Update: Here are the 2015 locations/dates.
In just over a week – after careful watering, decorating, lighting, and keeping the cat from climbing through ornaments – our decorations will be packed away again for another year. If you have a live Christmas tree, there will be several ways to recycle it this season:
Vancouver
What: City of Vancouver Tree Chipping Events
Date: Saturday, January 7, 2012 to Sunday, January 8, 2012
Time: 10:00am to to 4:00pm
Cost: By donation of cash or non-perishable food items.
Locations: Kitsilano Beach parking lot at Cornwall & Arbutus,
Kerrisdale Community Ice Rink parking lot at East Boulevard north of 41st Ave,
Sunset Beach upper parking lot at Beach Ave & Broughton,
RONA Home and Garden Grandview Store at 2727 East 12th Ave (overflow parking lot south of 12th Avenue) this is a replacement for the Trout Lake event.
What: Tree Chipping in Support of Bayview Elementary School
Date: Monday, December 26, 2011 to Sunday January 8, 2012
Time: 9:30am to 4:30pm
Coast: By donation.
Location: UBC Botanical Garden at 6804 South West Marine Drive, Vancouver
Cost: By donation (suggested donation $5)
Notes: Entrance behind the Reception Centre building. Leave trees in the marked drop-off location.
What: Tree Chipping in Support of Mount Pleasant Elementary School
Date: Sunday, January 8, 2012
Time: 10:00am to 4:00pm
Cost: By donation.
Location: Kingsgate Mall, 370 E Broadway, Vancouver.
Notes: Enter through lower east parking lot. Free cookies and hot chocolate from the Mount Pleasant BIA.
Surrey
What: Youth Christmas Tree Chipping & Bottle Drive by Donation
Date: Monday, January 2, 2012 to Saturday, January 7, 2012
Time: 10:00am to 4:00pm
Cost: By donation.
Location: Emmanuel Covenant Church at 17029 – 16 Ave, Surrey
Date: Saturday, January 7, 2012 to Sunday, January 8, 2012
Time: Unconfirmed
Location: Newton Athletic Park at 128th and 74th, Surrey
Notes: For information call (604) 591-4203
White Rock
What: Annual Christmas Tree Chip
Date: Monday, January 2, 2012
Time: 10:00am to 4:00pm
Cost: By donation to the White Rock Food Bank
Location: Centennial Arena parking lot at 14600 North Bluff Road, White Rock
Delta
What: Lions Club Tree Chipping
Date: Saturday, January 7, 2012 to Sunday, January 8, 2012
Time: 9:00am to 4:00pm
Cost: By donation.
Locations: Tsawwassen South Delta Recreation Centre at 1720 56th St
North Delta Sungod Recreation Centre at 7815 112th St
North Vancouver
What: North Vancouver City Firefighters Christmas Tree Chip-Up
Date: Saturday, January 7, 2012
Time: 8:30am to 4:30pm
Cost: By donation.
Location: Rona Parking Lot at Park & Tilford at 1160 East 3rd St
Notes: Free hotdog, coffee, hot chocolate.
Richmond
What: Richmond Fire Department Chip Up
Date: Saturday, January 7, 2012 to Sunday, January 8, 2012
Time: 9:00am to 6:00pm
Cost: By donation, benefiting the Richmond Fire Fighters Charitable Society.
Location: Garry Point Park in Steveston
Note: Read more in this PDF.
Pitt Meadows
Date: Saturday, January 7, 2012 to Sunday, January 8, 2012
Time: 9:00am to 4:00pm
Location: Meadows Landscape Supply at 18020 Kennedy Road in Pitt Meadows
Cost: By donation, benefitting Pitt Meadows Lions Club and the Girl Guides.
Remember to remove all ornaments and tinsel from your trees. In many cases, they are being chipped up to provide mulch for paths and trails in local parks.
Should you know of additional tree chipping events, please feel free to contact me.
The Vancouver Polar Bear Swim returns to English Bay for the 92nd year thanks to Mr. Peter Pantages. It was in 1920 that Pantages created the club and the brisk ocean dip has been a New Year’s tradition ever since. Peter’s family still carries on the tradition of the Polar Bear Swim Club today.
December 15, 1927 – Miss E Robinson & Pete Pantages. Archives item# CVA 99-1783.
Photographer: Stuart Thomson.
December 15, 1927 – Miss E Robinson & Pete Pantages. Archives item# CVA 99-1787.
Photographer: Stuart Thomson.
New Year’s Day 1939 – Polar Bear Swim Club. Archives item# CVA 371-836.
Around the 1950s, the participation was approximately 250 to 300 swimmers, and six lifeguards and one supervisor were used for safety supervision. Today, anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 swimmers participate (record to-date 2,246 in 2011) and 5,000 to 10,000 spectators making it necessary for the Park Board to construct a fenced enclosure for the swimmers. – Vancouver Polar Bear Swim
Participation is free but you must be registered with the club in order to do the swim. Registration is from 12:30pm to 2:30pm on Sunday, January 1, 2012 in front of the bath house in English Bay.
If you can’t make it downtown, there is also a Polar Bear Swim in White Rock organized by the White Rock Lions Club. Registration begins 10:00am and the swim will take place at 12:00pm. Swimmers are to meet at the White Rock.
Vancouver hasn’t had a public “First Night” family New Year’s celebration in quite a while but there is still a few options for the last day of 2011.
Photo credit:
BC Gov Photos on Flickr – Submitted to the Miss604 Flickr Pool
Robson Square Ice Rink
On New Year’s Eve the Province of BC will host a family-friendly evening of entertainment, live music, and more. There will be free glow sticks and an early countdown at 8:00pm. The ice rink will be open regular hours on New Year’s Day as well, from 9:00am until 9:00pm. Skating is always free but there is a fee if you need rentals.
Bright Nights in Stanley Park
The festive holiday train and millions of lights will be glowing on New Year’s Eve from 3:00pm to 11:00pm. Admission is by donation and tickets for the train can be purchased in advance or at the ticket booth on-site.
Surrey Winter Ice Palace
The Winter Ice Palace at Cloverdale Arena is open now until January 2, 2012 from 11:00am until 4:00pm (including New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day).
New Year’s Eve on the Ice
White Rock’s Centennial Arena is open on New Year’s Eve from 11:30am to 12:15pm for stick & puck, and 12:30pm to 2:30pm for family skate. It will also be open for the same skate times on New Year’s Day.
Whistler Presents
Whistle will be hosting a family-friendly, alcohol-free event in Village Square and at the Conference Centre. The event gets underway at 6:30pm on December 31, 2011 and will include live music, storytelling, and other entertainment. Advance tickets are $15 (adults), $8 (children 12 years and under), and $20 (adults), $10 (children) at the door. There will be an early countdown for the kids at 9:30pm.
Browsing through the Vancouver Archives this morning I searched for photographed under the category “celebrations”. It was in that pile of digital photographs that I found a photos of Sister Frances of Strathcona receiving a “Good Citizenship Medal” from the City of Vancouver.
1929 – Archives item# CVA 99-1874. Photographer: Stuart Thomson
Sister Frances Redmond was referred to as “Vancouver’s little Florence Nightingale”. She was an Anglican Deaconess at St. James Church and the city’s first public health nurse. She founded one of Vancouver’s earliest hospitals, St. Luke’s Home on the 300 block of East Cordova Street.1
Born in England in 1854, she was wounded in the Boer War and became one of the few women in the world to receive the Victoria Cross.2 She came to Canada with her family and began to study nursing in Winnipeg. After Vancouver’s Great Fire in 1886, Father Clinton of St. James church contacted Sister Frances to ask if she would come to Vancouver. He asked her to help re-build the church and see to the city’s sick and wounded.
Father Clinton and Sister Frances later founded St. Luke’s Home and it became a beacon of benevolence, hope, and care on the east side. Sister Frances didn’t stop there. She then wanted to train nurses and started up the province’s first nursing school. She stepped in to run soup kitchens, help take care of those afflicted by the smallpox epidemic, and helped out wherever she could.
In 1925 St. Luke’s was demolished and a new hospital was built in its place, which became a nursing home. When she received the Good Citizenship Medal in 1929 one journalist wrote: “There are no women in British Columbia braver and more devoted to their calling than Sister Frances. She is a very bright, cheery, charitable lady, and makes hosts of friends where she is known.”3
Sister Frances passed away at Vancouver General in 1932. She had a lasting impact on Vancouver in its early days and today, Frances Street in Strathcona is named after her. 4
1 This is Strathcona
2 Book: Mainstays: Women Who Shaped BC by Cathy Converse
3 Book: Mainstays: Women Who Shaped BC by Cathy Converse
4 Vancouver History by Chuck Davis
I ventured out to the Vancouver Christmas Market for the first time this season with Ariane Colenbrander. She and I both have Nikon 1 review cameras at the moment (mine is hot pink) so we got together at the market to try them out and take some photos.
I think they really improved the layout of the market this year most noticeably by putting the Käthe Wohlfahrt ornament pavilion indoors (instead of in a tent) and having more vendors outside. The wristband system (for those wishing to partake in a beer, or gluehwein) is promoted a bit better as well, ensuring patrons get their wristbands before they line up for their beverages.
I’ll have a full review posted for the camera in the new year. So far, images from the Nikon 1 have previously appeared in my Market by Jean-Georges and Hidden at the Westin Grand posts.
The Vancouver Christmas Market is open until December 24th from 11:00am to 9:00pm.
