The noon horn at Canada Place (O Canada at lunch time in Vancouver)

First published on November 5, 2007

Ah, nothing like 12pm in downtown Vancouver. Well, there’s nothing that special about it, but if you forget what time it is, don’t worry — the first 4 notes of our national anthem are played every day at noon by a horn sitting on top of Canada Place.

Curious about the who and what of the horn? I found another blog post that explores the history of the horn.

Anyway, I’m posting about this because I recorded the sound for an ex co-worker of mine who moved back to Norway and missed the daily O Canada reminder! My cheapo mp3 player isn’t the best sound recorder, so it’s not the best quality…

Listen to the horn

This entry is filed under Vancouver / BC / Canada and written by Peter Keung. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

10 Responses to “The noon horn at Canada Place (O Canada at lunch time in Vancouver)”

November 6th, 2007 at 8:38 am
Leah says:

I guess if I ever move, I can set this as a noon alert on my computer and never feel like I left Vancouver!
November 6th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Julia says:

This is so funny! I never knew there was this horn at noon. I guess if you are used to it you would miss it.
November 6th, 2007 at 10:49 am
S. Emerson says:

I remember going downtown and the horns sounding from the BC Hydro building.

http://www.canadaplace.ca/files/PDF/cpc/Canada_Place_Heritage_Horns_Feature_Article.pdf
November 13th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Kristian says:

Sweet! Thanks Peter!
October 14th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Jenna says:

I am desperate to find somewhere that i can download this sound file from… i am working on a project and need a recording of this… are you able to send it to me or send me in the right direction as to where i can retrieve the file? i am having no luck with any of my searches! thanks so much!

Reply from Peter: You can right-click the “Listen to the horn” link at the bottom of the post and save it to your computer.
March 9th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Michael McCarthy says:

Hey Peter!
Thanks so much for your VERY "useful crap." I’ve incorporated your O Canada audio file into a post on my blog, designKULTUR. Thanks so much for sharing! Best, Michael
March 18th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Carmelo Ambsi says:

What I’d like to know is why for the past three days the horn sounds at least three to four time during the day when I’m at work, there it goes aagain and it’s 2:40 pm Can someone explain this to me Thank you.

Reply form Peter: I think it’s been sounding whenever Canada wins a gold medal at the Olympics or Paralympics.
March 19th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Carmelo Ambsi says:

Thanks ,now it makes sense, someone at work told me that it was because they were repairing it and they had to test sound it every time wich I knew was a pretty lame explanation.
Thanks again Peter .
January 18th, 2012 at 1:09 pm
Shane Chow says:

Thanks for that info! I can usually hear it from my place in Kits but I just heard it from my girlfriends place by Swangard Stadium and was shocked.
April 22nd, 2012 at 5:45 pm
Cara Ferguson says:

Hello,

My late grandfather, engineer/inventor Robert E. Swanson, is the inventor of the O Canada horns in Vancouver, BC. His first born, Sylvia Joan Swanson, is my late mother.

I live in North Vancouver, and love to hear his horns daily at noon. RIP Candy Grandad