I have been on a bit of a royal kick lately so I thought it would be fitting to profile photos of royal visits to Vancouver in this week’s roundup from the Vancouver Archives.
Year: 1912
Subject: Duke of Connaught at the Hastings Park, decorates a boy scout for life saving
Vancouver Archives Item#: Duke of Conn P10 Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
Drop, cover, hold on! Today at 10:00am the province of BC will participate in The Great Shake Out earthquake drill. You can tune into local radio stations, TV station, or check the Twitter airwaves for the signal @ShakeOutBC.
According to the Shake Out website, “January 26th is the anniversary of the last magnitude 9 earthquake in British Columbia, in 1700, which shook the entire province as well as Washington, Oregon, and California.” Ever since the Bay area earthquake in 1989, I remember ducking under desks at school for 60-second drills. With BC still waiting for “the big one”, it’s important to keep up with our preparedness as you never know when a natural disaster may strike.
For information on what to do, and what not to do, Shake Out has provided this PDF about how you should drop, cover, and hold on.
For additional tips on how to prepare and get together your own emergency plan, you can attend a series of public workshops hosted by the City of Vancouver.
Date: Wednesday January 26, 2011 from 7:00pm – 8:00pm
Location: Coal Harbour Community Centre (480 Broughton)
Location: Sunset Community Centre (404 East 51st Avenue)
Location: Roundhouse Community Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews)
Location: Renfrew Park Community Centre (2929 East 22nd Avenue) in Cantonese.
At these workshops you can learn personal and family preparedness, how to develop a family emergency plan, how to perform a home hazard hunt and how to prepare for your pets. Register for free online for a session today or future workshops February 2nd, 10th, 23rd, 26th, March 7th or 22nd.
If you are on Vancouver Island, you can find more information on Keira’s post.
Update The next BC Shakeout is October 20, 2011. You can register your school, group, or office for the drill that will ask you to Drop, Cover, Hold at 10:20am. Local radio stations and media will also have something up at this time to announce the drill.
The National Flag of Canada Day is coming up February 15th and while it’s an occasion that could slip past many, there’s a very good reason to pay attention this year. Canada Place, who usually celebrates “Flag Day” with a ceremony along and themed birthday cake, is hosting the Canadian Flag Photo Contest.
The Contest
Snap a photo of the Canadian flag (or submit a file photo that you own) and upload it to the Canadian Flag Photo Contest page on Facebook. They’re looking for your most creative shot including those taken of our red and white maple leafed icon abroad. Entries are being accepted January 25th until February 9th and then there will be a public voting period from February 10th until the 15th. The the top three photos will be profiled and the winner will be announced February 15th, 2011.
The Prize
The winner will be a VIP guest at Canada Place’s Canada Day celebrations July 1st, 2011. This will include a best seats in the house for the evening fireworks show, gourmet hors d’Å“uvres & cocktails. The winner will also get a stay for two at the luxurious Pan Pacific Hotel right upstairs from the party. To top it off, you’ll be able to see your winning photo on the giant outdoor screen at Canada Place throughout all of Canada Day (where over 100,000 people will walk by).
With so much red and white waving around last year during the Olympics, and with so many patriots at home and overseas, this is your chance to win a great prize and show some national pride.
Miss604.com is a proud media sponsor of this campaign. Additional resources: Canada Place, Official Contest Entry Form, Canada Place on Twitter
The official Vancouver 125 anniversary year campaign kicked off last week and everyone from the Parks Board to Vancouver Archives is participating or organizing celebratory campaigns of their own. This includes CBC Vancouver who has launched an iPhone application called “Vancouver 125” featuring archived video footage (synced with Google Map locations) of significant, televised moments in our city’s history.
“This free mobile app allows you to experience Vancouver’s history through the CBC Archives. From Vancouver’s first major protests and riots, to royal visits, to Olympic celebrations. The videos stretch back to Vancouver’s incorporation 125 years ago, and take you to the present day. Use the Map to show where the events took place, and explore your history.”
It would be great if the information they provided on the site that promotes the app would also be included in the application (things like podcast audio and images). Also, there are only a handful of listings but since this is version 1.0, I hope they will continue expand the listings throughout the year. Since I’m a sucker for the Miracle Mile footage I’m pretty pleased with it so far, I just hope they add a few more gems.
You can check it our for yourself by downloading the CBC Vancouver 125 for free from the app store.
Yesterday I came across a post on The Buzzer Blog (via Vancouver is Awesome) that featured photos of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s ride on the SkyTrain during Expo 86. It was December 11th, 1985 that SkyTrain took its first run through the tunnels at Waterfront Station and throughout 2011, Translink will be celebrating SkyTrain’s 25th anniversary.
At the time, service only ran from Waterfront Station to New Westminster station. Two years later, construction began on the SkyBridge, Columbia Station, and Scott Road Station in Surrey. My family would cross over the Pattullo from Surrey to New Westminster every week and we would look out the window to check in on the bridge’s progress each time we passed. It would then be seven more years until the SkyTrain line expanded further into Surrey, with Gateway, Surrey Central, and the King George terminus station opening up in 1994.
In 2009, it was fun to be on the maiden voyage of the new class of Sea Bus as well as on a preview trip of the Canada Line. Looking at proposed expansions and light rail options for Metro Vancouver in the foreseeable future, it will be interesting to see how the transit landscape changes in yet another 25 years.
The SkyBridge will celebrate its 22nd anniversary March 19th. Follow @Translink on Twitter for system updates and The Buzzer Blog for transit stories, information, and even the history of the SkyTrain chime.
