The photo above isn’t people waiting for a bus… it is actually a crowd of Winnipegers gathered on the Osbourne St. Bridge to watch the distant fireworks at The Forks. They literally stopped traffic for a good half an hour.

About a thousand people gathered on the bridge, most coming from the Osbourne Street Block Party just down the road. North Bound traffic squeezed to one lane, just enough for motorist and buses to snail between the toes of anxious fireworks watchers. It was similar to Moses parting the Red Sea… Moses being the bus, and the sea being the intoxicated Winnipegers showing their Canadian pride and screaming the national anthem from the top of their lungs.

In the span of a night I saw the following:

* The Osbourne Bridge get filled with Fireworks spectators
* Winnipeg Police foot chase and football tackle take-down some guy (WPS is pretty fast on foot!)
* Dude hanging on to a back of a bus as it crosses (video later on)
* Transit Bus driver stops in the middle of the bridge between hundreds of people, opens his door, puts his feet up, and watches fireworks
* 10 different groups singing O’Canada at the same time but NOT in sync

It was a great and very unique experience. We finished it off with arguably the best Chow Mein in Winnipeg at Vi-Ann’s Restaurant. I definitely know where I’ll be spending my Canada Day again next year. I’ll have some video of my experience later on… for now here is another photo.