Stevestonites and merchants alike are pretty darn proud of their village.
So when Steveston puts on its party hat to throw one of the country's biggest Canada Day celebrations, you can be sure the merchants are ready to blow their collective horns as well.
Davood Khatami, owner of Bean & Beyond Café, is hosting his fifth annual Canada Day barbecue and will air the Euro 2012 championship soccer match at 11: 45 a.m.
"We will be barbecuing chicken skewers and German sausages - if Germany is in the final game," said Khatami, adding they served around 350 people during last year's barbecue. "We will have a television screen just outside the shop so everyone can catch the game. We will also be handing out German and Canadian flags and the outside will be decorated in red and white."
For those with a sweet tooth, Lisa Dye, of Outpost Mini Donut Co., will sell white mini donuts with red sprinkles as an ode to Canada's birthday.
"We did the whole storefront window in a Canada Day theme, with red and white donuts stacked up in two tiers with a wooden Canadian toy soldier crowning the cake," said Dye. "There's also a chalkboard with the words to our national anthem."
Over at Splash Toy Shop, Canadian pride has taken over the window display. Manager Kelly Krull and her staff festooned it with dozens upon dozens of Canadian flags, as well as Canadiana items such as press-on nails, flashing red hats and ties.
"On Canada Day, we are going to have free face painting and a guy blowing bubbles outside the store," added Krull. "We also hope to have a guy creating animal balloons for the kids."
For fashionistas, Kid Supply Clothing Co. is hosting an outdoor fashion show, in support of CHIMO Crisis Centre's Nova Transition House.
"We have the famous Spin Doctor here as our DJ," said owner Christen Haines, adding the DJ will start spinning the tunes around 2 p.m. until about 3: 30 p.m.
"This is our first fashion show and we will have between 25 and 30 gowns and wedding dresses featured.
"We are starting the show at 2: 30 p.m. and we are figuring on a little over 30 minutes run time, and of course we have kids in the show as well."
The storefront is all bedecked in red and white, including flags, wedding gowns and veils and a pair of rare white and red Olympic collectible boots with a maple leaf flag on the front.
"Jenny and I were here late on Sunday night decorating the store," added Haines.
"With the fashion show we are really laying it out and going for it."
Come and commemorate Canada Day in Steveston this weekend - it promises to be quite the party, both in and out of the stores.
