Hbc is once again the apparel designer of the official clothing (for both the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Teams) and they’re hosting a free public event that will feature the following:
12:00 – 12:15 DJ Hedspin
12:00 – 1:00 Canadian athlete autograph session
12:15 – 1:15 Cowboy Junkies
1:15 – 1:45 Fashion Show of 2010 Canadian Olympic Team Retail Apparel
1:45 – 3:45 DJ Hedspin
2:00 – 3:00 Athlete autograph session
3:45 – 4:30 Dan Mangan
4:30 – 5:00 Fashion Show of 2010 Canadian Olympic Team Retail Apparel
5:00 – 6:00 Sam Roberts Band
5:30 – 6:30 Canadian athlete autograph session
6:00 – 7:30 DJ Hedspin
This will all take place at the Olympic Superstore on the main/street level if The Bay downtown. I must admit, I love a free concert and although it could get pretty packed in there, it’ll be fun to see Dan Mangan and Sam Roberts perform. No tickets are necessary but you will want to arrive early to catch any of these presentations or performers.
Update:John was down at The Bay yesterday and snapped some photos of the concerts and the new apparel.
I’ve stayed in over a dozen hotels this year and I must admit that I’ve only ever stayed in a Vancouver hotel once. This week’s installment of my “Then and Now series features the cornerstone of our tourism community, hotels.
Hotel Vancouver
The first Hotel Vancouver from the 1880s was on Georgia at Granville. The second was built at Howe and Georgia, where the TD Tower sits today. My Flickr contact SqueakyMarmot has a nice side-by-side comparison of this iteration. These images are of the third Hotel Vancouver, which is in operation today.
Sylvia Hotel
The Sylvia has been a landmark in English Bay for almost a century. It’s great for photographing especially in spring and summer when the ivy crawls its way all over the brick exterior.
1932
Photographer: Stuart Thomson – ITEM #: CVA 99-2632
Hotel Georgia
The famous Hotel Georgia closed its doors and began renovation/re-construction a few years ago. It hosted high profile celebrities during its 80-year run including Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne and Bob Hope.
1931
Photographer: Stuart Thomson – ITEM #: CVA 99-3998
This morning I am at GM Place for Free the Children’s We Day… and so are 16,000 enthusiastic young people.
I haven’t had much time to live blog but I have been tweeting from the floor of the arena (which you can view in the pane below):
It has been an amazing morning with thousands of excited and motivated kids and youth who have been hanging on every word from every speaker her at We Day. Each Nobel Laureate, TV star, politician and host is treated like a rockstar by the crowd. The kids were instructed how to do a “cell phone wave”, hug their neighbour, and chant about change. The thing that struck a chord with me is that the speakers were informing everyone about issues around the globe, and the help that is desperately needed, yet they also let the children know they can help close to home. They brought home the fact that they can do any act, no matter how small, and make a difference in their family, their schools, and their communities.
The children sat and listened while the Dalai Lama spoke of compassion, and they applauded the Governor General Michaelle Jean when she told them they were the leaders of today — not just tomorrow. Motivational speaker Spencer West ended his talk by quoting Dr Seuss: “Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way.”
The event, which is also being webcast by CTV, will take place in Toronto in the near future as well.
Update: I am now back in the press room and there is a very distinguished line up of speakers coming to visit us for Q&A. The first of such is Dr Jane Goodall. “Every individual makes an impact every day,” she notes. The room is filled with traditional media, cameras, and student journalists who have been given the chance to take part today. Dr Goodall has a new book out and is active with the Roots & Shoots program across Canada. She talks about the bridge between environmental & humanitarian issues. “It became very obvious that without helping the people improve their lives and live in an environmentally sustainable way, there was no help for the chimpanzees.” Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
Last week I met up with Sean Horlor of the new OUTtv series, Don’t Quit Your Gay Job. Sean wears many hats (and sometimes a boa or two) in the new show which pits him against Rob Easton as they try their hand at various jobs in the Vancouver area.
Think of it as Dirty Jobs meets Kenny and Spenny but in Vancouver and featuring careers carried out by those in the GLBT community or just jobs that look super fun to try out – if even for an afternoon. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
This past weekend there was a Tweetup at the Bose Farm Corn Maze (or Maize Maze) in Surrey. The Bose farm has been around for generations and its decision to create a corn maze for the last few years has been a very popular one.
The Bose Family’s influence on the City of Surrey is such that 64th Avenue is also known as Bose Road. In 1892 Henry Bose bought the land now known as Fry’s Corner (or the corner of Fraser Hwy and 176th) but when it was unable to produce, he scooped up 160 acres where Bose Farm now sits off 64th.
Many of Surrey’s byways have old wagon road route names such as Bose Road, Hjorth Road (104th), and Johnston Road (152nd). The Bose Family Home is considered a heritage home in Surrey and was built between 1899 and 1907. In 1969 the farm was split between the two Bose sons, Harry and Norman. To this day the farms continue to operate under both Bose families [source].
Unfortunately this was a headline in The Province newspaper last July: “Historic Bose farm in Surrey sold for townhouse project: One of the earliest and most prominent heritage sites in Surrey — the 116-year-old Bose Farm — has been sold by the family and is now on a developer’s drawing board as the site for a major townhouse project.”
Apparently the usable land for the townhouse development is pretty small in comparison and the City is still making an effort to preserve the historicbuildings on site.
City Council agenda action items for September 14, 2009 included:
“Henry Bose (Meadow Ridge) Farm, 6390 – 64 Avenue, Development Application No. 7907-0115-00. That Council approve the Heritage Revitalization Agreement (HRA) (Appendix II) for the Bose Farm, barn, dairy and farmhouse, provided that any outstanding revisions are acceptable to the General Manager, Planning, and that a temporary coroplast “heritage proposal†sign be placed at the site as soon as possible and a permanent interpretative heritage sign at completion of the renovation project.”
Although it’s a harvest-time hub of activity with the maze, hay jump, pumpkin patch exploration, and campfires (complete with marshmallows) it’s important to recognize the historic significance of this site. This is how Surrey was built; with wagon roads, trailblazers, farmers and families. Check out the corn maze this year if you can, just exit Highway 1 and take Johnston Road past Yale Road and turn left on Bose Road. Or you can exit Highway 1 at Clover Valley Road and take that all the way to Bose Road where you’ll turn right.
