Car Free Day Vancouver, now in its 11th year, takes over four Vancouver neighbourhoods this weekend with events on Saturday, June 20th and Sunday, June 21st. This annual multi-site arts and culture festival reclaims traffic thoroughfares as community-focused public spaces, enagaing residents, artists, performers, artisans, non-profits, and businesses.
Car Free Day Vancouver Locations
West End on Denman, from Georgia to Davie
Saturday, June 20, 2015 from 12:00pm to 6:00pm
Twitter / Facebook / Tag #CFWest
Check out the West End Art Jam, the West End Kidz Zone at the Community Centre, the PuddleCity Arts Stage at Denman Place Mall, outdoor stages, entertainment and more all along Denman Street.
Main Street
Main from Broadway to 30th
Sunday, June 21, 2015
12:00pm to 7:00pm
Twitter / Facebook / Tag #CFMain
Check out The Reef’s Soca Music Block Party, St. Patrick’s Church Choir performances, the NEPTOON Records Stage, Red Cat Records Stage, Granville Island Toy Company Kids Zone, Chocolate Land and French Quarter Parklet, Terminal City Rollergirls, Anti-social Skateboards, and much more.
Commercial Drive
The Drive from Venables to Grandview
Sunday, June 21, 2015
12:00pm to 7:00pm
Twitter / Facebook / Tag #DriveFest
Commercial Drive is the birthplace of Car Free Vancouver Day, a festival that has grown to 15 blocks of fun with roller disco, parading drummers, healing gardens, DJs spinning beats, and of course some great food.
Kitsilano (various neighbourhoods)
Saturday, June 20 and Sunday, June 21, 2015
Kitsilano does something different for Car Free Day. Instead of closing off a major street, people throughout Kits host block parties with their neighbours. Individual block parties will be listed this week. Follow Car Free Day Kitsilano on Facebook for updates.
Follow Car Free Day Vancouver on Twitter and Facebook for more information.
This post has been contributed by Jill Taylor, Native Plant Demonstration Garden volunteer with the Stanley Park Ecology Society (“SPES”). I have been following SPES since I moved into the West End a decade ago and I have been a member for three years. I wanted to offer the team an opportunity to share their news, events, and work so I have created “SPES Saturday” where they contribute and share stories with my audience once a month.
A Blooming Good Time
Stanley Park Ecology Society’s Native Plant Demonstration Garden
It certainly has been a crazy year so far weather-wise! We may love the extra sunny warm days, but how do plants react to unseasonable weather?
The volunteer stewards of the SPES Native Plant Demonstration Garden at the foot of Robson Street have been logging the flowering dates of our 100+ species for the past five years. It has become abundantly clear that some plants are totally dependent on the length of the day, always flowering on almost the same date every year, come rain or shine. Other plants bloom at quite variable times, depending on our daily temperatures.
For example, the red flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum) can flower any time from early March onwards depending on the weather. Our shooting stars were very early this year, with the blooms almost finished by mid-May when SPES often offers a garden tour and talk. This year we had a dozen interested folk attend the tour, and even though two hours seemed plenty of time to explore our tiny garden, it was hard to pack in everything that excited us and interested others.
Alternative ground covers such as wild ginger (Asarum caudatum), plants for hummingbirds like the native honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa), and plants for bees such as the native red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) are all on display and on schedule for blooming.
Wild ginger / Western honeysuckle. Contributed photo.
Located next to the Stanley Park Community Garden, the SPES Demonstration Garden offers good examples of native plants alongside those that have been bred for flower gardens. Anecdotally, SPES’ Conservation Programs Manager has noticed that exotic plant species like those found in many flower gardens (not native to the Pacific Northwest) are more sensitive than their native counterparts to unusual weather conditions – blooming much earlier with unseasonably warm, sunny weather.
How did your garden do this year? Do you think your plants reacted differently to a warmer, drier winter and spring? We’d love to know! We’ll compile and post your comments on our Facebook page. Send your observations to: [email protected].
Red columbine. Contributed photo.
Our Native Plant Demonstration Garden stewards are becoming more knowledgeable every year on native plant gardening, and they can also introduce you to the benefits of keeping mason bees to pollenate your fruit trees and veggie garden.
Keep an eye out for next year’s garden tour, or contact the Stanley Park Nature House (604-257-8544) to find out when our stewards are available to answer your questions about incorporating some native plants into your garden.
National Aboriginal Day is being celebrated at Canada Place on Saturday, June 20, 2015 with the North Point hosting music, dance, and stories from 11:00am to 5:00pm.
National Aboriginal Day in Vancouver
The event will provide opportunities for guest of all ages to engage with and learn more about Aboriginal culture and will feature a traditional Coast Salish welcome followed by a variety of performances and activities, including drum making, drumming and dance workshops, storytelling, carving and live music.
Guests include Chief Ian Campbell (Squamish), Alex Wells (Lil’wat), Sister Says (Haida and Tsimshian), Coastal Wolf Pack (Musqueam), Andrea Menard (Métis), Children of Takaya (Tsleil-Waututh), and more.
Experience Canada Place’s Canadian Trail and visit an artisan marketplace. Learn about traditional carving with Jody Broomfield, drum-making with Justin Kelly and August Williams, and participate in a dance workshop with Shyama-Priya.
A full list of performers and the day’s schedule can be found online.
Update: Trout Lake Event
There will also be an Aboriginal Day in BC event at Trout Lake on Sunday, June 21st from 12:00pm to 5:00pm.
Thanks to Instagram’s new website redesign, it’s now easier for me to search the #Photos604 tag to find the awesome captures that have been shared around Vancouver. As promised a few weeks ago, I’m doing a 100% Instagram roundup this week, featuring my favourite photos that readers and locals have shared using the #Photos604 tag. Enjoy!
Vancouver Photos of the Week
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