Being one of the most historic places around, Fort Langley is serving up Halloween festivities in style. There are two main events this season at the Birthplace of BC: Family Fright at the Fort and Grave Tales.
Family Fright at the Fort
Fort Langley is hosting Family Fright at the Fort, a series of evening events with trick or treating, pumpkin carving, crafts, a creepy critter show, and more.
What A family-friendly Halloween festival in Fort Langley
Where Fort Langley National Historic Site (23433 Mavis Ave, Fort Langley)
When October 27th – October 28th, 2012, from 1:00pm to 7:00pm
The Fort will have a hay bale maze, campfire, ghost stories, and refreshments at the Full Barrel Cafe. Tickets are $11.70 per person over the age of 3. Fort Langley National Historic Site Annual Pass members get in free. Book your tickets online in advance, by phone (604) 513-4777, or at the door.
Update October 27, 2012 “Age 2 and under are free when accompanied by a paying adult.”
Grave Tales at Fort Langley
Every weekend in October you can tour Fort Langley during Grave Tales, a 90-minute guided storytelling walk. Listen to tales of love, mysterious burials, and horrifying of demise as you set out from the cemetery in the village (23105 St Andrews) and make your way over to the old fort.
Tours are offered October 12th to October 14th (7:00pm and 8:00pm); October 18th (7:00pm French tour); October 19th to October 21st (7:00pm, 8:00pm, 9:00pm); and October 26th to October 28th (7:00pm, 8:00pm, 9:00pm).
The tour is recommended for those over the age of 17 but there is a youth tour at 7:00pm on October 20th. Tickets are $15.10 per person and can be booked online in advance or by phone (604) 513-4777.
Follow Fort Langley National Historic Site on Facebook for more information about events and visits.
I’m a huge fan of exploring beyond the sea wall and into the trails of Stanley Park so I’m excited to share the news that Google has added Canadian parks and attractions its Street Views.
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This documentation is the biggest update of Street View imagery ever and it includes dozens of Canada’s iconic parks, trails, university campuses and zoos.
Mapped in Metro Vancouver
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Parks and attractions in BC were captured on Google Street Views in Nanaimo, Squamish, Fairmont, Kelowna, Pemberton, Vernon, Nelson, Victoria, and Tofino
Vancouver’s favourite amusement park turns out the lights and turns up the horror as Fright Nights return to Playland this month.
Running from October 17th to 31st Fright Nights will have a new haunted house this year called “Fear” to go along with Car-n-Evil, Hollywood Horrors, Asylum, Darkness and the Haunted Mansion. Fear is a new 2,500 square foot house of paranoias including claustrophobia, arachnophobia, and acrophobia.
Along with the haunted houses, rides, and colourful characters lurking around the park you can enjoy catch a Monsters of Schlock comedy circus and Kinshira Fire Troupe.
With over 80,000 guests last year, Fright Nights is Western Canada’s most successful adult-themed event. Tickets are on sale now for $36 at the gate (Thursday to Saturday) and $31 at the gate (Sunday to Wednesday). Book online and get $3 off the ticket price. Fright Nights opens at 6:00pm each day.
I have a pair of passes to give away as well, here’s how you can enter to win:
- Leave a comment naming your favourite Halloween costume (1 entry)
- Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 3:00pm on Tuesday, October 15, 2012.
Update The winner is MrsF!
Warning! Definitely not recommended for ages 12 and under, seniors 65+, people with sensitivity to strobe lighting, people with high blood pressure, heart conditions, pregnant women or easily scared cats. Absolutely no guest costumes allowed.
It was on this day in 1939 that Vancouver’s first aquarium opened, headed up by Dr. Leonard Klinck who was the President of UBC. According to Chuck Davis’ Vancouver History, it was “a tiny thing, dimly lighted” at the old English Bay Bathhouse and its main attraction was Oscar the Octopus. The aquarium’s first manager was Ivar Haglund, a folk singer from Seattle.
Ivar Haglund, Seattle character, folksinger, and restaurateur was known as “King of the Waterfront,” and also “Mayor” and “Patriarch” of the waterfront… He was also an amateur scientist of considerable wit and pedagogical charm. School children visiting his aquarium were both delighted and quieted by the tales he told and the songs he composed about the creatures in his tanks — characters like Barney Barnacle, Herman the Hermit Crab, Terrence the wood-boring Teredo worm, and Oscar and Olivia Octopus. [History Link]
Seattle’s first aquarium opened up in 1938, a year before Vancouver’s but both saw some of the same creatures in their tanks. I can’t find a single reference to Ivar being in Vancouver, aside from Chuck Davis’ accounts, but it does seem as though Oscar the Octopus drew crowds on both sides of the border.
Back in Seattle, Ivar opened a fish & chips bar for hungry visitors at his aquarium, which didn’t last long so he went back to the drawing board and came up with Ivar’s Acres of Clams, which opened in July of 1946. Ivar’s is a Seattle staple to this day, with its pier location still going strong and sporting the slogan “Keep Clam”. From the Bellis Fair food court to Safeco and CenturyLink’s concourse concessions, Ivar’s clam chowder, fish & chips, and other seafood creations are classic Pacific Northwest fare.
By 1965, when [Ivar] began lofting fireworks over Elliott Bay every “Fourth of Jul-Ivar,” he was a legend. He became a radio personality and Puget Sound’s principal champion of regional folk music. In 1976, Ivar bought Seattle’s iconic Smith Tower. His escapades, publicity stunts, pronouncements, pranks, and excellent restaurants have become part of Seattle’s unique character as a city. Ivar Haglund died on January 30, 1985. [History Link]
Ivar’s legacy lives on in Seattle through his restaurants and there’s currently talk of naming a new ferry after him. His time in Vancouver was brief, and mostly undocumented, but he’s a historically important neighbour to us on the coast.
As for the aquarium in Vancouver, the Vancouver Public Aquarium Association was founded in 1951 and it officially opened (as we know it today in Stanley Park) in June of 1956.
The other day I saw Mark Pilon (@atomos) post a photo of an old sidewalk stamp on Instagram. The caption read: “1912, this is the oldest sidewalk stamp I’ve seen to date in Strathcona.” I immediately recognized and identified the concrete marking with one in my neighbourhood — a sidewalk stamp at Robson and Bidwell that marks the year 1906.
After a quick Google search I found a group discussion about these historical markers.
Vancouver is somewhat unique among cities in that when the Works Department builds a sidewalk, they stamp the current year into the wet cement, at the street corner. They have been doing this for about a hundred years. These sidewalk date stamps serve as indicators of the age of various neighbourhoods because, with the exception of the downtown core, most sidewalks remain as they were originally built. Should you wish, you can walk around and read the ages of various street corners by the date stamps on the sidewalks. [Source: City Sidewalks – Contributed by Terry Lowe on August 06, 2006]
In the article that is shared on the discussion board it states that there are a few distinct periods in which the City of Vancouver did sidewalk stamping over the last century:
- Early: From about 1906 to 1918 (with a brief resurgence in 1930 and 1931)
- Middle: Between 1945 and 1965, at which point it abruptly stopped
- Modern: Began again in the early 1980s and continues to this day
There are a few comments stating that a few more old sidewalk stamps have been found, with the year 1906 being the most elusive. There’s a 1908 at 10th and Columbia and another at 10th and Manitoba.
I remember a few years ago when Robson was getting repaved that cobblestone was revealed when they ground up the top layer of asphalt. They paved over it again but some of the curbs are still original. Much of Vancouver has been built up, renovated, resurfaced, and restored over the years but I appreciate the fact that these stamps are out there. While I’m on my way to grocery store along Robson I can take a glance at the ground and think about who else walked that same exact path, 106 years ago.
