During March and April I will be featuring a Cherry Blossom Photo of the Day, sourced from the Miss604 Flickr Pool and/or the #Photos604 tag on Instagram. You can barely walk a full block in the city without encountering a photographer capturing this pink blooms — or stopping yourself — so it’s the perfect time to start this series. Enjoy!
March 4, 2015 – Photo credit:
Peter So on Flickr
View more photography posts on Miss604 along with the Vancouver Photos of the Week – and be sure to tag your photos with #Photos604!
I don’t often cover breaking news in Vancouver but a chemical fire currently burning at Port Metro Vancouver is widely effecting the city today. Here’s the official statement from the port:
Chemical Fire at Port Metro Vancouver
Photo by Chad Dey in the News1130 Air Patrol
Statement on the fire at Centerm Container Terminal
At approximately 1:40 p.m. we received confirmed reports that a container is on fire at the Centerm container terminal on the south shore of Burrard Inlet. Vancouver Coastal Health has confirmed the material inside is a hazardous organic compound (trichloroisocyanuric acid), and is a possible eye and skin irritant.
Our primary concern is the safety of first responders, the public and all port workers. The Centerm container terminal and nearby port properties have been evacuated. All port operations along the south shore of Burrard Inlet have been shut down, including rail and truck access. Vancouver Fire and Vancouver Coastal Health are on-site and actively determining if any additional evacuations are required. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide further information as it becomes available.
Port Metro Vancouver has evacuated the 700-block of Centennial Road as well as the Clark Dr. overpass and said it was shutting down all operations on the South shore. CPR Rail was also asked to shut down a rail line while crews dealt with the blaze. [Source: CTV]
As of about 3:30pm, the fire had been upgraded to a four-alarm blaze and the call has been put out for 21 firefighters to staff multiple alarm fire trucks. At least eight fire trucks and more than 24 firefighters have already responded. Dr. Patricia Daly from Vancouver Coastal Health says they are not evacuating the public at this moment. “If they can remain in place at the moment, doors and windows closed, that’s the best advice,” she says. [Source: Global]
“It is an irritant. It is a respiratory irritant, if you breathe it in. It also can irritate your eyes. We believe the risks are just short-term, but it’s still not advisable that anyone breathe this in or get it in your eyes,” explains Gavin Wilson with Vancouver Coastal Health.
Vancouver Police are encouraging anyone in the area east of Main, north of 1st and west of Nanaimo to go indoors, close all windows. People in north and east Vancouver are told to leave a note on your door if you have self-evacuated your home. [Source: News1130]
For the latest updates, the Port of Metro Vancouver recommends you follow @PortMetroVan, @VCHhealthcare, @VancouverPD, and @VanFireRescue on Twitter. This City of Vancouver also has a Twitter list of accounts to follow during an emergency.
Historically, this has been a dangerous week for the port. Friday is the 70th anniversary of the Greenhill Park Explosion, “The most spectacular and disastrous event in the port’s history,” according historian Chuck Davis in his book, History of Metropolitan Vancouver.
This week, Vancouver Opera presents the last three performances of Die Fledermaus (The Bat), the Austrian operetta composed by Johann Strauss Jr., adapted by UBC’s Nancy Hermiston to include theatrical dialogue in English with timely or local references.
Eisenstein (Roger Honeywell) is dismayed to find that a disguised Rosalinde (Joyce El-Khoury) has his watch. Photo by Tim Matheson
Set it old Vienna, chambermaid Adele (Suzanne Ridgen) has received word that her ballerina sister has been invited to attend a lavish ball hosted by Prince Orlovsky (Julie Boulianne) and wants her to come. Meanwhile, her employer, Gabriel von Eisenstein (Roger Honeywell) is due to go to prison when his friend, Dr. Faulk (Hugh Russell), convinces him to attend the same ball before he turns himself in. His wife, Rosalinde (Joyce El-Khoury), who being pursued by her former Italian lover Alfred (David Pomeroy), gets word off her husbands plan and decides to attend the ball in disguise as a Hungarian countess to catch him red handed in his philandering ways. What follows is a story about mistaken identities, love, and celebration–all to the music Johann Strauss, Jr., AKA the “The Waltz King.”
What makes this production unique is that it’s a musical-theatrical hybrid. Most of the time, I found the modern-day English helpful to understand the plot as it can be confusing (after all, it’s a story about an elaborate prank and I don’t understand German); however, sometimes I felt the dialogue interrupted the musicality of the performance. For instance, Christopher Gaze, Artistic Director of Bard on the Beach, a great actor in his own right, has a massive monologue at the beginning of Act III, poking fun at his own public personae as “Mr. Shakespeare” in town. I felt this went on too long and became tired of the joke. This is no fault of Mr. Gaze, but of the writing, which I felt was sometimes too on the nose.
The performances, however, were phenomenal. A performer would be singing the most exquisite aria in one moment, and then transform into a powerful stage actor (I wondered if they got tips from Mr. Gaze?) the next. All in all, it was an impressive and highly-entertaining evening and left me amazed because who knew opera could be this light-hearted and funny?
Catch Die Fledermaus at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on March 5th, March 7th, and a matinée on March 8th. Follow Vancouver Opera on Twitter and Facebook for more information.
The fourth Macaron Day in Vancouver is coming up on March 20th, joining bakeries, cafes and bistros around the world to support local causes, one sweet treat at a time.
Macaron Day
Macaron Day was founded in France (le jour du macaron) by Pierre Hermé years ago. It’s a day to celebrate the colours of spring with a bright palette of treats. Macaron Day events will be happening overseas, in New York, and in Toronto. Over the last few years it has become a Vancouver tradition as well.
Macarons (not to be confused with macaroons) are meringue-based confections commonly filled with buttercream or jam with a delicate soft and crunchy outer shell. All you need to do is visit a participating “Macaron Day” bakery or cafe on March 20th and you’ll be given a macaron and be invited to make a donation their chosen charity.
Participants and Causes
Faubourg‘s three locations will all be participating: Kerrisdale (2156 West 41st Avenue), Downtown Vancouver (769 Hornby Street) and West Vancouver (792 Main Street, Park Royal South). They will all offer signature Parisian-style macarons for $1 each (half off the regular price), match every dollar of macaron sales, and donate 100% of gross proceeds to the Canadian Cancer Society.
Faubourg’s current macaron selection includes: White Chocolate & Passion Fruit *Faubourg Signature, Cappuccino, Salted Butter Caramel, Strawberry Black Pepper, Lavender Earl Grey, Dark Chocolate, Tahitian Vanilla Bean, Raspberry Rose.
French Made Baking at 81 Kingsway (at Broadway) in Vancouver is participating again this year, supporting the BC Children’s Hospital. Everyone who mentions Macaron Day in the store will receive a macaron and will be invited to make a donation (while supplies last, suggested donation is $2). Part of all macarons sales will be donated to the Foundation as well. French Made Baking will have about 15 different flavours available at the beginning of the day and they’ll be open from 8:00am to 6:00pm.
Soirette, located at 1433 W Pender Street in Vancouver, is also participating again this year in support of Make a Wish in BC.
Update: L’Epicerie Gourmande at the Granville Island Public Market (1689 Johnston Street) will also participate. On Macaron Day, L’Epicerie Gourmande will donate 30 percent of regular macaron sales to BC Children’s Hospital. The scrumptious two-bite morsels are priced at $2 each and are available individually or in boxes by the dozen for gifting.
Thanks to the City of Vancouver Archives and Chuck Davis’ History of Metropolitan Vancouver, here’s a glimpse at what happened throughout the month of March in Vancouver history:
Property damage caused by the explosion. Archives# CVA 586-3598. Photographer: Don Coltman.
March 6, 1945
“If you were here on March 6, 1945 you will remember the waterfront explosion of the 10,000-ton freighter Greenhill Park, easily the most spectacular and disastrous event in the port’s history,” wrote historian Chuck Davis in his History of Metropolitan Vancouver.
March 9, 1870
Debate began on the “admission” of British Columbia into Canadian Confederation.
March 10, 1870
On this day the settlement know locally as Gastown was given its official name: Granville Townsite. Lord Granville was the Colonial Secretary at the time and the Granville Townsite was selected as the terminus for the Canadian Pacific Railway. It wasn’t until 1886 that the townsite was renamed, when it incorporated, as the City of Vancouver.
March 14, 1958
The Main Post Office opened on Georgia Street. The 5-storey structure—capped with an oblong 3-storey slab—covers an entire city block (1.2 hectares) and encloses a total floor area of almost 16 acres (686,000sq ft). Designed by the firm McCarter Nairne & Partners, the building used state of the art technology, and contains numerous commissioned artworks [source]. In 2012 and 2013, the building was listed as one of Heritage Vancouver’s Top 10 Endangered Heritage Sites.
March 15, 1930
A group of people gathered in Green Timbers Urban Forest to plant more than 120 baby trees in BC’s first “forest plantation”. Today, Green Timbers Urban Forest is a vital part of Surrey’s major park systems.
March 19, 1974
Vancouver city council voted to buy The Orpheum and it reopened as a concert hall April 2, 1977.
March 25, 1910
A crowd of 3,500 gathered in Richmond’s Minoru Park to watch the first airplane flight west of Winnipeg.
1902 – Carnegie Library under construction, Item #: CVA 1376-27
March 29, 1902
The cornerstone was laid for the Carnegie Centre at Main and Hastings, which started out as a public library.
Sources: Vancouver History. Related Posts: January 1st in Vancouver History, February in Vancouver History, March in Vancouver History, July in Vancouver History, August in Vancouver History, September, October in Vancouver History, November in Vancouver History, December in Vancouver History.
