The BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association along with Tourism Surrey are hosting the first Surrey Restaurant Week from Friday, May 24th until Sunday, June 2nd. Participating restaurants will be serving up three-course prix-fixe dinner menus for either $20, $30, or $40 per person.
You can choose between pub fare, delicious South Asian, Thai, and Greek specialties, homestyle dishes, country club eats, and pizza — or have it all. Over 40 restaurants have signed up to take part and several menus are already posted online, so far they include:
Big Ridge Brewing Co., Boston Pizza Guildford, Edith + Arthur (formerly the Fleetwood Arms Pub), Jack’s Public House, Morgans Restaurant and Wine Bar, Ashiana Restaurant, Sabai Thai Restaurant, The Henry Public House (in the revitalized Clover Inn), Townhall Public House, and more.
All you need to do is make your reservations and dine out some place new (or familiar) in Guildford, Whalley, Fleetwood, Newton, South Surrey, or Cloverdale. The restaurant list will continue to grow and watch for more menus to be added in the coming weeks. Follow Surrey Restaurant Week on Twitter for more information and restaurant updates.
I am proud to once again be the Social Media Sponsor of the Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards (the Jessies) and as such, I am featuring a local theatre company every Thursday.
The Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards are an annual awards ceremony and party produced by the Jessie Richardson Theatre Award Society to celebrate and promote the outstanding achievements of the Vancouver Professional Theatre Community. The Awards have been presented since 1982, originally by the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance, taken over in 1997 by the newly formed Society. Over 35 statues are awarded each year to outstanding theatre companies and artists.
These profiles contain basic information about each company, as supplied by their team, and a list of their upcoming productions that you can check out in the coming season. Today’s feature company is: Electric Company Theatre:
Electric Company Co-Founder and Director Kim Collier (foreground, pink shirt) amidst the flurry of a on-location film shoot at The Art Club’s Stanley Theatre for
Tear the Curtain, 2010. Jonathon Young and Laura Mennell in centre. Photo by Tim Matheson.
Electric Company Theatre
Date Established: 1996
Total number of plays/events produced: 17
Co-Founders: Kim Collier, David Hudgins, Kevin Kerr, and Jonathon Young
First Play Produced: Brilliant! The Blinding Enlightenment of Nikola Tesla for the 1996 Vancouver Fringe Festival.
Mission Statement
SEE! SEE! SEE!
This Earth Made Rare
but you DIDN’T expect it
DREAMS GUARANTEED
Electric Company is dedicated to the creation of original works of theatre and the theatrical adaptation of existing texts with an emphasis on physical and visual imagery.
Coming Soon
YOU ARE VERY STAR
Wednesday, June 12th to Saturday, 29th, 2013
At the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in vancouver’s Vanier Park
Purchase Tickets
Perched like a spaceship in Vanier Park, the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre is being shifted from its position in your consciousness as a field-trip destination of childhood. YOU ARE VERY STAR is an immersive, and interactive transmedia experience that will transport you from 1968 to 2048. Come play with us, after closing, when we’re alone in this Vancouver jewel, filled with its ghosts, memories, and visions of the future. Try to remember what it was we all had hoped for.
Special Moment for the Company
Electric Company is Vancouver’s own moment maker. Maybe it is the moment you join us onstage. Maybe when you watch us through your cardboard telescope on the shores of False Creek? Maybe the moment the lights go down and you smell cinnamon. Or during an athletic pursuit of recision, with the threat of the accidental. Maybe when you lean forward in a soft seat to witness the human animals in motion? Maybe the seat is on a dolly track, when you are the camera and we are the grip.
Follow
Stay up to date on the latest from Electric Company Theatre by following them on Facebook and Twitter.
Great Canadian Craft proudly presents Spring Fling happening this weekend at the Vancouver Convention Centre. It’s a one-of-a-kind showcase of unique and independent artists all under one roof.
Great Canadian Craft’s Spring Fling will take place on Saturday, May 11th from 10:00am to 8:00pm, and again on Sunday, May 12th from 10:00am to 5:00pm. If your mother (or a mother in your life) is into handmade jewellery, delicious sweets, live music, and crafty pieces from over 500 exhibitors, she’ll love spending Mother’s Day with you at the event.
On top of the vendors and artisans there will also be a children’s entertainment area, a men’s section, showcases from local students, a silent auction, live demos, door prizes and more. The first 100 shoppers each day also receives a free swag bag.
Tickets are on sale now and you can use my code MISS25 to receive a 25% discount online.
Tickets for each day are just $8 and you can purchase Ultra VIP passes for $49 each day. Ultra VIP passes (only 100 of which are available each day) include early entry at 9:00am, a souvenir t-shirt, collectable VIP lanyard and VIP admission to all 2013 Great Canadian Craft Shows. General admission on Saturday and Sunday at the event is $10, and children 12 and under are free.
If you would like to win your way in, I have 10 pairs of tickets to give away. Here’s how you can enter to win:
- Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
- Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
In order to ensure I can get the winners arranged in time for the show this weekend this contest will have a quick turn-around. I will draw all of the winners at random from all entries at 9:00am on Friday, May 10, 2013.
Follow Great Canadian Craft on Facebook and Twitter to learn more about Spring Fling and their other craft shows throughout the year.
Update The winners are Caitlin, Sharon, Katie P, Tanya, Anne-Sophie, Hayley, @Rsaloust, @grumpy_kitty
Merging onto the Knight Street Bridge, most drivers turn on their signals and merge once more to avoid the Mitchell Island offramp that comes up just after the first span. Most often you’ll find trucks using that exit though, as Mitchell Island has steel and electronics recycling plants, scaffold supply, ready-mix concrete, auto recycling, and welding shops. On the flip side of this rough-and-tumble industrial land is its agricultural history. The island was once the home of the area’s first successful pioneer farmer: Alexander Mitchell.
Alexander Mitchell, after whom Mitchell Island is named, arrived in BC in April of 1877. He settled in Moodyville (part of present day North Vancouver) with his wife and children, and later took squatter’s rights as a pioneer resident on the small Richmond island. [Source: Chuck Davis’ Vancouver History].
1929: Mitchell Residence. Archives Item# CVA 371-497 & 1960s: Aerial view. VPL# 41289. The Province.
He then purchased the 330-acre property for $10 and built a pioneer homestead for his family. He acquired an additional 50 acres of land in north Richmond along the east side of No. 5 Road between Bridgeport and Cambie Roads.
“Mitchell recognized the importance of establishing a permanent link to Vancouver from North Richmond and successfully argued for the Fraser Street Bridge to be constructed in 1893. The original bridge required a hand crank to open for ship traffic to pass through. This vital link helped insure that the development of Richmond would continue well into the future.” [Source: Biographer Raymond Reitsma]
Alexander Mitchell also donated some of his property at No. 5 Road and Cambie to build a school in 1908 and it was expanded in 1922. The original Mitchell Elementary School has since been demolished but additions still stand, giving it the distinction of being the longest continuously operating school in the Richmond School District.
Today, Mitchell Island’s western tip supports the Canada Line’s Fraser River (North Arm) crossing. One of the bridge’s pillars sits on the site of Eburne Island, which was incorporated into Mitchell Island in the 1950s when the channel separating the two was filled in.
The only way on and off the island is via the Knight Street Bridge. There is some public space at the Mitchell Island Pier which is 1.067 acres of park land with a fishing pier. A decommissioned rail bridge makes for an interesting photography subject and there are panoramic views of the bustling river activity along the island’s north and western shores.
It’s no secret that Stanley Park is our favourite place in Vancouver with its forest trails, seasonal creeks and waterways, wildlife, and the ability to immediately help you escape the city — without going too far. It just so happens that this wonderful place is celebrating a milestone 125th anniversary this year and people like Jolene Coming want to share its history.
1890s: Stanley Park Entrance. Archives Item# LGN 1048.
Jolene has been presenting “secrets” of the park through historical walking tours for the last 10 years and she’s got a special anniversary tour lined up for Saturday, May 25, 2013.
This anniversary tour will set out from the Stanley Park Pavilion and run from 1:30pm until 3:30pm. It’s drop-in only, rain or shine, and cash-only ($10 per person), and includes the walking tour, history, and rare historical photographs.
Next month, Jolene will lead another walk, “E. Pauline Johnson 100 Years: A Stanley Park Historical Walking Tour”:
In 1913 flags flew at half mast the day poet & stage performer E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake) died in Vancouver’s West End. Johnson loved, routinely visited and wrote about Stanley Park. This tour will follow the trails she walked, stroll through the “Cathedral Trees” from her “The Lure of Stanley Park” story, walk the shores where she paddled her canoe, and visit the body of water she named Lost Lagoon. Also hear about other park themes from Johnson’s best selling 1912 “Legends of Vancouver” book, like Deadman’s Island and Siwash Rock. Includes rare historical photographs.
You can join this tour on Sunday, June 2, 2013 from 1:00pm to 2:00pm. This one will depart from Lost Lagoon viewing plaza (Alberni and Chilco) and is also drop-in only, rain or shine, and cash-only ($10 per person).
Jolene Cumming has been producing and presenting public history events and programs since 2001. She is the co-founder and co-coordinator of the Herstory Cafe and is the founder of the Stanley Park History Group. Both of these tours will offer an opportunity to go beyond the Seawall to explore the modern history (and beyond) of Stanley Park, Vancouver’s Crown Jewel.
