Workspace, shared work environment in Gastown, has officially closed its doors for good. The sudden move has left many flabbergasted as Workspace had become an institution of sharing, learning, networking, and to-die-for coffee over the years.
The concept was simple, create a big open membership-based space with optional offices where those without actual office space could conduct meetings or do work in a professional setting. It was the brainchild of Bill McEwen who has since moved on, leaving the reigns in Dane Brown‘s hands. “It definitely hurts to have to close the doors,” he told me. “We had an amazing 3 year run. It doesn’t seem that long ago that Bill MacEwen and I were pulling all-nighters, trying to make sure everything was ready for the opening party.”
My first social media event was BarCamp at Workspace in 2006 and since that time I’ve had the pleasure of participating in and hosting events in this unique atmosphere. Dane’s sentiments regarding the connections and relationships formed at Workspace probably hit close to home for many. “I can’t count the number of true friends I’ve made working here or the number of friendships between others I’ve seen form over coffee or good-hearted debate. My favourite part of all this has always been the people and how they connect with one another.”
Greg Andrews, one of Workspace’s recent acquisitions, first learned of Workspace while living in Alberta. “I likely read [about] it on a chunky CRT in a windowless office deep inside an Edmonton office park that wasn’t within walking distance of anything meaningful except a smelly meat processing plant.” He moved to Vancouver and became of a part of the community almost instantly, thanks to DemoCamp which was being held at Workspace. “Not only [was I] amazed by the environment of an open concept minimalist loft, I was also amazed by the community and the event, that they would really just let some nobody kid who just moved here stand up and speak in front of the room. Met a handful of people that night and at following WorkSpace events that I’m pleased to still be acquainted with to this day.”
To many, Workspace has always stood out. If not due to its amazing office space, artwork, and panoramic views, but for the people. “There are many options for shared offices in the city, but the key feature they successfully cultivated (and even advertised on our cards) was community,” said Greg. “That was a bigger perk than the coffee.”
Who knows what the future will hold, as many businesses and individuals take on “virtual” office spaces but this is truly the end of an era in Vancouver.
“While the physical space will cease to exist, the community that made WorkSpace great is going stronger than ever,” said Dane. “I look forward to seeing members, friends, family, and anyone else who cares to celebrate at the party we’re planning next month. Details will be released in the coming weeks. It was an absolute pleasure to be of service.”
Update December 11, 2009: In a tweet from Greg Andrews: “In case you missed the subtle mention yesterday, the space formerly known as Workspace has a worthy new tenant: Pixar.”
My only up close and personal experience with a Vancouver Island marmot is toying with a stuffed plush MukMuk at the Olympic store. The endangered species, which is a recently upgraded Olympic mascot for 2010, is now facing another challenge; the Vancouver Island Marmot Foundation‘s funding has been cut by the BC government.
According to the Globe and Mail, “Viki Jackson, executive director of the Nanaimo-based Marmot Recovery Foundation, said last week that her organization is battling a $133,000 shortfall after a Ministry of Environment decision to chop its annual funding from the 2009-10 budget.”
The Foundation operates a Marmot Recovery Centre, manages the captive breeding program, assists the wild population and conducts research. The marmot, known as the “most endangered species in Canada” is down to a population of 200, which is up from 30 just a few years ago.
Without sufficient funding, the Foundation would be left high and dry by next year, right when we are welcoming the world and showcasing the species-inspired MukMuk.
You can educate yourself by reading up on the Foundation or by checking out this post by Vancouver Island blogger (and my good friend) Keira-Anne, which is a part of her Island Profile series.
As our little tour van rolled up the dusty gravel road toward Fairburn Farm, I knew we would be in for a treat. I hopped out and had to let the scenery soak in a bit. We stood in front of a lovely farm house surrounded by pastures, mountains, and lush green hues that sprouted up from the ground and hung over our heads under a canopy of fruit-bearing trees.
Mara Jernigan met us just off the porch and picked some white alpine strawberries for us to taste before we even finished making our introductions. Growing right along the house these sweet, melt-in-your-mouth berries (that resembled little bright white LED Christmas lights) were the first of many treats in store for us that day.
Since it was established 115 years ago, Fairburn Farm has only had two separate owners. Although the products, business, and land have evolved, the same down to earth goodness and values still exist today. The 130 acres are maintained by the Archer family who run the Cowichan Water Buffalo Dairy, while the Culinary Retreat and Guest house are under the direction of Mara Jernigan.
Mara offers culinary getaways, cooking classes, education in eating local, and was a driving force behind the slow food movement in the Cowichan region. She founded the Vancouver Island Feast of Fields, which is an annual fundraising event that connects farmers and chefs as well as farm folks and city folks — all through food.
We were treated to breakfast on the porch, which consisted of a free range egg frittata, a chicken sausage (pasture-raised chicken from Cowichan Bay Farm), chicken of the woods mushrooms, fresh greens, and coffee. Mara pulls in everything from corn and mushrooms, to garlic, lavender, and kohlrabi into her cooking. “When the vegetables are fresh, you don’t have to do a lot to them,” she noted adding that ideas for delicious meals just come that much easier when you have resources like these.
Throughout our Vancouver Island tour, at each farm house, vineyard or artisan shop, everyone spoke so highly of everyone else in the community. Hilary’s Cheese served bread from True Grain, and the milk from the Water Buffalo at Fairburn Farm goes into Natural Pastures Buffalo Mozzarella (which we had on the frittata). Mara is a proud member of this community who joked, “if you marked the dollar bills [around here] you’d just see them going around and around.”
She also orchestrated the Slow Food movement in Cowichan, helping it gain status as the first-ever North American city to be designated Cittaslow. To become a Cittaslow city you need to be approved on many levels, from sustainability and environmental impact, to signage on the roads. With an influx of big box stores in the region, Mara thought it was vital to showcase local businesses in a positive light, instead of being negative about the economic and industrial changes in the Cowichan Valley.
Fairburn Farm is a guest house with several rooms and Mara offers cooking classes such as Field to Table, and Culinary Boot Camp. At the Boot Camp participants will learn skills such as harvesting from the garden and making home made pasta. She teaches classic French and Italian techniques but with local ingredients. Mara also runs culinary tours to Italy several times a year.
Out on the farm, Darrel Archer tended to Water Buffalo who during our visit, who were out in the oat field. He’s got such a great relationship with the animals whom he refers to adoringly like children, joking about their characteristics and quirky traits. We walked around back to visit with some of the baby water buffalo, who came bounding out of their barn like school children when we approached.
We met a few more water buffalo and also got a tour of the milking operation for the production of the mozzarella cheese.
We washed our hands after petting all the baby water buffalo and piled back into the van to head to the next stop on the tour. Rolling down the winding gravel passage that took us away from the farm a member of Tourism BC that was on the trip said it best, “at the end of every dirt road in BC there is a fantastic story.” I must agree, and the story of Fairburn Farm is definitely one I’ll continue to share.
I recently toured the South East portion of Vancouver Island with Tourism BC. You can read all of my posts from the trip under the tag: ‘Cowichan‘.
We decided to do an impromptu photo walk last night and ended up at the Ambleside Dog Park. I love being over at Ambleside as you get a different perspective of the city and it’s just such a nice walk through the trees, which ends up right along the beach.
Loving the change in seasons, I was excited to see orange on leaves although I’m not sure if it was a sign of autumn, or a scar from the heat wave a few weeks ago. Regardless, summer was definitely in full swing yesterday as we took our sunny stroll.
It was good to get more Vancouver photos into my Flickr stream since I’ve been away from the Lower Mainland so much lately. On top of that, it was really nice to slow the pace down a bit and take a leisurely evening stroll with friends.
WordCamp Fraser Valley is happening today at SFU Surrey and I’ll be giving a talk about how WordPress can go beyond being simply a blogging platform. In 1998 I worked in Surrey Place Mall, and now I’m speaking at a conference in the University that sits atop it — it’s pretty surreal.
I’m really looking forward to hearing some of the other speakers who have been scheduled in beginner, intermediate, and Twitter-related tracks. In particular, the inspirational and insighful Glenda Watson Hyatt.
I’ll be updating throughout the day (in what a call a “Day Blog” style) so photos and updates will appear on this post as we carry on.
He does mention that we’re running behind but I think that’s probably a good problem to have as the sessions, speakers and conversations are all really informative and positive.
The Foundation operates a Marmot Recovery Centre, manages the captive breeding program, assists the wild population and conducts research. The marmot, known as the “most endangered species in Canada” is down to a population of 200, which is up from 30 just a few years ago.
