It’s a Vancouver bucket list item that you might not have even considered before. Sign up for The Drop Zone for Easter Seals and you can rappel down a 20-storey office tower in downtown Vancouver — all for a great cause!
Easter Seals Drop Zone, Vancouver’s original charity rappelling event, is celebrating its 10th anniversary on Wednesday, September 9, 2015 from 8:00am to 5:00pm. The 20-storey rappel challenges participants to step out of their comfort zones and conquer their fears, all while raising funds for Easter Seals BC.
Register now to start your fundraising for Easter Seals and if you reach $1,000 or more, you can participate in The Drop Zone taking place Wednesday, September 9, 2015 at 999 West Hastings in Downtown Vancouver. The money raised will benefit Easter Seals House in Vancouver as well as summer camps for children with disabilities in Shawnigan, Winfield and Squamish.
Since 2005, nearly 6,000 superheroes have joined the exclusive Superhero Club for Easter Seals, raising more than $10 million dollars for Canadians with disabilities. Be part of a formidable group of heroes and continue this amazing fundraising trend in 2014. By doing so you will make a big difference for families living with disabilities.
Easter Seals is dedicated to fully enhancing the quality of life, self-esteem and self-determination of Canadians living with disabilities by providing programs and support in these areas: Active Living; Family & Community Support; Assistive Devices Programs.
I participated in The Drop Zone back in 2010 and I highly recommend you give it a try, and support this worthy cause.
Win a Drop Zone Climb Pack
Cliffhanger Climbing has offered up two gift cards to help me promote this year’s Easter Seals Drop Zone. Win an introductory 2 hour climbing course at Cliffhanger (total value $140). Here’s how you can enter to win:
- Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
- Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
The winner (and guest) must be 14 years or older. Course date options are Monday at 6:00pm; Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at 7:00pm; or Sunday at 10:00am. I will draw one winner at 12:00pm on Tuesday, August 18, 2015. Follow Easter Seals on Twitter and Facebook for more information, fundraising tips, and updates.
Update The winner is @salinasiu!
Virgin Mobile Presents Squamish Valley Music Festival weekend, bringing some of the world’s biggest artists up the Sea to Sky. Along with celebrating a lot of local BC talent, over 70 artists join the three headliners Mumford & Sons, Drake, Sam Smith for a wide selection of music from all genres.
The first full day was Friday, August 7th and it kicked off with Dear Rouge on the Stawamus Stage and ended with Sam Smith closing out the Tantalus Stage before ODESZA closed out the Stawamus Stage. The Perrier Greenhouse and Garibaldi stages also hosted acts while the Blueprint Arena kept bumping well into the night all weekend long.
I have attended every Squamish Festival (Live at Squamish, Squamish Valley Music Festival) since its inception and the atmosphere on Friday reminded me of those first days at the new festival back in 2010. The vibe on the fields was happy, positive and a younger audience showed up to enjoy all genres. On site with my family, we shopped in the marketplace, caught up with friends at the many booths on site (including the ever-awesome Music Heals), and strolled from stage to stage chasing our favourite acts and discovering new gems.
Dear Rouge
I had the chance to catch up with Drew and Danielle of Dear Rouge, whom I first interviewed in 2012 before they won the Peak Performance Project that year. I’ll have details of our conversation and a few more photos posted tomorrow. Their set at the festival impressed even their most die-hard fans and Danielle brought her signature style to the stage, complimenting her powerful vocals.
James Bay
Schoolboy Q
Brandon Flowers
You should have heard the crowd when they realized that this sharp-dressed crooner was “the Mr Brightside guy”, as Flowers ended his set with The Killers’ popular track.
Sam Smith
Nearing the end of his two-year tour, all in support of his first and only album, Sam Smith appeared on stage looking trim, happy, and visibly moved by the reception of the crowd who knew every one of his lyrics.
View all of my photos in this slideshow on Flickr:
Squamish Valley Music Festival Lineup
Mumford & Sons, Drake, Sam Smith, Of Monsters And Men, Kaskade, Alabama Shakes, Brandon Flowers, Schoolboy Q, Mother Mother, Chance The Rapper, Adventure Club, Porter Robinson (live), Hot Chip, The Kills, Milky Chance, Arkells, Vance Joy, Death From Above 1979, Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings, Odesza, Royal Blood, Angus & Julia Stone, George Ezra, Bahamas, Kaytranada, A-trak, Tchami, Gorgon City (DJ Set), Slightly Stoopid, K-os, Joel Plaskett With The Emergency, First Aid Kit, Mariachi El Bronx, Whitehorse, Robert Delong, Hannah Wants, James Bay, Elle King, Slow Magic, Benjamin Booker, The Funk Hunters, Sza, Bear’s Den, Alvvays, Justin Nozuka, Dear Rouge, Peking Duk, P Reign, Tei Shi, Oliver, Mat The Alien, The River And The Road, Willa, Scott Helman, Old Man Canyon, Little India.
You can still get day-of tickets at the box office near the Squamish Adventure Centre. More information is available online, or by calling 1-888-999-2321. Follow Squamish Valley Music Festival on Twitter and Facebook.
Metropolis at Metrotown is celebrating the International Year of Light with an exciting digital and visual experiential event.
Inspired by artist Yayoi Kusama’s mirrored infinity room and the Social Soul experience at the 2014 TED Conference, the LIGHTROOM is a unique and artistic installation comprised of a 60 second walk-through experience tied to social media.
The LIGHTROOM measures 20 feet by 35 feet and will immerse the customer in an illusion of thousands of twinkling lights.
Where: Metropolis at Metrotown – Grand Court, Lower Level
When: June 26th to September 7th, 2015 from 12:00pm to 7:00pm
Admission: FREE
In addition to the LIGHTROOM, you’ll find other fun things to do and see including a stunning 70 foot interactive light curtain that will be on display over the Grand Court elevator.
Snap and upload a photo of your #METlightroom experience onto Twitter or Instagram using this hashtag, and you will be entered for a chance to win weekly gift card prizes or a $1000 Grand Prize shopping spree.
Metropolis at Metrotown has also partnered with Burnaby Neighbourhood House, a volunteer driven non-profit, who will staff the event.
Take the SkyTrain, or take advantage of free parking, and check out this dazzling installation along with Metropolis at Metrotown’s 400 stores including Chapters, Famous Players SilverCity, Forever 21, Hudson’s Bay, Old Navy, Real Canadian Superstore, Sears, Sport Chek, T&T Supermarket, Toys “R” Us, Urban Behavior, Winners HomeSense, and Zara. Follow Metropolis at Metrotown on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more information.
The BC Sugar Refinery, a behemoth of a complex that you can’t avoid if you’ve ever driven down Powell Street, is Vancouver’s oldest industrial site. Dating back to 1890, the refinery is just four years older than the City of Vancouver itself. It’s frequently used in movie and television production and is often photographed, making it today’s Vancouver Icons photo feature.
The refinery site was built up in stages, as was the waterfront property — much of the current land was water that has been filled in […] The BC Sugar property is 13.5 acres, and includes 20 buildings, a dock and a little park. There are a couple of art deco buildings from the 1940s, a 1950s-modern office building, and a 300-foot long, 50-foot high storage facility packed with mountains of raw sugar. When you walk through it the air is thick with sugar — when you come out you feel like you’ve been skim-coated in the stuff. [John Mackie – Vancouver Sun]
1945: Archives# CVA 586-3997. Photographer: Donn B.A. Williams.
Photo credit: under_volcano on Flickr
1910s: Archives# M-11-65.
Photo credit: Adam Gaumont on Flickr
1977. Archives# CVA 780-341.
The site has its own steam plant housed in a 1941 art deco building. It has its own sewer grates, which read “BC Sugar.” It even has its own sugar museum, housed in an old garage built in 1916.
The museum has been closed for several years, but is still completely intact. It contains all sorts of artifacts: a model of the 1890 refinery, a Dominican sugar machete with a handmade sheath, and a “ladies pay envelope” from 1941, when a worker made $13.85 for a 40-hour week.
Incredibly, it also contains the original BC Sugar stock certificates issued to William Van Horne and Donald Smith of the CPR, dating to Oct. 17. 1890. Van Horne brought the railway across Western Canada; Smith drove the Last Spike at Craigellachie near Revelstoke. As Canadiana, it’s pure gold — just like the British Columbia Sugar Refinery. [John Mackie – Vancouver Sun]
Other Vancouver Icons posts: Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Museum of Anthropology, Fort Langley Community Hall, Christ Church Cathedral, Waterfront Station, Pacific Central Station, Randall Building Mural, East Van Cross, Robert Burns Statue in Stanley Park, Vancouver Maritime Museum, Flack Block, The Drop, Prospect Point Lighthouse, Engagement, Ovaltine Cafe, The English Bay Slide, Freezing Water #7, Cleveland Dam, Heritage Hall, School of Theology Building at UBC, Gate to the Northwest Passage, St Paul’s Hospital, Capilano Lake, Stawamus Chief, Nine O’Clock Gun, Malkin Bowl, Search, Vancouver Rowing Club, Echoes, Point Atkinson Lighthouse, English Bay Inukshuk, Hollow Tree, Hotel Europe, Lions Gate Bridge Lions, LightShed, Granville Bridge, 217.5 Arc x 13′, Canoe Bridge, Vancouver Block, Bloedel Conservatory, Centennial Rocket, Canada Place, Old Courthouse/Vancouver Art Gallery, Dominion Building, Science World, Gastown Steam Clock, SFU Burnaby, Commodore Lanes, Siwash Rock, Kitsilano Pool, White Rock Pier, Main Post Office, Planetarium Building, Lord Stanley Statue, Vancouver Library Central Branch, Victory Square, Digital Orca, The Crab Sculpture, Girl in Wetsuit, The Sun Tower, The Hotel Vancouver, The Gassy Jack Statue, The Marine Building, and The Angel of Victory. Should you have a suggestion for the Vancouver Icons series please feel free to leave a note in the comments. It should be a thing, statue, or place that is very visible and recognizable to the public.
