Flag Follies at Cilly Hall

I can excuse many things when it comes to politicians and I have never been one to judge people on their “recreational activities”.  However last week’s flag follies at City Hall were ridiculous.

The flag debate erupted last Friday, when the mayor found out that a rainbow-coloured flag had replaced a City of Toronto flag on a courtesy flagpole used to display the flags and banners of a range of organizations.  Councilors started to chime in - some in support and others on what they thought should take its place.

 Here are a few WRONG things I heard and saw:

-          Let’s fly the Canadian flag in its place

o   The ceremonial courtesy flagpole never flies the Canadian Flag. The Pride flag replaced a City of Toronto flag that normally flies on the city’s courtesy flagpole when a specific flag, requested by non-profit or charitable organizations for example, is not up on that flagpole. In fact, there are several Canadian flags prominently displayed in Nathan Phillips Square

-          Let’s fly it along with the Canadian flag

o   Wrong - the National flag should always be flown on its own mast - it is improper to fly two or more flags on the same flag post

-          Let’s fly the Olympic Flag

o   Wrong – the Olympic brand is the Fort Knox of licensing - you need permission from the IOC (International Olympic Committee)

-          Let’s hang a Canadian flag in the window of the mayor’s office

o   This frat house maneuver just didn’t work mainly because it was not displayed correctly.  It should have be suspended vertically with the stem on the right when viewing it from the street

I love this shot from the National Post

Good thing the mayor and councilors don’t have the “power” when it comes to flying flags – Protocol at City Hall is strong and holding firm to preserve the dignity our national flag deserves.

Go Canada Go

Lucky for us here in Canada, we have been seeing quite a bit of our flag at the Winter Olympics.   So what better time for event planners everywhere to review some flag etiquette and keep our flag flying with pride.

Here is the best link for protocol rules for the Canadian flag:        http://www.pch.gc.ca/eng/1359048153800/1359048247377

Check out this site for Olympic branding rules:  http://www.olympic.org/licensing

 

Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong.   James Bryce

 

Hope my “Free Idea” makes your Friday!

To learn more, please visit www.andlogistix.com

Pomp and Pageantry at the Opening Ceremonies

The final firework has fizzled, and the show is over!

The aNd team watch it together and though it wasn’t as long as you would imagine when the ceremony consisted of 18 chapters covering 1,000 years of Russian history with 3000 performances.  Here are a few of our highlights:

My favorite – the shear engineering of “The Building”

The $600 million building designed to house it all is Fisht Stadium. Though Fisht is the primary stadium for the games themselves, its designers—the US-based sports venue architects at Populous and structural engineers at Buro Happold—designed it so that it could offer "studio conditions" for the opening ceremonies. That means the translucent polycarbonate roof will not only give the building an appearance of snowy peaks, ensuring it sits in harmony with the landscape of the Imeretinskaya Valley and the Caucasus Mountains, but this roof can be used as a screen for projections, as well as massive hangars at each end that will be used as staging areas for the thousands of athletes and tons of equipment that must be moved quickly into the arena.  

From Shawna….
Opening ceremony – the pyro technicians have been rehearsing the fireworks for days.

Fireworks over the Fisht Olympic Stadium at the Olympic Park during a rehearsal of the opening ceremony in Sochi, on Feb. 4, 2014.

Lyne shows her French Canadian pride…Solotech (a production company in Montreal) lands in Sochi with one of the biggest projection systems in the world.  They are handling the video projections for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games.  Does anyone see any snow?  This is the 2014 Winter Games!  Known as the Russian Riviera, the Black Sea resort of Sochi is the warmest city ever to host the Winter Olympics.

Canada’s presence at the 2014 also includes Quebec’s world-famous circus act Les 7 Doigts de la Main, a troupe with previous Olympic experience, was involved in a 10-minute performance immediately after the athletes’ entrance into the Stadium.

From Charmaine….our eagle eyes noticed that one snowboard sculpture refused to light up.

From Rachel….wow-worthy special effects – here is her favorite scene

 (Screen shot from CBC’s Live Stream Olympic Ceremony Opening)

From Esther….
I loved the constellation of Olympians, and how it represents their stories being written in the stars. (I know, its uber cheesy)
What a great way to exit into the games with the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron into the Musical Firework finale with Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.

The Olympic stadium grounds were built with great thought and care, that filmed from a bird’s eye view, Sochi looks like an Olympic Nation.

(Screen shot from CBC’s Live Stream Olympic Ceremony Opening)

 

Hope my “Free Idea” makes your Friday!

To learn more, please visit www.andlogistix.com