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The Pacific National Exhibition is an annual 17 day summer fair in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It usually begins in mid-to-late August, and ends in early September. The exhibition has been held in Hastings Park since it first took place in 1910. The biggest attractions of the two-week fair are its numerous shops, stalls, performances, a nightly fireworks show, and the PNE Prize Home. The highest attendance the fair has recorded was 1.1 million in 1986. Other than the fair, Hastings Park is also the home of Playland, a horse racetrack (which also bears the name Hastings Park), the Pacific Coliseum (an ice hockey arena), and the PNE Agrodome. It was formerly the site of Empire Stadium, which has been demolished and replaced with a public soccer field. The PNE has played an important role in the history of Vancouver. From its beginnings as a showcase for the region's agriculture and economy, it has grown immensely. This growth has resulted in many questions about the fair's future at Hastings Park. Beginning in 1997, the city has restored a large portion of the park. Many old fair buildings have been demolished and replaced by a more natural character. Although land was purchased in Surrey that was to become the fair's new home, it remains at Hastings Park for the foreseeable future.
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