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The Canada Place Heritage Horns are now sounding at 7 p.m. in support of Vancouver's healthcare workers

TIL: Those first four notes of "O, Canada" are played on what's called the Heritage Horns
Lindsay William-Ross
Lindsay William-Ross
canada-place-sails-blue
The Canada Place sails are blue, and the Heritage Horns are sounding at 7 p.m. in support of Vancouver's healthcare heroes and essential services workers. Photo: Canada Place

Downtowners, have you noticed a familiar chorus booming out nightly alongside cheers for our healthcare workers?

It's the first four notes of "O, Canada" courtesy the Heritage Horns at Canada Place.

Every day at noon, the ten cast aluminum horns blow out those recognizable notes, often reminding anyone in the vicinity it's time for lunch.

But since near the end of March, the Heritage Horns have been playing their mini-tune at 7 p.m. to join in with the city's new tradition of a minute-long cheer for the doctors, nurses, and other medical staff working the front lines in the COVID-19 crisis. 

Do you know the backstory of the Heritage Horns? It's pretty awesome:

"The Heritage Horns, as they are known at Canada Place, were built as a BC Hydro Canadian Centennial project in 1967 and were designed by engineer and sound specialist, Robert Swanson. For many years, they were positioned on the roof of the original BC Hydro Building where they sounded every high noon in the downtown core for more than 20 years. When BC Hydro vacated the building in the 1990s, the horns fell silent. Shortly thereafter, a permanent home was found. Canada Place Corporation acquired and refurbished the horns, and placed them on the roof of the Pan Pacific Hotel at Canada Place. And on November 8th of 1994, the familiar sounding of the horns returned to Vancouver at noon, just in time for lunch!"

heritage-horns-canada-placeThe Heritage Horns are sounding at 7 p.m. in support of Vancouver's healthcare heroes and essential services workers. Photo: Canada Place

Those four notes, which can be heard all through downtown Vancouver and even over on the North Shore, are a quintessential sound of the city.

These days, so is the din of clapping, whistling, yelling, bell-ringing, and pot-banging that takes place nightly in dowtown, and in communities across the Metro Vancouver region.

Canada Place says the Heritage Horns will continue to sound at 7 p.m. through April 16. If you live or work in the area, keep your ears open for it, and if you don't, just stay home and listen for it on social media posts. You can even play a soundbite of it on the Canada Place website's Heritage Horns page!