During the 2010 Winter Games it won’t just be Vancouver and Whistler bubbling with excitement, events, and festivities of global proportions. The City of Surrey is an official Celebration Site during the Olympics with Holland Park being the centre of it all.
From February 12th until February 28th you can check out daily concerts and activities at Holland Park in Surrey. Right between King George & Surrey Central SkyTrain stations it’s super easy to get to and you won’t have to worry about driving through “red zones” or finding a meter to park [Google Map]
“Staff have put together an impressive line-up of top-notch artists for Surrey’s Celebration Site at Holland Park,†said Mayor Dianne Watts. “I can’t think of a better way to be a part of the Olympic Spirit than enjoying some of Canada’s best LIVE talent!â€
Here is the FULL LINEUP of FREE shows in Surrey during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games:
Friday February 12, 2010
Surrey House Stage
3:00pm Surrey 2010 Celebration Site Opens
4:00pm Uzume Taiko
4:30pm Wild Moccasins
5:00pm Surrey Celebration Dance Team
5:15pm Goh Ballet
5:30pm Jeremy Fisher
6:00pm Live Games Coverage – Opening Ceremonies
9:00pm Destineak featuring Westcoast Contortion
10:00pm Dehli 2 Dublin
Celebration Stage
4:00pm Surrey 2010 Celebration Site Launch
5:45pm Fire Show
6:00pm Live Games Coverage – Opening Ceremonies
9:00pm Fireworks
9:15pm Blue Rodeo and Friends
Saturday February 13, 2010
Surrey House Stage
12:00pm Chinese Parade
1:30pm Korean Traditional Art
2:30pm Ralph Shaw
3:30pm Langley Ukelele Ensemble
4:30pm Ariane Maryke Lemire
5:30pm George Leach
6:30pm Turanga Ararau Dancers
7:00pm Welcome Ceremony
7:30pm Ache Brasil
8:30pm En Karma
10:00pm KS Makhan
Celebration Stage
12:00pm Chinese Parade
1:00pm Lion Dancers
2:00pm Martial Arts Demonstration
4:00pm Surrey Celebration Dance Team
6:00pm Wil
7:00pm Current Swell
8:00pm Jets Overhead
9:00pm Five Alarm Funk
10:00pm Daniel Wesley
Sunday February 14, 2010
Surrey House Stage
12:00pm Kutapira
1:00pm Shan-e Punjab
2:00pm The Fugitives
3:00pm Leeroy Stagger
4:00pm Agnostic Gospel Mountain Choir
5:00pm Goh Ballet
6:00pm Vancouver Opera
7:00pm Welcome Ceremony
7:30pm Jim Byrnes & The Sojourners
9:00pm Serena Ryder
Celebration Stage
ALL DAY Live Games Coverage
Wednesday February 17, 2010
Surrey House Stage
3:30pm Halifax Wharf Rats
4:00pm Live Games Coverage
7:00pm Welcome Ceremony
7:30pm Ryan Dahle
8:15pm Bend Sinister
9:00pm Hot Hot Heat
Thursday February 18, 2010
Surrey House Stage
3:30pm Tainted Lovers
4:00pm Live Games Coverage – Men’s Hockey – Canada vs. Switzerland
7:00pm Welcome Ceremony
7:15pm Dustin Bentall
8:00pm Ridley Bent
9:00pm Corb Lund
Celebration Stage
ALL DAY Live Games Coverage
Friday February 19, 2010
Surrey House Stage
3:30pm Pan North
7:00pm Welcome Ceremony
7:30pm Classical Nouveaux
8:30pm Alex Cuba
10:00pm Jully Black
Celebration Stage
5:00pm We Are the City
6:00pm Goodbye Beatdown
7:00pm The Arkells
8:00pm Dan Mangan
9:00pm Sam Roberts Band
Saturday February 18, 2010
Surrey House Stage
1:00pm Punjab Beat
1:45pm Shan E Punjab
2:30pm Vancouver Korean Dance Society
3:30pm Allez Ouest
4:30pm Shane Phillip
5:30pm Zuco 103
7:00pm Welcome Ceremony
7:30pm Said The Whale
8:30pm Hey Ocean
10:00pm Mother Mother
Celebration Stage
12:00pm Mike Battie
2:00pm Kids Choral Group
6:30pm DRUM!
8:00pm Dal Hothi and the Headlines
9:00pm Tiger Style
10:00pm Malkit Singh
Sunday February 21, 2010
Surrey House Stage
12:00pm Flamenco Dancers
1:00pm Lyric Singers
2:00pm Gorky Park
3:30pm Tainted Lovers
4:40pm Live Games Coverage – Men’s Hockey, Canada VS USA
7:00pm Welcome Ceremony
7:30pm Odds
9:00pm 54-40
Celebration Stage
ALL DAY Live Games Coverage
Wednesday February 24, 1010
Surrey House Stage
3:30pm The Wheat In The Barley
4:00pm Live Games Coverage – Men’s Hockey Quarterfinal
7:00pm Welcome Ceremony
7:30pm The Paperboys
9:00pm The Irish Descendants
Celebration Stage
ALL DAY Live Games Coverage
Thursday February 25, 2010
Surrey House Stage
3:30pm The Headlines
4:00pm Live Games Coverage – Women’s Gold Medal Hockey
7:00pm Welcome Ceremony
7:30pm Headpins
9:00pm Streetheart
Celebration Stage
ALL DAY Live Games Coverage
Friday February 26, 2010
Surrey House Stage
12:45pm Live Games Coverage – Men’s Hockey Semifinal
3:30pm Dr. Strangelove
5:15pm Ben Stigson
6:00pm Jaydee Bixby
6:45pm Live Games Coverage – Men’s Hockey Semifinal
9:00pm The Higgins
10:00pm Doc Walker
Celebration Stage
5:00pm Bridges & Breakdowns
6:00pm Inward Eye
7:00pm Two Hours Traffic
8:00pm illScarlett
9:00pm Marianas Trench
Saturday February 27, 2010
Surrey House Stage
12:00pm Cheung Doong Korean Drum
1:00pm Mukutano
2:00pm Ezeadi Onokwulu and One Human Race
3:00pm Mani Khaira
4:00pm Jon and Roy
5:15pm Kuba Ohms
6:00pm Steve Riley & The Playboys
6:45pm Welcome Ceremony
7:00pm Live Games Coverage – Men’s Hockey Bronze Medal Game
9:30pm Wide Mouth Mason
Celebration Stage
12:00pm Teatro Tatro
7:00pm Hey Rosetta
8:00pm You Say Party! We Say Die!
9:00pm Tokyo Police Club
10:00pm Wintersleep
Sunday February 28, 2010
Surrey House Stage
11:30 AM Kutapira
12:15pm Live Games Coverage – Men’s Gold Medal Hockey
3:00pm Roma Zhigan
4:00pm Tainted Lovers
5:30pm Live Games Coverage – Closing Ceremonies
Celebration Stage
12:15pm Live Games Coverage – Men’s Gold Medal Hockey
3:00pm Maurice
4:00pm Randy Bachman
5:30pm Live Games Coverage – Closing Ceremonies
The Celebration Site will be open Wednesdays through Sundays from 3:00pm until 10:00pm with extended hours on Fridays and Saturdays where the festivities will go until 11:00pm. Everything will also be simulcast on five massive video screens along with televisions placed throughout the site.
This will kind of be like their annual Winterfest (with skating rink, sliding zone, sustainability zone) but on a much larger scale including the torch relay and an art showcase.
John and I have been attending and covering Surrey events for a few years now and I can personally attest to how well-organized, well-planned, and flat out entertaining they are. I must also add that the absolute best thing about this is that it is completely and totally FREE.
You can find event listings on Facebook or Twitter as well.
Update February 1, 2010 The Torch Relay is making its way through Surrey February 8th and 9th. You can check out a full map of the route here.
With the first snowfall of the season cities in the area are bracing themselves for the white, wintery months ahead. Each year it seems as though citizens and businesses alike forget how to prepare for the snow — sidewalks go unswept and car tires spin and squeal along the icy roads outside our house. The job of removing snow and clearing traversable passages for pedestrians and vehicles alike is not solely the responsibility of the city.
Here’s how you can do your part, as advised by the City of Vancouver:
City of Vancouver – Public Responsibility
Shovelling snow: All Vancouver property owners and occupants are responsible for clearing snow and ice from the full width of sidewalks that surround their property by 10 am on the morning following a snowfall, seven days a week. This responsibility is detailed under Section 76 of the “Streets and Traffic Bylaw” No. 2849.
Property owners and occupants who fail to remove snow and ice, as required by the by-law, may be fined, or the City may, without further notice, clear the snow or ice from the sidewalk and bill the owners or occupants for the costs incurred. This charge may include labour and materials as well as any administration, fringe benefits and overhead costs.
Help others: The City encourages everyone to clear their sidewalks and help others who can’t. Please make arrangements for someone to clear your sidewalk of snow and ice if you are away or are unable to clear it yourself.
Helpful hints and safety tips: If the storm is over, the City has plowed, and snow begins to melt, please clear the snow around the catch basin in the gutter fronting your property. This will help the melt water runoff into the storm sewer system, and reduce flooding problems.
Helpful hints and safety tips: Warm-up and stretch before shoveling. Choose a snow shovel that is right for you. Push the snow instead of lifting.
Helpful hints and safety tips: If your car is on a major street, move it (if possible) to a side street. This will help City staff in plowing major arterial streets more effectively.
Read more on the City of Vancouver website…
Other Cities, Snow Preparedness
The City of Surrey has a Snow & Ice problem hotline that you can call or email.
The City of New Westminster has its Snow Removal & Emergency WeatherManagement information online.
The City of Burnaby has outlined roles of the public, community, and the City on their website when it comes to Snow & Ice Control.
The City of Richmond has an online Weather Readiness Overview.
The City of North Vancouver has an online resource for Snow Preparedness & Clearing.
The District of North Vancouver has Snow & Ice Removal tips online along with emergency resources.
Things will be warming up towards the end of the week so we can think of this first snowfall as a practice run for now. Please feel free to reference these tips in the future or visit your city’s official website to read about their winter weather plans.
Recently the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) completed its new, free, and public Observation Area. I was invited to come and check it out a while back but since I’ve been traveling so much, I’ve been at YVR for many other reasons lately. I was finally able to take the Canada Line out yesterday and explore the renovated and Olympic-ified Domestic Terminal.
Located on level four of the Domestic terminal, you can get to the Observation Area by heading straight back to the food court and up the escalators located near the windows. From there you can explore their mini aviation interpretive centre including oodles of information about YVR, the history of flight in BC, Sea Island, the Musqueam people (as Sea Island is their land), and of course all you wanted to know about airplanes and airports.
The first thing I did was push some buttons on the scale model of Sea Island. Each button lights up little bulbs that highlight a runway, terminal, roadway or area of interest on the map.
Three touch-screen video podiums guide you through quizzes and videos such as a look at the First Nations art around the airport — most of which is behind security lines so this is a good chance to check it out. Other videos include the history of flight in BC, job shadowing with people such as the wildlife manager, air traffic control, and various ground crew workers. The biggest hit so far is the video “Follow My Bag” that gives you a suitcase’s view of its trip through the belly of the YVR luggage handling system.
Along the windows which face the Strait of Georgia and Vancouver Island, there are information boards that guide you through things like RADAR, types of airplanes, and what all those short vehicles are doing as they whiz past, following the painted lines on the concrete. There are also eight telescopes at various height levels so that you can spot bags being loaded, view passengers through windows, or actually peer into the cockpit of an arriving plane.
I also spotted some solar panels on the roof of the domestic terminal and was told they are used to heat water in the terminals. These have actually been there since 2003 and heat 800-gallons of hot water every hour. Another thing I discovered was that what my family used to call the “golf ball” out between runways is actually something called the golf ball. It is a crucial component to the RADAR system, communicating information up to the air traffic control tower.
Back over at the video kiosk, I could click on WebTrak and see a live map graphic of planes currently in the air over the region. With a 10 minute delay you can actually see which flights are where, a system that is helpful when it comes to noise concerns. If a big jet flies over your house and wakes everyone up, you can go on WebTrak, see the flight path and make your report to YVR.
YVR also scored the “BC Explorer“, a flight simulator that has made the rounds across the globe to showcase our province. With the joystick you can “fly” over the province and “land” in various communities where interactive and informational videos will play, to educate you a bit about the region you chose.
The 500 square-meter Observation Area is an extension of the food court so you can shop, grab a bite to eat, sit on one of the 150 seats, and hang out while awaiting a flight or just as an afternoon outing. There’s also free wifi everywhere in YVR so you can sit by the windows, watch plans come and go, and get some work done on your laptop. There are a lot of history components in the displays, which instantly draw me in, but I couldn’t help imagining the sunsets you must be able to catch from that towering view.
I profiled Flight Path Park back in 2007 because it was a favourite of my niece and nephews but now they have another place to get their fill of free airplane fun, indoors. With those floor to ceiling windows that face directly West, you can have lunch or simply some fun playtime while towering over the tarmac — watching as planes touch the ground and reach the sky.
Stop by the Observation Area within the next few weeks and you can enter to win a behind the scenes tour of YVR for you and 3 friends or family members. The tour will take you down on the tarmac and around baggage loops with an all-access guide. You can also download the entry form online but it will need to be dropped off in person.
Google has just launched their “Favourite Places on Google Maps” for the first time in Canada and they have profiled spots around Vancouver. The favourites are all marked on the maps with little maple leaf pins and have been hand-picked by local experts.
View Rebecca Bollwitt’s Favorite Places in a larger map
This includes venues and destinations submitted by: Premier Gordon Campbell, Olympic Gold Medallist Ross Rebagliati, Olympic Gold & Silver Medallist Simon Whitfield, Iron Chef Champion Rob Feenie, Singer-songwriter & breast cancer survivor Bif Naked, Children’s book writer Kit Pearson, Monte Clark of the Monte Clark Gallery, Public Policy Entrepreneur David Eaves, and yours truly – Rebecca Bollwitt of Miss604.com.
John Lee from Lonely Planet also provided some recommended destinations last October.
The Google Maps “Local Experts” mashups can all be searched and found on their Favourite Places site. The global database includes Tony Hawk’s favourite places in Manhattan, Kevin Rose’s top spots in San Francisco, and Mockmoon’s best venues in Tokyo.
I was honored to be asked by Google to be a part of this project. We have had a great relationship over the last year or so and they certainly know my site’s reach better than I do. They have also referred to me as the “Best Blogger” in Vancouver, which is either a reference to my Georgia Straight Best of Vancouver award or a name they have given me. Either way, I am humbled by the opportunity to be among such a great group of people and especially to have the chance to showcase some of my favourite local places.
These are just a few of my top picks as I tried to expand the scope a little bit and go off the beaten tourist path. Stanley Park will always be the key to my heart but I love many other parks and beaches in the region. If you could make up a Google Map of all your favourite places in the Lower Mainland (or if you already have) what would they be?
For the seventh year the Hope in Shadows calendar campaign is supporting residents of the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. Rising above it all in what is seen as Canada’s most downtrodden neighbourhood, residents sign up to become licensed sellers of the calendars once a year which feature local photography of their community.
In the summer of 2009 a photography contest was held for residents of the Downtown Eastside. Run by the Pivot Legal Society, Hope in Shadows distributed disposable cameras to 200 residents so they could snap images of the community from their perspective and not be depicted only as addicts or victims. The winning photos have been printed in the calendar that is being sold by residents out on the streets of Vancouver this winter.
The calendars are $20 and $10 of that goes directly to the licensed seller. The rest of the proceeds go towards operating costs and Hope in Shadows programs.
I bought mine from Catherine this afternoon outside of Waterfront SkyTrain station. She told me that she suffers from depression and severe anxiety and that getting out to sell the calendars is a highlight for her. This is her second year selling Hope in Shadows and she said it’s helped her immensely to get out into the community like this and has grown as an individual.
Big support this year once again came from Vancity who has made several of its branches depots for the calendars so that sellers don’t have to lug them around all day. They have also been a core sponsor since the beginning of this project seven years ago.
For 2010, 16,000 calendars have been printed (which is up from 13,000 sold out last year and 9,000 which sold out the year before that). The calendars have some of the most compelling and authentic images of our city and to top it off they are all 100% carbon neutral.
You can view the winning photos themselves over at the Vancouver Public Library’s main branch in the Moat Gallery throughout the month of December. There will also be a book reading tomorrow night (Thursday, December 10th, 2009) of the award-winning Hope in Shadows book. This is a part of the Robson Reading series and will take place at the UBC Bookstore in Robson Square (800 Robson Street) at 7:00pm.
Spot a DTES resident around town this winter, purchase a Hope in Shadows calendar from them for $20, and help make a difference in someone’s life.
You can also find Hope in Shadows on Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter if you would like more information.
