Saturday, January 9, 2010

I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for PINS!

There are many 2010 Olympic and Paralympics souvenirs out in the market. Scarves, jackets, toques and even red mittens. The most popular souvenir by far are pins. Olympic Pins are small little souvenirs that attract huge attention. The world of Olympic Pins is a fasted paced and exciting. Everyone can collect pins it does not matter if you are five or seventy five; there is a pin out there for everyone!

CTV British Columbia is the official Canadian broadcaster of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympics games. It is currently hosting a limited edition eight pin collection. These pins are a must have and every collector wants to get their hands on them. They started to hand out the pins in February 2009, unfortunately I just arrived did not hear about the pins at this time. I did not get all of the pins, but once I heard about them I was hooked. The way they give out the pins is very simple, just watch the CTV Six O' Clock news and they announce when the next pin will be given away. They usually have many locations where they hand out the pins, so everyone can get a pin. If you haven't even started to collect the pins, don't worry they have special catch-up days. During the catch-up days they hand out all the pins they have released thus far, they only downside is that they only give one pin per person. If you are missing all of the pins, find as many friends as you can.
The pins that they have released so far are:
One Year to Go
Bobsleigh
Snowboarding
Speed Skating
Curling

On January 7th they released the Hockey pin and I dashed from my school David Thompson to the CTV building on Burrard Street to collect the pin. The pin was to be released at 5:30, but I arrived there at 4:00 and there was approximately 100 people waiting in line already. The first person arrived at the studio at 6:45 in the morning! Luckily I was inside the building, not outside in the cold like last time. While I was there waiting I started to talk to the other people in line and they as enthusiastic about the pins as I was. There was a broad spectrum of people for the old to the young and everyone in between. Time went on and I decided to check on how long the line was. At 4:30 the line was enormous, it was curving around the HMV store and it was doubling. So many pin heads in the City of Vancouver and every one wants the most famous pin the HOCKEY PIN! It was almost time for the pin to be handed out and I spotted David Kincaid, a CTV Olympic Reporter. I introduced myself and asked him if I could take a picture with him and his lanyard of all the CTV pins. I took a picture with him and gave him the Students Live website. Finally the time came for the pins to be handed out; it was a great sight to see everyone cheering. Even though I had to wait in line for a long time, it was worth the wait because it was a beautiful pin. Only two pins are left to be release, the figure skating pin and the City of Vancouver pin. The figure skating pin will be handed out later in the month and also another catch-up day. The City of Vancouver pin will be handed out during the Olympic Games. Keep watching the news for the exact date and where you can get one!
Collecting one or two pins is okay, but some people a full out Pin Heads! They have been collecting from every Olympic that they could get their hands on. Pin Trading is an unofficial Olympic Sport! In the summer there was a Pin Trading Convention at the Richmond Olympic Oval, hundreds of Pin traders came out and showed their prized pins. If you missed going to to the Richmond Oval don't worry. Coca-Cola an official sponsor for the Olympics has an Official Pin Trading Centre. The pin trading centre is located at The Bay Downtown; the same place that the Olympic store is in. In this awesome trading centre you will find collectors that have been collecting for years. They go to the Olympic Games for Pin Trading and it is a fast paced game. Trade a pin here, trade another over there. If you are not a collector, but want to get into the game you can purchase a pin at the centre. A very cool feature they have at the centre is a give a pin get a pin. You can put up a pin on their wall of pins and they will give you a pin in return. My next posting will be about the Coca-Cola Pin Trading Centre! Stay tuned!

2 comments:

  1. Loving your coverage on pins. Shows that the games aren't just limited to the events.

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  2. Pin-collecting, a new sport indeed. Does the word 'pin' sound a little funny now, or is it just me?

    ReplyDelete