While the team is heading to California in mid-September, the Seattle Seahawks are sending a whole bunch of people north of the border.
The NFL team will be sending a big crew to Metro Vancouver next month during the league's second week, including Seahawks legend K.J. Wright, their mascot Blitz, the Seahawks Dancers, and the Blue Thunder drumline.
The tour kicks off in Coquitlam on Friday, Sept. 16, when the Seahawks crew, along with some BC Lions, will show up to give a high school football game the big league treatment. The Seahawks run a program called Blue Friday Night Lights; that means NFL game day entertainment for the local teams.
The event starts at 6 p.m. at the Centennial Secondary School's new football field, with kickoff at 7 p.m.
On Sept. 17 it continues with a youth flag football clinic. A skills camp run by the Seahawks will be held for kids 5 to 14 to learn the fundamentals of football. Wright, along with the rest of the crew, will also be there. The camp runs from 10 a.m. to noon at Notre Dame High School in Vancouver; parents have to register their offspring here.
Later on Saturday, they'll be heading over to North Vancouver for the Shipyards Festival at 2:30 p.m. to hang out and take photos with fans at the Shipyards District in Lower Lonsdale. At 2:40 p.m. Blue Thunder will perform.
The tour will culminate on Sunday, Sept. 18, as the Seahawks take on the 49ers in San Francisco. While the team will be playing down in California, the tour crew will be hanging out at Jack Poole Plaza for a watch party on a very big screen. Food trucks and a beer garden will be set up on-site and there will be a DJ performing with the Seahawk Dancers and Blue Thunder.
The party starts at noon with kickoff at 1:05 p.m. It's a free event, but people are asked to register as well (and registrants are entered for prizes).
