During the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Andrew Lavigne followed a group of various social media users around the city to see how the digital world impacted the Games and their daily lives. The result is With Glowing Hearts. A unique documentary that, being funded by grassroots campaigns and screenings by donation, is finally ready for its official premiere.
The premieres will take place over the course of a few days in select cities across Canada:
Montreal: Friday, September 23, 2011 at 7:00pm at Cinema du Parc
Vancouver: Saturday, September 24, 2011 at 7:00pm at SFU Woodward’s
Toronto: Saturday, September 24, 2011 at 7:00pm at the Revue Cinema
Ottawa: Sunday, September 25, 2011 at 6:30pm at Mayfair Theatre
Kris Krug, who is in the film, will have a photography exhibition in the lobby of each theatre prior to the screenings. I also have a few cameos in the documentary along with John Biehler, Dave Olson, and a feature on April Smith.
If you would like to attend the Vancouver premiere this Saturday, tickets are currently available for $10. The documentary channel has also picked up With Glowing Hearts and it will run over the next three years starting with its television premiere November 21, 2011 (check local listings).
Follow WGHTheMovie on Twitter for screening updates and to find out how you can support the distribution of this Vancouver-made film.
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by Rebecca BollwittDisclosure: Review — Our group did the Tunnel Tour, which is $12 for individuals, compliments of Tourism Alberta. Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
Last week I was on a tour with travel media exploring the Alberta Badlands prior to the Go Media conference in Edmonton, hosted by the Canadian Tourism Commission. We started off with a whirlwind tour of Drumheller and one of our next stops was the Atlas Coal Mine.
Since it closed three decades ago, this National Historic Site has transformed into an interpretive centre so that visitors can learn about mining history in Western Canada. In 1911 the first load of coal was shipped out from the hills and the valley began to boom. 139 coal mines were established and Atlas went through four iterations between 1917 and 1979. Today its tour guides tell the tale of this resource, industry, and grueling way of life for early Albertans.
Pulling up next to the old administrative building, our group joined a few members of the pubic on the Tunnel Tour, which is one of three tours offered. The Tipple Tour ($9) takes you through the last wooden tipple in Western Canada and you can ride the Mine Train Tour ($9) along the badlands as well.
Our group met Jay Russell, Program Director, for our Tunnel Tour and we hopped into “Linda”, a small battery-powered locomotive that took us over to the wash house. Once there, Jay explained the functions of the building, the history of the workers and showed off some of their equipment.
“Every language of Europe was spoken in the Drumheller Valley,” Jay told us. Many of the mine workers being from overseas, Eastern or Western Europe in particular. The history of mining seemed to be as complex as the background of each of the workers themselves. Unbeknownst to them at the time, the men who worked here had a hand in building our nation since coal from Atlas was pivotal in expanding and developing Western Canada back in the day. Unfortunately the men made just pennies per ton they extracted and tragic (often fatal) accidents were not uncommon.
Jay came to Atlas in the summer of 1994 and he was hooked. “There’s something about the stories,” he noted. “It’s compelling.” As he suited us up in hard hats and head lamps (fortunately not the open-flame style the original minors used) you could see his enthusiasm for his work shine through. He wasn’t simply a tour guide going through a rehearsed narrative, he seemed to live for the history and uncovering the past so it can be shared with future generations.
Our group headed up to the tipple and ascended an elevated wooden walkway to an inclined conveyor tunnel about 200 meters long. The wooden post structure of the tunnel was re-done in 2008 to make it more sound and exceeds safety standards. The air was cool and due to moisture that made its way in through the ground above, salt crystals formed below the conveyor belt that followed us up on the left hand side.
We emerged way up on the hillside, looking down on the old townsite. We walked up a dusty pathway to where the original entrance to the mine was located. Inside a 40-foot portal there were old photos from the mine and a map of the vast network of tunnels. The Atlas Coal Mine stretched for almost 5 kilometers underground. Short 200 meter shafts were mapped out like subdivisions on a grid.
At Atlas, they’re currently working on developing the visitor experience and even opening up the old network of tunnels in the future. Being a non-profit it’s a daunting task but thanks to public visits and donations, they’re on their way to expanding their programming.
It was one of the most interesting tours I’ve been a part of thanks to the level of interaction, activity, and the enthusiasm of the staff. I’m not sure what it is about mining museums but they tend to do a very good job (I also enjoy the copper mine tour at Britannia along the Sea to Sky).
You can visit the Atlas Coal Mine from April to October with their “Haunted Halloween” events around the grounds (October 22nd to 30th) being their largest fundraisers. If you’re in Calgary (or coming from Calgary) it’s about a two hour drive North East.
Boston Pizza led off the school year with a campaign to support local children and families in need through the Boston Pizza Foundation. For $5 you could purchase a Kids Card, with proceeds going to the foundation, that you could use to purchase 5 kids meals.
Funds raised through the Kids Card campaign support local, national, and global non-profit organizations, all of which directly improve the health and well-being of children and families.
The Boston Pizza Foundation also supports the Kids Help Phone, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.
Kids Cards are available for a $5 donation (while quantities last) but I happen to also have five to give away to my readers. Each is preloaded with 5 free kids meals that you can redeem at Boston Pizza locations throughout BC.
Here’s how you can enter to win:
Leave a comment here, preferably listing your favourite Boston Pizza menu item if you have one (1 entry)
Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
I entered to win 1 of 5 #BostonPizza Kids Cards from @Miss604 http://bit.ly/oFHYtm
I will draw five winners next Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 10:00am. The approximate value of each card is $35.
Update The winners are @GardeningDame, Russell, Jeremy, @geeklingdesigns, & Chrysta.
Update Boston Pizza is proud to announce that more than $423,000 has been raised for charity through the sale of BP Kids Cards during the month of September.
Present your Kids Card before ordering. Kids Cards are valid until June, 2012.
I’m a West Coast girl, born and raised. My boots are muddy 10 months of the year, I can tell the difference between a spruce, cedar, or pine cone, and I know that while seaweed is smelly at low-tide, it’s delicious on a specialty hot dog.
I’m used to damp, mossy, lush green coastal forests although the arid canyons, dusty coulees, prickly cacti and ancient fossil-filled Badlands of Alberta can make me pause in awe.
These photos were taken at Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta which is about 2 hours south of Drumheller (Dinosaur Valley and the Royal Tyrrell Museum) and 3 hour east of Calgary. I will have full coverage of this destination at a later time.
If you were around BC Place this morning, you may have seen and heard hundreds of kids running down the street and to the foot of Robson Street as part of the ceremony to unveil the new Terry Fox memorial.
With a large crowd of onlookers, BC Premier Christy Clark, members of the Fox family and artist Douglas Coupland gave some quick speeches about the work and its meaning. Students from Renfrew Elementary, St John’s School, and Elsie Roy Elementary were also in attendance.
“We’re pleased that BC Place will continue to be the home for this important memorial which will connect us all to this inspirational young man,” said David Podmore, Chair of BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo). “This new memorial by Doug Coupland really brings back the memories of Terry’s incredible effort, which has left a legacy that continues to this day.”
The design for the memorial (replacing the old one at the foot of Robson Street) was revealed last Janaury. Stop by and check out the memorial the next time you’re downtown or if you’re partaking in Grey Cup festivities this fall at the new BC Place.
Funds raised through the 
