Vancouver's Beyhive is buzzing as additional trains, late ferry sailings planned for Monday concert
Stores brace for Beyoncé fans on the hunt for silver threads
Lilian Umurungi-Jung's nails are painted silver, as requested by Queen B herself, in anticipation of the Renaissance Tour stop in Vancouver on Monday night.
"I've seen her five times," she told B.C. Today host Michelle Eliot. "I've seen the Knowles-Carter family multiple times. I think I'm up to six for the entire family."
And while she is a devoted Beyoncé fan, the pop star has also shown her support for Umurungi-Jung: in 2020, Beyoncé added Umurungi-Jung's Vancouver-based small business, Mumgry, to her website's list of Black-owned businesses to support.
"It was a complete surprise," Umurungi-Jung said.
"I was in the middle of a work day … and my phone just exploded at the end of the day. I didn't wanna open my phone because all I saw was an alert that said Beyoncé and I thought, OK, well that's got to be spam, right?"
It wasn't: Queen B was dangerously in love with Umurungi-Jung's all-natural nut butters.
"I ran around and I attempted cartwheels and round ups and all sorts of things," Umurungi-Jung said with a laugh.
Additional trains, ferry sailings
As fellow superfans prepare their flawless looks for the big night, transportation providers are getting in formation.
A spokesperson for TransLink confirmed that transit in Vancouver will get an upgrade on Monday, with additional trains in service at Stadium-Chinatown station throughout the evening, as well as additional staff and security.
Nighttime construction at Capstan Station in Richmond will be temporarily suspended on Monday to accommodate crowds.
For those travelling between Vancouver and the North Shore, the SeaBus will extend its 15-minute service until 11:30 p.m. on Monday.
Hullo Ferries has announced it will add a late night sailing on Monday to help Vancouver Islanders in town for the show return in time for work on Tuesday.
CEO Alastair Caddick said that in public consultations, they've found the most important thing for people has been late-night travel between the island and mainland for concerts, sports and other events.
"We think it's fun and positive and good for the community," Caddick said.
Caddick said this is just the first late-night sailing offered by Halo — sorry, we mean Hullo — but they plan to launch more in coming weeks for other concerts and Vancouver Canucks games.
Destination Vancouver President and CEO Royce Chwin said the late night sailing, and future late crossings will be a "fantastic" addition to Vancouver's tourism sector.
"Any spending in the downtown core impacts our visitor economy," he said.
Chwin estimates about 64 per cent of visitor traffic in Vancouver prior to May was domestic tourism, and said these initiatives will make the city an even more attractive choice for British Columbians to visit.
Dazzling duds
It's not the diamonds. It's not the pearls.
It's silver.
On her website, Beyoncé asked fans attending shows between Aug. 23 and Sept. 22 to wear silver in honour of her B'Day.
"We'll surround ourselves in a shimmering human disco ball each night," her website reads.
Because of this, some Vancouver shops say there's been a run on chrome clothes.
"It's been really busy lately, a lot of people want a lot of silver stuff," said Sean Barnes, who works at vintage shop Mintage on Commercial Drive.
And they took it all — the silver section was bare when CBC stopped by on Friday.
He says the shop has had to bring in more "Beyoncé-esque" clothing and accessories to keep up with the demand in recent days, adding he's never seen anything like this before.
"Beyoncé is definitely her own, like, entity."
As Bey herself says: it should cost a billion to look this good.
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With files from Joel Ballard, Yasmin Gandham and B.C. Today