Come rain or shine there is going to be a celebration Friday, as the Vancouver Park Board reopens the Stanley Park seawall.

Repair crews work to complete the walkway along the Stanley Park seawall last week.
(Gloria Leung/CBC)

Officials plan to reopen the popular seaside walkway at 11:00 a.m. near the Third Beach parking lot. Free tours highlighting the reforestation efforts, and how the ecology of the park has been affected, will also be offered.

The iconic waterfront walkway was closed last December, when a major windstorm devastated the park, knocking down more than 10,000 trees and destabilizing the cliffs above the walkway as waves ripped up large sections of the pathway itself.

The 8.8 km walk, which circles the largest city-owned park in Canada, is one of Vancouver's largest tourism draws, attracting an estimated 2.5 million pedestrians, cyclists, and inline skaters every year, with its views of the North Shore mountains and the waters of English Bay.

Heavy equipment, not skaters and joggers, occupied some sections of the seawall in Vancouver's Stanley Park last Wednesday.
(Gloria Leung/CBC)

Seawall users are urged to use caution and watch for broken asphalt and rough surfaces. Cyclists and rollerbladers are reminded to go in a counter-clockwise direction when using the seawall and always yield to pedestrians.

The barriers at Third Beach and under the Lions Gate Bridge will both open at the same time. Rollerbladers and cyclists should therefore access the Seawall at the Lions Gate Bridge side.

The opening is temporary, and the walkway will close again for several weeks in the spring and early summer when the lower daytime tides allow better access to the seawall, the park board said.

Repair costs for Stanley Park are estimated at $9 million.