Car Free Day Vancouver includes two days of block parties this year on Saturday, June 16th and Sunday, June 17th (Father’s Day). City blocks will be roped off as merchants open their doors to pedestrian-only traffic and performers take to the streets.
Photo credit:
jmv on Flickr
There are four main celebration sites around Vancouver that will have free festivities:
Commercial Drive
When: Sunday from 12:00pm to 6:00pm, streets closed 10:00am to 8:00pm
Location: Venables to North Grandview Hwy/Central Valley Greenway Bike Lane
Features include: Roller disco, dance workshops, artisans, kid zone, vintage fashion show.
Main Street
When: Sunday from 12:00pm to 8:00pm, streets closed 10:00am to 10:00pm
Location: From 12th to 29th
Features include: Street hockey, SFU Philosophers’ Cafe, a pedal-powered DJ, BLIM Market, Tai Chi, knit it and living room, kids bike rodeo, music.
Kitsilano
When: Saturday and Sunday from 12:00pm to 6:00pm, streets closed 10:00am to 8:00pm
Location: See map below for block party locations
Features: Each block party will be different with activities that vary based on location.
Denman Street
When: Sunday from 12:00pm to 6:00pm, streets closed 10:00am to 8:00pm
Location: From Davie to Robson
Features include: Miss Teen Vancouver World 2012, Vancouver Aquarium, Vancouver Historical Society, West End Seniors’ Network, PuddleCity Arts.
Many volunteers are still needed at each location. You can sign up online if you’re available throughout the weekend. Follow Car Free Day Vancouver on Facebook and Twitter for more information. When tweeting about a neighbourhood, use the tags #CFDrive #CFKits #CFMain #CFWest.
The Insurance Corporation of BC (“ICBC”) will be hosting their first-ever live chat through Twitter this Wednesday, June 6, 2012 from 11:30am until 1:00pm. During that time David Clancy, a Director the Insurance Division will be answering questions from the public.
This is the first live Twitter chat to be hosted by a British Columbia Crown Corporation and it comes during a 6-week public engagement and consultation regarding their pricing system for their 3.3 million customers throughout BC.
ICBC will lead the chat by proposing insurance options and asking for feedback and questions on each topic they present. To participate, send your message to @ICBC and include the tag #AskICBC.
To share feedback privately, you can reach out through ICBC’s online forum or online feedback form.
While Twitter chats have been tracked with tags for years, events to interact directly with a company or public figure through a public forum on Twitter have recently become more popular. Celebrities started doing question and answer sessions with fans, in April Vancouver is Awesome and I hosted Gregor Live with Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and a few weeks ago President Barack Obama did the same through his Twitter account.
1927 – Leonard Frank Photos.
Archives item# CVA 1477-51
66 years ago yesterday Vancouver’s most-elected Mayor, Louis Denison (“L.D.”) Taylor, passed away. Between 1910 and 1934, Taylor served as Mayor eight times, spending 11 years in the city’s top office.
Taylor was born in Michigan and lived in Chicago before coming to Vancouver in 1896 [source]. With Taylor as Mayor, the Sun Tower was built (at the time it was the World Tower), he pushed for South Vancouver and Point Grey to amalgamate with Vancouver, and the airport at Sea Island opened.
According to Chuck Davis’ Vancouver History: “We have recently learned, thanks to a fascinating book by Daniel Francis (L.D. Taylor and the Rise of Vancouver) that Taylor left Chicago—where he had an interest in a bank—in a bit of a hurry, and fled to Canada when the cops started sniffing around. And we also learned that he was briefly married to two women at the same time.”
More from MemoryBC: “In August 1896, L.D. was arrested for charges of embezzlement relating to his partnership in the North and Taylor Bank on West Madison Avenue in Chicago, and fled north to Canada. He arrived in Vancouver, on September 8, 1896.”
June 12, 1925: The Sun had an item on Page 2 about “Vancouver Day.” The Province followed with a story the next day. This first tribute to the city’s pioneers (June 13 was chosen because it was the day in 1792 on which Capt. Vancouver explored Burrard Inlet and the date in 1886 on which the Great Fire occurred) was marked by the unveiling of a drinking fountain at the corner of Carrall and Water Streets, “where once stood a great maple tree.” In a speech by Mayor L.D. Taylor he said that the event would be marked annually. But there’s no other reference to the day until June 13, 1929, four years later. And the 1929 report seems to be the last time Vancouver Day was heard of.
1915 – Throwing out the first pitch.
Archives item# CVA 1477-194.
Canadian Photo Company.
Taylor saw his share of controversy in Vancouver as well. In 1923 he claimed he lost the municipal election because a woodpecker had flown into a transformer, shutting down the streetcar lines and keeping his working-class supporters from the polls.
Then there was an exhaustive inquiry in 1928, toward the end of his time in office: “Allegations of corruption in the police department and city hall revealed that he had associations with known vice operators in the city. Although he was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, the inquiry blamed his “open town” policy on the proliferation of vice and crime in Vancouver. Mayor Taylor claimed that he had no intention of running a “Sunday School town” and argued that police resources should be spent on major crimes, not victimless vice crimes.” [source]
Taylor’s “Open Town” policy for Vancouver meant that police resources would focus on major crimes and not “victimless vice crimes”. This lead to Hogan’s Alley turning into a red-light style district, more brothels, illegal drinking establishments, gambling dens, and the like. [source: Vancouver Courier “The End of L.D. Taylor“]
Still, Taylor served as Mayor of Vancouver more than anyone else in history.
1930s campaign poster. Archives item# CVA 677-807. Photographer: Philip Timms.
W.H. Malkin was elected mayor in 1929 and oversaw the amalgamation of Vancouver that L.D. Taylor had envisioned. Taylor left Vancouver on a world tour in 1929 and would try again (unsuccessfully) to be elected in 1934.
The Surrey Fusion Festival returns July 21 and July 22, 2012 for two full days of free entertainment and activities, cultural displays, music, and food from dozens of countries around the world. Taking place in Holland Park, the Fusion Festival is one of our favourite community events. This year’s musical lineup has just been announced and once again it doesn’t disappoint.
Artist Lineup
The Mocking Bird, Walk Off The Earth, Delhi 2 Dublin, Indanation, Bocephus King, Good For Grapes, Marlin Ramazzini and headliners Hawksley Workman (Saturday) and Los Lobos (Sunday).
Flavours of Surrey
A showcase of local produce and growers all weekend long. Surrey Urban Farmer’s Market will be on hand along with featured farms like Painted River, Rondriso, M&M, Clover Valley and Training Wheels.
Cultural Pavilions
Stop by tents with representatives of the following nations to buy crafts, sample food, listen to music, and more. Barbados, Canada, China, Columbia, Ecuador, Fiji, Ghana, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Peru, Philippines, poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Trinidad & Tobago, Ukraine, and Vietnam.
There’s also the popular Kids World and Coast Capital Savings’ Wally’s World. A full schedule for the free two-day festival will soon be released but be sure to mark it on your calendar now. Holland Park is located just to the south of Central City and is easily accessible by either the King George or Surrey Central SkyTrain stations.
Follow @Surrey_Events on Twitter for more information about the City of Surrey’s festivals this summer.
The first time I went to the Bearfoot Bistro was in 2008, my first year covering the Whistler Film Festival (WIFF) for Miss604. The restaurant was the venue for the Director’s Guild of Canada’s WIFF party and I remember sitting at a table with woman I had recently met, filmmaker Eunhee Cha, talking about film and life. Canapés floated by and we kept stopping mid-conversation to taste things and to say things like “Canapés are never this good a film festival parties” and “This food is truly gorgeous.”
Fast forward to last Tuesday afternoon: I’m staying with my now-very-close friend Eunhee’s at her home in Whistler when I get the message that my request to review The Bearfoot Bistro for Miss604 has been confirmed and that dinner will be a couple of hours.
Owned by French-Canadian André Saint-Jacques, Bearfoot Bistro has a reputation of being one of if not the best restaurant in Whistler, BC, even Canada. Their Executive Chef, Melissa Craig, was once awarded the gold award at the Gold Medal Plates Canadian Culinary Championships — one of the most prestigious culinary events in Canada.
The second we walk through the doors, we are warmly greeted by Saint-Jacques, who immediately escorts us down to the 1,500-square-foot wine cellar which constantly wins the Award of Excellence by Wine Spectator magazine, with its over 20,000 bottles stacked up along the walls lit by blue lights. Saint-Jacques shows me how to saber a bottle of champagne. He just so happens to be an expert, holding the Guinness World Record for sabering the most bottles in a minute – 21, to be exact. He gives me the sword and I lightly graze the neck of the bottle with the blade and tap—opening a beautiful bottle Moet & Chandon Rose champagne.
We are seated upstairs and the 5-course Chef’s tasting menu begins. The amuse bouche is an Atlantic Lobster Salad with crème fraiche and a couple adorable baby potato chip in spoon. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
