EPIC Expo, Western Canada’s largest sustainable lifestyle showcase, is coming to the Vancouver Convention Centre May 11th to May 13th. Over 20,000 people will attend Vancouver’s 6th annual EPIC Expo to check out 300 exhibitors, shop for eco-friendly products, get ideas for the home and office, and be entertained.
Mike Holmes speaking at EPIC Expo Vancouver in 2008.
Check out the EPICurean Corner to sample from BC’s finest restaurants and wineries, discover eco-fashion on the EPIC Catwalk, and play in the EPIC KidZone with the Granville Island Toy Company. You can also test drive a Toyota or luxury Lexus hybrid vehicle at the Ride’n Drive station.
Main Stage
The main stage will feature: Urban Farmer Chris Thoreau, Peak Performance Project finalists The Boom Booms, Founder of Five Hole for Food Richard Loat, Harvinder Gill from the Recycling Council of BC, Co-Founder of the Green Party of BC Adriane Carr, and more.
Tickets & Hours
Tickets are currently available for $20 (3-day pass) or $12 (for a single day). There are also child, senior, and student rates.
Event hours are Friday, May 11, 2012 from 1:00pm to 8:00pm; Saturday, May 12, 2012 from 11:00am to 7:00pm; Sunday, May 13 (Mother’s Day) from 11:00am to 5:00pm.
Contest
I have four pairs of day passes to give away that include entry to the EPICurean Corner (which is an additional $5 value). Here’s how you can enter to win:
Leave a comment with your top tip for living “green” (1 entry)
Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
RT to enter to win passes to @EPIC_Expo Vancouver from @Miss604 http://ow.ly/aEPJu
I will draw 4 winners on Saturday, May 5, 2012 at 8:00am. You must be 19 years of age or older to enter and win since the EPICurean Corner serves alcohol. Follow EPIC Expo Vancouver on Facebook and Twitter for more information.
Update The winners are: Kim, Vanessa, @flipnfunny, and Tara.
Summer Playland Festival (“SPF”) is a three-day teen music festival happening July 6th to July 8th at Playland. The lineup has just been announced and it includes Marianas Trench, OneRepublic, Joe Jonas, Cobra Starship, Hot Chelle Rae, Dragonette, Dirty Radio, Carly Rae Jepsen and more.
The shows will be split between the Park Stage, located near the Hellevator, and the PNE Amphitheatre. There are one-day passes that start at $59 (for 7 concerts & all day rides) or 3-day passes that start at $159 (for all 21 concerts & all day rides). You will also be able to catch a show, go on some rides, and enter the concert areas again using your wristband.
The full schedule has been posted with headliners Marianas Trench (Friday), OneRepublic (Saturday), and Cobra Starship (Sunday). Passes go on sale Saturday, May 5, 2012 through TicketLeader online or by calling 604-757-0345.
Follow Playland on Twitter and Facebook for more information about SPF 2012.
Fans are encouraged to come down to BC Place on Wednesday morning for the unveiling of the new BC Lions jerseys. Our Grey Cup champions will be on hand to model the new looks and sign autographs for fans who purchase their own on the spot.
When: Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 8:00am Where: Enter through Gate A off the Terry Fox Plaza
Quarterback Travis Lulay, slotback Geroy Simon, kicker Paul McCallum and defensive tackle Khalif Mitchell will be in attendance to show off the new home and away jerseys. If you can’t make it down tomorrow morning, the jerseys will be on sale inside BC Place (at Gate A) until 6:00pm. As of May 9th, you can pick them up at the BC Lions Team Store in Surrey (10605 City Parkway) and online.
Update The new jerseys have been unveiled and BC Lions’ President Dennis Skulsky said that since orange is most significant with the fans, it should be the dominant colour. At the press conference this morning he added that the change is modest but it will make a difference. There is new fabric, better (lighter) material, and the fit is tighter. This will help the players breeze down the field.
Head Coach Mike Benevides added, “orange does look good, does it not?” as he sported his new black and orange hoodie. Players Travis Lulay, Khalif Mitchell, Paul McCallum, and Geroy Simon were on hand to model the new uniforms. Two fans got to sport the new fan jerseys and I received a special goodie bag containing my very first fan football jersey.
Just a reminder that you can stop by Gate A of BC Place today until 6:00pm to check out the new jerseys then they will be available online and at the team store in Surrey.
Lying between bustling downtown business hubs and Stanley Park, Vancouver’s West End is a very special neighbourhood. It’s a place where birds sing and heritage houses become museums, community facilities, and B&Bs. Cherry blossoms line the streets in early spring, tulips pop out in late April, and a lush green canopy hangs over roadways throughout the summer. It’s also a place where traffic circles have gardens.
Haro and Broughton
Haro and Jervis
Nelson and Jervis
Nelson and Comox
Nelson and Comox
Broughton and Barclay
These gardens are all maintained by volunteers through the City of Vancouver’s Green Streets program. There are currently over 350 street gardens around Vancouver that are cared for by volunteers and marked with yellow signs.
We’re very fortunate to live in a place where so many colourful blossoms line our paved thoroughfares, adding a breathe of fresh air and summer spirit to our daily routines.
Should you spot a green sign, that means the space is available for gardening and you can apply to become its volunteer gardener. If your neighbourhood doesn’t have a traffic circle, you can apply for one of those too.
If you’ve ever driven to or from Vancouver International Airport (“YVR”) then you have traveled along Grant McConachie Way. This road on Sea Island was named after bush pilot Grant McConachie, a man who Chuck Davis referred to as “a genuine Canadian hero”.
Even as a young man, owning only an old Fokker, he envisioned a polar route to Europe — a dream that 30 years later his Canadian Pacific DC-8s would fulfill.
George William ‘Grant’ McConachie was born in Hamilton, Ontario, on April 24, 1909. He grew up in Edmonton and read everything he could about aircraft. Grant frequented the Edmonton airfield, begging and sometimes getting rides with famous Canadian bush pilots like Punch Dickins and Wop May. The young enthusiast paid for his flying lessons by looking after their aircraft, finally soloing in a DH Moth after only seven hours instruction.
By 1931, at the age of 22 he had his commercial pilot s licence, and he set out for China to fly for Chinese National Airways. On his way, McConachie stopped off in Vancouver to visit his Uncle Harry This was the first of two fateful meetings in the bush pilot s life. Uncle Harry not wanting to lose his nephew to what was then a country at war with the Japanese, bought him a dilapidated, second-hand Fokker to start his own airline.
Gran McConachie, a pioneer in Canadian aviation, started flying regular mail and passenger flights to Whitehorse from Edmonton in 1937, first with his company United Air Transport and then with its successor, Yukon Southern Air Transport Limited. Planes used floats in summer and skis in winter, but McConachie soon realized that year round operations were more economical using runways. Whitehorse already had a runway but otherwise northern airstrips were very few and very far between. McConachie set about to remedy the situation, and in 1938 he hired men to clear airstrips in Fort St. John and Fort Nelson using small tractors and horse teams.
The next summer McConachie started to clear an airstrip at Watson Lake. McConachie paved the way for the Department of Transport’s survey engineers when they arrived to survey for the Northwest Staging Route. When the route became important to the military, McConachie provided knowledge and advice on how to improve facilities and the route.
Canadian Pacific Airlines launched on this day in history (May 1, 1942) and McConachie signed on as General Manager after selling them his Yukon Southern Air Transport. Canadian Pacific operated from 1942 to 1987, and from 1968 to 1986 as CP Air. It was based out of Vancouver and was eventually purchased by Canadian Airlines. In 1947, McConachie was elected President of the airline by its Board of Directors and helped it grow to become the second largest carrier in the country.
Under McConachie, CP Air would fly international and trans-Atlantic routes with destinations like Amsterdam, Australia, Hong Kong, Sydney, Lima, and Shanghai between 1942 and 1964.
On October 24th 1968, three years after his passing, Grant McConachie Way opened to traffic leading up to YVR.
