It’s Vancouver International Fringe Festival time again, now in it’s 27th year, which runs from September 8 – 18. This year’s Fringe Festival will feature over 600 performances by more than 80 groups over the course of the 11 days, and is expected to attract over 30,000 attendees.

Photo credit: dooq on Flickr

This year will mark the 25th Vancouver Fringe Festival for theatre artists Jacques Lalonde with a special performance: Jacques and Awe. This “Best of 25 Years” show will have Jacques performing some of him most beloved characters including Kenny Rogers and Jean Chretien.

Some shows to check out (who have already sent all their info to Miss604.com) are:

Mr. Boat-head’s Electrical Dream Ship
This site-specific performance about building the ship of your dreams and includes audio-recording dreams and nightmares from audience members to create an online dream archive for those with underdeveloped imaginations, in need of inspiration, or who simply never remember their dreams.

The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
Just what is sounds like – a theatrical tea party! Free tea is provided, but if you can, please bring your own cup.

You Are Not Dead
A site-specific piece that takes place at Granville Island Hotel and thrusts the audience into a wellness seminar. Only a very theatrical one.

ShLong Form Improv
This fusion of short and long form of improv comedy which started in Australia by Probationary Theatre Company moved to Seoul, South Korea, where is joined forces with Seoul City Improv, and performed for many years.

Suicides in Vegas
Two women are connected via the internet wanting to end it all, but not along. This dark comedy was written by Evan Placey, winner of the Tarragon Theatre RBC National Playwriting Competition.

Tickets start at $10 and a $5 membership is required. You can also get combo packs and see up to 10 shows for $90.

Download the Fringe Festival iPhone app to keep track of the shows and follow @VancouverFringe on Twitter.

Tomorrow afternoon the Olympic cauldron in Jack Poole Plaza downtown will be lit as the City of Vancouver proclaims September 7th “United Way Day“.

Photo credit: raoming-the-planet on Flickr

This will mark the launch of the United Way’s 2011 fundraising campaign to help vulnerable children, families and seniors throughout the region.

The United Way Kick-Off at the Cauldron festivities will run from 11:30am until 1:30pm with cauldron lighting to take place at 12:20pm. On the plaza you will be able to enjoy music (from Dr. Strangelove), activities, a beef and veggie burger BBQ, BC Lions team prizes, and more. The event will be hosted by Mark Madryga, Senior Meteorologist at Global News.

Follow United Way of the Lower Mainland on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube to learn more about their initiatives in your community.

Timeraiser is returning to Vancouver this month at the Waldorf Hotel. This event is a silent auction but instead of bidding with money, you bid with the number of volunteer hours you are willing to contribute in order to win your desired piece. It combines a local art showcase with a volunteer-hour fundraiser, a complete win/win.

When Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 7:00pm (doors)
Where The Waldorf Hotel (1489 East Hastings)
What A silent art auction supporting local Vancouver artists. Bid on art with a pledge of time to a local charity.

It’s also a great time to learn more about local non-profit organizations as many will be on-site including:

The goal is to raise 4,000 volunteer hours, which can be achieved if each participant pledges around 20 hours over the next 12 months. Tickets for Timeraiser Vancouver are just $20.

If you’re an artist, agency, or potential sponsor, find out more on the Timeraiser Vancouver site and find them on Twitter or Facebook for updates.

Timeraiser also takes place in Edmonton (October 15th), Hamilton (November 3rd), and Ottawa (November 19th) all in support of local artists and organizations. To date, Timeraiser has hosted 28 events across Canada, generated 93,000 volunteer hours, invested $495,890 in the careers of emerging artists, supported 383 charities and encouraged 6,043 Canadians to connect with the causes they care about.

Photo credit: caribb on Flickr

WestJet Contest

WestJet is a nation-wide partner of the Timeraiser events and at each event, you can enter to win two return tickets for any WestJet destination. Last year they partnered with Miss604.com in Vancouver (exclusively) to offer the same opportunity to one of my readers. I’m very happy to announce that we have renewed our partnership for 2011 and I am once again offering a return trip for two to anywhere WestJet flies (value $4,604).

Rules

The official rules and regulations can be found in this document. Residents of Canada (excluding Quebec) who are of the age of majority are eligible^*. Contest start date is September 6, 2011 and the last day to enter is September 16, 2011. At that time, entries will be reviewed by Timeraiser staff and I. We will select our top ten entries and fom that group of ten, one winning entry will be drawn at random.

How to Enter

Last year we asked about your personal experience with volunteering and we’d like to do the same again this year but expand the parameters a little. You can leave a comment here saying how you have volunteered in the past (and what it’s meant to you) or how you have seen a volunteer in action – how they have impacted someone else’s life or your own.

If you would like to spread the word, you can post the following on Twitter (please note, there are no Twitter entries for the contest).

All valid comments on this post will be entered in the contest. Please keep entries under 200 words. We will announce the winner Monday, September 19, 2011.

Update September 19, 2011: I would first like to thank everyone who submitted an entry into this contest. The stories of how the participants have volunteered or have seen volunteerism in action were moving, to say the least. Second, thank you to everyone who shared the contest. We had over 140 tweets and it wasn’t even a Twitter-entry contest.

Finally, after narrowing down the our lists, Timeraiser organizers and I drew a winner at random from the finalists. The winner is…. Angie Rai! Angie has been contacted and will soon be on her way to the WestJet destination of her choice. Thank you all for your participation and be sure to get your tickets for Timeraiser in Vancouver and in other Canadian cities this fall.

^*Rules and Regulations

Built in the heart of Surrey’s emerging downtown core, the new City Centre Library is set to open its doors to the public this Tuesday. The first major public investment in the area since the redevelopment of Holland Park in 2006, the new library is both an architectural wonder and a civic anchor for the changing neighbourhood.

Surrey Library Tour Photo by Paul Hillsdon

Built under the federal and provincial stimulus programs, the library faced an expedited construction schedule. To meet the tight deadline for completion, the building’s architects from Bing Thom used social media to engage citizens in the design process. In collaboration with library staff, BTA asked locals to send in pictures of their favourite libraries on Flickr. A local blog showcased the building through its construction. These successful initiatives led Surrey Libraries to embrace the new mediums – they know have an active Twitter account and Facebook page.

The four-storey grey and glass building features undulating curves that hug the street. Evoking a nautical theme on the outside, the library looks like a modern art gallery on the inside. Coated with white walls to boost indoor lighting, the floors of the library gently slope around a grand central atrium. The LEED-certified building is specially designed to avoid absorbing direct sunlight, which allows it to reduce cooling costs, and also features the City’s first green roof.

Surrey Library Tour Photo by Paul Hillsdon

Spanning 77,000 sq. ft., three times larger than the City’s former main library in Guildford, this branch is more community centre than traditional book warehouse. With a fireplace, study rooms, a coffee shop, children’s area, teen lounge, SFU Continuing Education classrooms, community meeting rooms, and more, the space is designed for people over books. Over 80 computers will be available to the public, as well as free wireless internet for those with laptops or tablets.

The City Centre Library opens it doors to the public with a soft launch today (Tuesday, September 6th at 9:30am). A Grand Opening will follow on Saturday, September 24th from 11:00am to 3:00pm.

This post was contributed to Miss604.com by Paul Hillsdon. Paul is the chief editor of Civic Surrey, a local blog charting the maturation of BC’s second largest city. Follow @PaulHillsdon on Twitter for his updates.

Since 2008, we have been developing custom WordPress themes (websites, blogs, newsrooms) for our clients through our company, sixty4media and I wear many hats (from customer service and accountant, to coder and developer). We love creating new, updated, and modern themes for our clients and about 12 months ago we figured it was about time that one of our biggest assets got an overhaul.

With little fanfare this weekend, we rolled out a new theme on Miss604.com. This is the second WordPress theme that the site has had throughout its five years on WordPress (in the early years before, it was powered by Blogger) and the last theme was implemented in 2008. At that time, I sat down with Hubert Florin from Raincity Studios and he created the Miss604 logo and the “girl” logo that I still use today.

We wanted to maintain Miss604.com branding but upgrade my overgrown theme, bulked up from countless updates and changes over the last three years, so we did two things. We began a development site and we enlisted the design skills of our friend Preston from SixSix8 Productions. I’ve known Preston for over twenty years and we’ve worked with many of his designs before. He always works diligently to deliver exciting designs and is constantly honing his skills to produce the most up-to-date looks.

Over the last year we’ve done changes “when we can” between John’s day job and my work with our company. The design is a result of John’s knowledge, Preston’s creativity, and a whole lot of patience. The code is clean, I’m running a minimal amount of plugins, and from a developer standpoint, I’d like to think it looks rather slick behind the curtains.

I believe we achieved my goals with this theme, and there are still a few surprises and updates that will appear over the next few seasons. I do hope you enjoy the new layout and thank you for your continued readership.