Richmond Days of Summer include many free family events this summer starting with Ships to Shore Steveston, the Steveston Salmon Festival, and Richmond’s Canada Day celebrations.
Photo courtesy of Ships to Shore
Ships to Shore Steveston
Ships to Shore Steveston takes place Sunday, June 29, 2014 and Monday, June 30, 2014 from from 11:00am to 6:00pm and on Canada Day, July 1st, from 12:00pm to 6:00pm.
The Royal Canadian Navy will lead a flotilla of classic and working ships sailing and steaming their way to Richmond for Ships to Shore Steveston 2014 on the Canada Day weekend.
The colourful HMCS Oriole tall ship, the longest-serving commissioned vessel in the Royal Canadian Navy, will be joined by two of the Navy’s eight Orca-class patrol ships. Along for the ride will be the popular Naden Band of the Royal Canadian Navy, which will do a number of special performances on the Steveston waterfront.
The Oriole is a 31-metre (102-foot) ketch first launched in 1921, and used by the Navy as a sail training vessel. Contrasting that will be the modern, Orca-class patrollers, barely a decade-old and measuring in at 33 metres (108 ft), which provide search and rescue and security along our coastline.
Click to view boarding information [PDF].
The Navy vessels, along with a dozen other unique and historic ships, will be available for free viewing and boarding throughout Ships to Shore Steveston. This year, the festival will be capped off with a special Canada Day fireworks show along the Steveston waterfront.
The ships will be anchored at Steveston’s Imperial Landing and at Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site. The Britannia Shipyards and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, will also be open throughout the Canada Day weekend. Drop by both to view great exhibits on the history of Canada’s west coast fishing industry and discover more local heritage.
This weekend, the exhibit Babes & Bathers: History of the Swimsuit opens at the Vancouver Maritime Museum. “As a city surrounded by water, going to the beach and owning a swimsuit is an essential part of both our wardrobe and our Vancouver identity. Drawing primarily on the collections of fashion historian Ivan Sayers, the Maritime Museum will display examples of swimwear worn in Vancouver from the 1890s to the 1980s.”
1945: Bathing suit models in Vancouver. Archives# CVA 586-3822.
The Vancouver Maritime Museum is located in Kitsilano — along the water, naturally — and this is just one of many attractions you’ll find within its halls, built around the St. Roch. In honour of “Babes & Bathers”, I have rustled up a collection of old time Vancouver summer fashion photos thanks to the Vancouver Archives:
Follow the Vancouver Maritime Museum on Facebook and Twitter to learn more about their current exhibits and galleries.
It’s easy to get out and about in Metro Vancouver especially when the sun is shining and we have so many amazing destinations for playing, resting, hiking, and soaking the season in at the beach. You don’t need to fully disconnect to have a good time and the mobile phone in your pocket can actually lead you to more refreshment, activities, and fun. Here are just a few of my picks for “must have” apps in the 604 this summer.
Vancouver Parks Golf
Cost: Free
Device: iPhone and Android
Features: The VanGolf App to enhances your golf experience at Vancouver gold courses Langara Golf Course, McCleery Golf Course, and Fraserview Golf Course. The app includes an interactive scorecard, golf games (Skins, Stableford, Par, Stroke Scoring), GPS, golfer profiles with auto stats tracking, hole descriptions and playing tips, you can book tee times, do a course tour and more.
Swim Guide by Fraser Riverkeeper
Cost: Free
Device: iPhone and Android
Features: Find the best swimming water in the region with Fraser Riverkeeper’s Swim guide app. You can use it around Vancouver, across Canada, and across the USA to find the and report the best swimming water conditions.
Tap Map Water Fountain Finder
Cost: Free
Device: iPhone
Features: Developed by Metro Vancouver, you can easily locate water fountains and places to get a drink or refill your bottle with our region’s fresh drinking water.
iParks Navigator
Cost: Free
Device: iPhone
Features: Another app from Metro Vancouver, this one features park locations and amenities so that you can plan the perfect picnic, walk, playground or splash park outing with the family.
Vancouver Fireworks App
Cost: Free
Device: iPhone and Android
Features: The world’s largest offshore fireworks competition, the Honda Celebration of Light, has its own app so you can find vendors on the beaches, listen to the music soundtrack, get performance schedules, vote on the fireworks, and more July 26th, July 30th, and August 2nd.
Street Food Vancouver App
Cost: Free
Device: iPhone and Android
Features: Enjoy breakfast, lunch, or dinner outside using the Street Food Vancouver App to find who is open, where they are located, and what delicious curb-side treats they’re serving up.
Grouse Grind App
Cost: Free
Device: iPhone
Features: Enjoy “Nature’s Stairmaster”, the world famous Grouse Grind using a new app developed for Grouse Mountain. Track your time, see the route, keep up with friends.
Next Bus
Cost: Free
Device: Any mobile (web-based)
Features: Leave the car at home this summer! Next Bus is the simplest of tools to help you find out when the next bus will arrive at your stop. Type in the stop number or the route number, and get a live GPS map showing you exactly where buses are in the city.
The Honda Celebration of Light Fireworks combine the world’s largest offshore fireworks competition with a seaside festival complete with free concerts, food truck fare, and the Concord Pacific Seawall Challenge which is now in its second year. On July 26th, the first fireworks night this season, friend and family teams can compete for cash prizes totalling over $10,000. This urban adventure race sweeps across Concord’s Master-planned community, benefiting after-school programs in the Lower Mainland.
Concord Pacific Seawall Challenge
Photo courtesy of Concord Pacific
Last year’s team winners designated Chief Maquinna Elementary as the benefactor of the $5,000 donation. Principal Peter Evans said, “This is awesome! Our school community is already benefiting from the donation. To have Concord Pacific bring to the table a great event like the Seawall Challenge, that compliments the Celebration of Light, is really what community spirit is all about. We feel fortunate to have been selected by the winning team to receive the donation.”
This year two schools will benefit from $5,000 donations. Families and friends teams will compete in two slightly different race challenges. Like last year, challenges will vary with brainteasers, False Creek history questions, creativity and activity points. The challenge will run between 2:00pm and 7:00pm on July 26th so you’ll have time to settle in and enjoy Team USA’s fireworks once you’re done.
Registration
Join the Family Challenge if you have 2 or more children 12 or under on your team. Friend teams of four will compete in a series of tougher physical and mental challenges. Registration is $40/team (plus applicable fees) and participants must be 6 years of age or older, in teams of four. Family teams must have a minimum of two participants between the ages of 6 and 12.
Register your name on sign up and make sure to post your team name and photo by July 1st onto the Concord Social Facebook page. Registration is limited and sign-ups are well underway. Deadline to register is July 7th.
#WhatsTheLink is a series about all that TransLink, Metro Vancouver’s transportation authority, is responsible for in the region. Learn more at Translink.ca/WTL and join the #WhatsTheLink conversation on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, The Buzzer Blog, and here of course!
Transit Shapes Your Region and Helps to Make it More Livable
Transit has played an important role in how the communities of Metro Vancouver have been designed.
Starting with the arrival of the railroad in Vancouver in the late 1800s. In the early 1900s street cars and the interurban lines later connected New Westminster, Vancouver, Steveston, Karrisdale and Chilliwack helping to fuel the growth of those communities.
1960s Vancouver freeway proposal – City of Vancouver Archives
In 1945, a Regional Growth Strategy was developed. In that strategy was a Regional Transportation Investment Plan for transit. This plan helping the region grow, Vancouver in particular, which had only a few buildings over ten stories high at the time.
The Regional Growth Strategy was updated in the 1970s. This update brought a prohibition on the expansion of highways into the city of Vancouver. Transit was seen as way to facilitate the growth of the region.
The 1980s was the birth of the SkyTrain system. The SkyTrain system today includes the Expo, Millennium and Canada Line, connecting Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond and Surrey. The planned the Evergreen Line expands the SkyTrain system into Port Moody and Coquitlam.
Expanding the transit system has meant billions of dollars in private investment around SkyTrain stations. Take a look at this video showing transit focused developments along SkyTrain since 1985.
Transit-Oriented Developments
Much of the success of communities situated next to SkyTrain stations is because of what are know as Transit-Oriented Developments or TODs. TODs are communities that focus on making transit accessible to everyone. These communities promote more walking and cycling than communities without good access to transit, resulting in lower levels of automobile use and greenhouse gas emissions.
TODs are communities that connect to the Frequent Transit Network (FTN). The FTN provides transit every fifteen minutes in the morning until 9:00pm. seven days a week. Combine the FTN with the fact that nearly 90% of all residents in the region live within walking distance of bus service, and more people benefit from transit.
A good example of a TOD connected to rapid transit in Metro Vancouver is Plaza 88 at New Westminster Station. Integrated with the SkyTrain, residents of the four residential towers have easy access to businesses and shopping as well as walking and cycling.
Future TODs include the new communities sprouting up around Brentwood Town Centre, Oakridge-41st Avenue and Marine Drive Stations.
Together with TransLink’s Major Road Network, five bridges, and cycling options, frequent and accessible transit is just one way TransLink is helping to shape a livable region.
