Football fans from across Canada in Vancouver for Grey Cup celebrate 'glory and beauty of the CFL'

When Winnipeggers Barbara and Sylvia Main travelled to Vancouver for their first Grey Cup in 1990, there was no zip line.

But being back on the West Coast for this weekend's Grey Cup match brings a sense of nostalgia for the mother-daughter duo.

"It is where we first started — first mother-daughter Grey Cup ... so it is kind of sentimental for us to be back here again together enjoying the Grey Cup," daughter Sylvia said on Friday. "We're ready for the Bombers to bring [another] one home."

The Mains are among the football fans from across the country who have converged on Vancouver, eager to build relationships and strengthen their camaraderie with like-minded fans who are passionate about the Canadian Football League.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Toronto Argonauts are vying to win the 111th Grey Cup on Sunday. Winnipeg and Toronto fans, along with those representing the league's other seven teams, have taken in activities at the Grey Cup Festival, including concerts, parties, a drone show and a zip line that runs down the harbour.

B.C.'s Tourism Ministry says it expects the festivities to bring in 30,000 out-of-province fans and drive an economic boost of $125 million.

The Mains, who have been Bombers season-ticket holders since 1987, have been in the stands together at an estimated 20 Grey Cup games over the past 35 years, including each of Winnipeg's last three triumphs.

In that 1990 game they saw, Winnipeg, led by the CFL's top defence, crushed Edmonton 50-11 for the Bombers' 10th Grey Cup title. But Bombers fans had to wait until 2019 for Winnipeg to lay claim to the CFL's holy grail again, before earning a repeat championship victory in 2021 after the pandemic cancelled the 2020 season.

Over the decades of games,