. I think it included a hot dog and pop, a couple of rides and the Entrance fee. A big savings for our family with 5 kids. I think the sideshows went a bit beyond the 50’s. I recall seeing them in the early 60’s.

By: Lou McKee

Lou McKee — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 20:51:04 +0000

After reading these fun and much loved memories, I still would like to know all the reasons we have stopped the PNE and the PARADE. Too expensive? There must be a way.

By: Brett Wilkie

Brett Wilkie — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 19:36:28 +0000

I loved the PNE as a kid and went there a lot in the late 1950s and through the 60s. I remember my Father (1957-58) playing Saxophone in one of those bands that wandered the grounds there during Fare time.

By: Scotty Henderson

Scotty Henderson — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 18:38:30 +0000

When I was a kid the parade was a family event it seemed everyone went to. Often hard to get a good view if you came late. Kids sat on the curbs and I did too, marvelling at the floats and bands and clowns and performers. Such great memories..

By: Skip Savage

Skip Savage — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 17:20:08 +0000

Thanks for this list, Eve. I am a terrible snob so I have to wear a disguise when I go to the PNE. I blend in with the riff-raff and waste my money with the worst of them. Before I go home and remove my disguise, I visit the roller coaster. Quietly standing near, I admire her pedigree, bursting with civic pride that she is ours. I would really miss the PNE if it disappeared. In fact, I mourn the loss of the PNE parade to this day.

By: John Buckberrough

John Buckberrough — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 16:09:40 +0000

Was Gloria Mackarenko not Miss PNE in 1978?

By: James

James — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 15:55:10 +0000

Wow only $36 in todays money to see Elvis, love the old bus’s. Board in the front, leave at the rear. Now ppl too lazy to even tap the bar walk all the way to the front keeping folks in the rain. The prize home still a big draw but the fair buildings are so poorly kept up and washroom line ups long I would never go again cept to see my friends the Parsons who have Jimmy’s Lunch and have fed fairgoers since 1934 I believe. Bob and Lee. The parade was a must as one could BCLion players and other local celebrities inc Dal who’s band is missed.
Sideshows, Vance’s display always shocked. Demolition Derbys abd the Forestry logging shows were fun.
As for that roller its not the first. Took me 30 years before I could force open my eyes going down that first hill.

By: Loretta Houben

Loretta Houben — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 14:39:36 +0000

I’m thrilled to hear the Challenger Map might be resurrected permanently! That is quite a marvelous piece of BC history. Oh the memories of the PNE. I still have some of the tickets stapled to a few of my report cards from the 1960’s and 1970’s. Each elementary student received one at the end of each school year. It was 40 years ago I went on the roller coaster for the first and last time. Have you been on it? Yikes. I thought I’d slip out and crash to my death and it was extremely bumpy! My boy friend (now my husband) persuaded me to try it out! My favourite ride of all time was the carousel which is now at the Burnaby Village Museum; nice and sedate and low key.

By: Brad Williams

Brad Williams — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 14:35:07 +0000

The history of the PNE is fascinating. Love the photos and story. The times kept changing the landscape of the PNE and here we are in 2021. Unfortunately, memories cant pay bills and the city needs to let it go. Losing millions of dollars, etc. Can you imagine any sort of Fair in the U.S. not having a roller coaster, closing for two full days in the middle of it, and no real shows or events to see. The property needs to be sold, everything(Pacific Coliseum too) except for the Empire Fields and a little parking/concession for the athletes and their supporters.