Richmond Canada: A cranberry tribute and speed skating for the 2010 Olympic Winter Gamers

Richmond, Canada is not only the site of the Speed Skating competition for the 2010 Olympics, it is also cranberry country. So it seemed natural to use 13 million of them (weighing about 30,000 pounds) to form the Canadian Olympic Committee's iconic logo complete with maple leaf, torch and the Olympic rings.

Only in red. Using cranberries.

Richmond is an official Venue City of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games

Home to the spectacular Richmond Olympic Oval, it is also the site of the Olympic speed skating competition.

"Richmond was determined to make a bold and spectacular contribution to the challenge from the Canadian Olympic Committee to 'Paint The Town Red' in support of our Canadian athletes," said Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie. "At the same time, we've been able to proudly showcase to the world one of the many things that make Richmond unique – in this case our agricultural heritage, proudly represented by our cranberry growers."

The cranberry tribute, which was unveiled on February 12th, will remain on display for the entire length of the games. 

Get Up Close and Personal with Cranberries

In addition to the large cranberry installation at Brighouse Park, the water feature at Richmond City Hall will also be filled with thousands of bright red cranberries. Visitors will have an opportunity to meet some of Richmond's third and fourth generation Richmond cranberry growers who will offer their time and don waders – outside of the traditional harvest season – to share stories of the harvest from the City Hall bog, now through February 21st

For more information visit Richmond Canada Olympics  and RIchmondRevealed

Enjoy this video about the Cranberry Olympic Tribute

© 2010