A Brief History of Vancouver’s Abandoned Floating McDonald’s, the McBarge

Have you ever wanted to experience the joys of Mcdonald’s on the (somewhat) open-seas? Well, if you were in attendance at Expo ‘86, you had that opportunity. Say hello to the McBarge, one of Vancouver’s most iconic restaurants.

You may be familiar with Vancouver’s world-famous McBarge. A floating Mcdonald’s that was constructed and opened for the 1986 world exposition on Transportation and Communication. The barge was stationed in False Creek and was exactly like any other McDonald’s, aside from the ‘floating on the water’ part of things.

But, unfortunately, since 1986, the floating restaurant has fallen into disuse. While it didn’t serve up Big Macs, it did serve as a filming location for Blade Trinity. So that’s cool!

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For 30 years, the barge was anchored in the Burrard Inlet. This changed in 2015 when Howard Meakin bought the barge and moved it to Maple Ridge to be refurbished.

While the future of the McBarge is hopefully bright, Meakin is hoping to find a place for it to become a floating seafood restaurant. Hopefully, the McBarge can be saved, as such an iconic Vancouver locale should not go to waste.

But no matter what it is renovated into, it’ll always be the McBarge in our hearts.