Yesterday I hopped a flight up to Prince George as a guest of Northern BC Tourism to check out the Olympic Torch Relay as it passes through along with some of the seasonal activities the region has to offer.
One of our first stops was over at the Outdoor Ice Oval. A crisp, slick rink located in a bowl next to the exhibition grounds.
This community rink is open to the public 7 days a week for families, skaters, kids and clubs. I’m not sure where the hot chocolate came from but it was a very nice touch.
We showed up as the local speedskating club is practicing, and lucky for us, members of the Prince George Blizzards were willing to give us a skating tip or two.
I learned the difference between short and long track skates, the proper positioning, and also that Kris Krug is probably the only person I know who could pull off the ‘leather chaps with speedskates’ look.
Facilities like this rely on community support (and that honour system) and they have recently invested quite a bit into keeping the Oval up and running. This includes getting better mechanisms in place to get the ice frozen and now there’s even have a Zamboni to surface the ice.
All of this care and dedication has certainly paid off. For a community rink it’s not only huge but it has also built its own community around it. You can stop by for a skate, take the stroller with you, practice your skills, or sit on the sidelines with a cup of hot chocolate.
Parents, children, and recreational users converge in this chilly oasis as giggles, mix with the sound of blade metal slicing the ice, quick and clean. The Oval seems like a fantastic place to get exercise, spend time with family, or hone your skating skills.
Update: Kris has his photos up on Flickr – they’re pretty amazing except I don’t think I have the correct speedskating posture quite right…
Back in November I was at the launch of the ABSOLUT Vodka Vancouver-themed bottle. Aside from featuring a logo created by a BC artist, a portion of sales from each bottle are also going to fund a public art project in the city.
Over the last few months the public have been voting on their favourite project proposal and the five finalists have been announced.
Braden Hammond
Project: Absolut City of Glass
Personal site
Shrapnel Design, Considered and Scott Roberts
Project: The Vancouver Outdoor Art Gallery
Graeme Berglund
Project: The Cheaper Show
Personal site
David John Suggitt
Project: Daily Time Lapse
Personal site
Daniel Code
Project: Inner Analogue
Visit the ABSOLUT Vancouver Art contest page to view all the entries and vote on the one you would most like to see in our city. Voting is open until March 16th, 2010 (limit 1 vote per person/email address during the voting period). The winner will have $120,000 to then fund their art project courtesy of ABSOLUT Vodka.
With the arrival of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in just over two weeks many are already aware of the disruption to traffic patterns around the City. However, there will also be changes to local services such as parks and recreation programs.
In order to be better prepared, here is a rundown of impacts on local public parks and programs coming this February (via the Vancouver Parks Board).
Coal Harbour Community Centre
Impact: Full closure
Date: January 1 – March 31
Notes: Some programs will move to West End Community Centre. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
As we prepare to welcome the world in just 15 days I thought I would take a look back at the last time Vancouver hosted an event of global proportions. I was recently sent a copy of the book, Vancouver’s Expo 86 to read and review.
Expo 86 was a multi-month world’s fair that took place across, over and through downtown Vancouver by land and sea welcoming over 22 million visitors. With the theme of “transportation” its nickname became “Transpo 86” with some of its legacies being the SkyTrain, Canada Place, Science World and the Coquihalla Highway.
The bulk of Expo took place along the vacant industrialized shores of north False Creek. Once the fair moved out the area lay restless and dormant until the City of Glass began to be developed and the shimmering towers of Yaletown emerged.
The book, “Vancouver’s Expo 86” features an amazing personal collection of photographs from author Bill Cotter and I love that it highlights that it was also timed around Vancouver’s 100th birthday. The way its laid out is pretty much like a photo essay, which helps tell a very detailed story of how Expo even came to be and what it grew into.
Seeing photos of pavilions coming together is almost eerie as Vancouverites can walk around today and see the same sort of thing happening in some of the same areas. You can also view the McBarge in all its floating burger-selling glory as well as profiles of every participating nation’s pavilion.
Each chapter represents a “zone”… Purple, Red, Blue, Pink, Green and Yellow. The first thing that pops into my head are those colour-coded benches that live on in some form scattered across the Lower Mainland. To date, I have spotted some down along the promenade in White Rock and also at Cultus Lake Park.
All of the pictures are in black and white, which I assume is for consistency, and the book does end rather abruptly after profiling the USA pavilion. Other than that, it’s a great virtual photo-walk through Vancouver in 1986. I would recommend Vancouver’s Expo 86 for long-time residents (to take that stroll down memory lane) or those newer to Vancouver as the maps and images tell a story of a not-so-different time in our city.
Disclosure: cmp.ly/1 – I was given a review copy of the book.
The Vancouver digital media industry is hosting the Help for Haiti Pub Night tonight at Steamworks in Gastown.
Lead organizer and videogame veteran, Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch says, “Like many Canadians, our hearts go out to Haiti. My husband, Eli and I are both take action type of people and we decided to gather our network around a long-term sustainable project: clean drinking water. With Steamworks hosting the event and the help of friends in the music and digital media industries, we’re hopeful that Thursday night will raise enough money to launch this project for Haiti.”
Funds raised throughout the evening and from ticket sales will be donated to the Unicef Safe Water Project‘s initiatives in Haiti, with matching funds from CIDA.
The theme is “Beer for Water” and tickets can be purchased for $25. With each ticket you will get a beer and a choice of burger and fries. There will also be live entertainment from Adaline, DJ Revise, Echo Pilot and The Zoe Trio. The videogame sector has also donated prizes for a silent auction.
Register online to make your donation and stop by Steamworks tonight (January 28th, 2010) from 7:00pm until 10:00pm.
Updates and event information is available through Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
