False Creek Seawall Closures | Dragon Boat BC 龍舟會

Due to aging infrastructure, our operations for the foreseeable future will take a different form. In February 2025, the City of Vancouver permanently closed the portion of the seawall from Science World to Creekside Community Centre due to concerns over long term structural stability. This significant impact, in addition to a portion of Creekside Park’s closure on the north side of Science World hits our operations hard, but also our sense of home given these spots served as the home to our events for the past few decades.

Working alongside City of Vancouver and Vancouver Park Board staff, all of our events have been moved from Creekside Park North and South to new homes as a result. Starting from 2025 onwards, our Tier 2 and 3 events like the Vessi 500 Championship, Oddball Fall Classic, and Burnwater Spring Sprint will be moving southbound into our new home in Olympic Village, specifically Milton Wong Square named after Dragon Boat BC founder Milton Wong.

Our flagship event, the Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival continues to be our largest event, and the space required to host the event especially in light of safety considerations does not fit into Olympic Village despite multiple permutations. As a result, the Festival now moves north to our new home at Concord Pacific Place, with boats launching from their traditional spot on the south side of False Creek at Creekside Community Centre from our fully accessible docks.

Over the past 2-3 years, staff have been proactively working in the background in anticipation of the potential of this happening- however, 2025 marks an earlier closure than expected. While our plans to move our events into Olympic Village were underway, the closure of the seawall in February will inevitably cause challenges to our normal event operations, and we apologize to our community in advance for any inconveniences.

Additional steps to mitigate the impact of the seawall closure taken before the City announced the permanent closure of the portion of the seawall where all of our Vancouver events are held include:

As more information is available, Dragon Boat BC will continue to provide updates to our community. We thank you for your interest. For information on community impacts, please visit each event page below.

As per the City of Vancouver’s press release: “The Expo deck structures were built in 1984 for the 1986 World Expo for temporary purposes. City consultants have indicated that the deck structures are nearing the end of their useful service lives.

In 2024, the City engaged a consultant to provide recommendations on the next steps for the structures, including all necessary modifications and removals, as well as rerouting of the existing pedestrian and cyclist transportation network impacted by the deconstruction work. The planning work for deconstruction is underway, with the on-site work planned for 2028-2032. In the meantime, the City will continue to inspect and monitor the structures to ensure public safety.”

Please click here for more information: https://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/expo-deck-south-of-science-world-to-close-indefinitely-feb-2025.aspx

The City of Vancouver and Vancouver Park Board have worked to open a new detour that allows for waterway connection, while also shortening and improving the walk from Main Street SkyTrain Station to Creekside Community centre. This walkway opened in May 2025. Please click here for more information: https://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/new-seawall-path-by-science-world-now-open-may-2025.aspx

Dragon Boat BC anticipated a potential closure of the portion of the seawall, but at a later timeframe than what happened, and had to quickly move all of its contingency planning into immediate operations years ahead of schedule. As a result, the 2025 Burnwater Spring Sprint, Vessi 500 Championship, Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival, and Oddball Fall Classic will be run as pilots of our operation plan for our events, which will then serve as a foundation for our events in the next 5-10 years as the City completes additional work to: replace portions of the seawall, build East Park, refresh Creekside Park, and conduct major works on developments and roadway work on the north shore of False Creek.

While we have big reach, we’re a small team working hard in the background to deliver and serve over a million visits annually through all of our programs and events. The seawall closure has added significant stress to our operations during difficult economic times, but our team is working hard in the background alongside the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Park Board to redesign all of our events- while already in the high point of our operating season- to ensure that while you will feel our events have changed, they still retain as much of the same character and quality as you’ve come to expect.

On a daily basis, the seawall closure will impact up to 1,250 visits through our docks for our paddlers and staff. During our special events, the seawall typically sees traffic of up to 2,000 people moving through- every 10 minutes for up to 15 hours a day. There’s no getting around it- this closure impacts us deeply. However, our goal is to work hard to minimize this disruption as much as possible for our community- whether you’re joining us on water, or cheering on from land. We know that 2025 will mark a significant change for everyone- and we know there’ll be growing pains- but we’re in it alongside all of you.

We expect that once the busier summer season in 2025 ends, further discussion will take place on future plans and mitigation. This process typically takes a number of years, and while this area is one of the areas with the highest traffic along the seawall, this discussion will involve engagement from a range of sectors and stakeholders. Dragon Boat BC intends to be an active participant in this discussion in the years and decades ahead, and looks forward to the day when our events return to their traditional home as we’ve done so for decades.

We always encourage our community to reach out to your local public official to voice your support for the rejuvenation of False Creek and the value you get from being part of the dragon boat community. We also encourage you to get involved in your community by joining advisory committees or local groups looking to better the area. And, when public engagement opportunities come up, we highly encourage you all to step up and make your voice heard.