Enjoy exclusive tours inside heritage spaces from the 1890s to the 1950s and hear about the engaging stories behind them. The Heritage House Tour is back this June – presented safely in a virtual format. The Vancouver Heritage Foundation (“VHF”) will offer two special online events that will highlight a variety of remarkable heritage homes across five different Vancouver neighbourhoods. The tour explores history and diverse architecture as well as how historic homes can be updated for modern living.
Heritage House Tour 2020 photo courtesy of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation
Vancouver Heritage House Tour
When: Thursday, June 3 & Tuesday, June 8, 2021 – 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Details of how to join each event will be provided to registered participants. If you are unable to attend at the time o the virtual events, you can still register and have access to recordings after the event.
The annual Heritage House Tour, presented since 2003, is always a highly-anticipated event and has regularly had over 1,000 participants. VHF invites guests to join virtually from the comfort of home for guided tours, presented in these two live events. Participants will tour each home through pre-recorded videos, hear from expert guides and have the opportunity to ask questions.
Across five different neighbourhoods, you can virtually visit a 1958 award-winning Mid-Century Modern home, an 1890s Strathcona home, a grand Shaughnessy estate home, a 1928 apartment, and more. Enjoy original interior features, craftsmanship, and unique design, and explore the history and heritage significance of each house. Become immersed in the compelling stories, past and present, of early architects, builders and residents as well as recent restorations and how these distinctive spaces have been adapted for modern living.
The Heritage House Tour is VHF’s largest event of the year, usually bringing people together to tour through private heritage homes and learn about local history. It is also an important fundraising event for VHF, helping to support educational programs and innovative projects throughout the year. While the tour will look different this year, VHF is pleased to be able to offer a safe and fun way to explore local history and heritage together
When someone says “BC Wine” the Okanagan is probably the first place you think of, but did you know that British Columbia’s Wine Regions span from the Pacific to the Rockies, and consist of nine diverse areas? Wine Growers British Columbia has just made it super easy to distinguish these areas with a series of high-resolution topographic maps developed with consulting soil scientist Scott Smith and Linda Decker of Geo Earth Mapping.
British Columbia’s Wine Regions
For the purposes of wine labelling, these regions are referred to as Geographical Indications (GIs) and divisions of these as sub-Geographical Indications (sub-GIs). These are formal designations of the place of origin of the fruit that goes into BC VQA Wine.
“The topographic cartography combines simple design incorporating the Wines of British Columbia new brand elements, with the GI and sub-GI boundaries as regulated by the British Columbia Wine Authority, to construct a detailed look at B.C.’s diverse winegrowing regions,” says Laura Kittmer, Communications Director, Wine Growers British Columbia.
“The maps depict the extent of the GIs which are largely based on watershed boundaries or portions of watersheds. The sub-GI boundaries are based on landforms which are enduring landscape features that do not change over time,” says Scott Smith, Eterrna Consulting, Penticton.
British Columbia’s wine regions are on the edge of the wine world, at the highest latitudes where grape growing is possible. Long hours of daylight, baking hot days, cool nights and deliberately moderate yields create intense, bright fruit flavours beautifully balanced against vibrant acidity.
“British Columbia is gifted with some of the most extreme and unique grape growing conditions on the planet, that are not easily defined. From the coast to the vast and rugged interior of the province, these maps were developed to be used by industry as an essential tool in telling our story. Whether you are in the wine business, interested in learning about wine, or visiting a region, these maps are an important way in understanding BC wines and the scope of our diverse terroir,” says Kittmer.
British Columbia continues to build its reputation for excellent winemaking and exceptional wines, further solidifying its place among the best in the world. The release of these maps will help educate the trade, media and consumers about the unique sites and growing regions that make BC such a special place for growing grapes and making wine.
The #CHVCatchUp is a monthly series featuring the latest updates and news from Covenant House Vancouver. Miss604 is proud to be the Official Blog Partner of CHV to share and tell their stories, like this month’s feature about the Crisis Program:
Covenant House Sleep Out: Home Edition
On Friday, May 28th Covenant House Vancouver will host its second virtual Sleep Out: Home Edition. As a virtual event, Covenant House is encouraging people to Sleep Out “together” in solidarity with homeless youth while remaining physically apart to raise funds and awareness for youth experiencing homelessness.
Covenant House Vancouver is challenging individuals, families, and businesses to spend one night on their living room floor, on their balcony, or in their backyard, and raise crucial funds to support their Street Outreach Program.
Traveling on foot, Outreach Workers do all they can to build trusting relationships with young people on the streets by meeting them where they are and offering relentless support, absolute respect, and unconditional love; with the hopes that, from then on, a young person will trust CHV enough to allow us to accompany them on a journey to healthy independence.
You can make a positive impact on the lives of youth experiencing homelessness.
Your support helps transform the lives of youth experiencing homelessness, not only helping them exit street life but also providing hope for a brighter future. This event aims to raise $200,000 and your gift will be matched by Kim Streit, up to $35,000!
Sleepers can choose where and how they Sleep Out (somewhere safe and legal). This flexible event allows you to have an impact on youth experiencing homelessness while choosing what your event day/evening looks like. Many participants will Sleep Out in their own backyards, while others Sleep Out in their living rooms and on their kitchen floors.
Covenant House Vancouver will provide inspiring online programming the evening of the event and the morning after. Also, the City Hall of Vancouver and Harbour Centre will light up in Covenant House blue to show support for the event.
From my 2016 Sleep Out experience
I participated in the Covenant House Sleep Out for four years. It was uncomfortable, unnerving, and a long and sleepless night — but that’s the point. It’s all for an amazing cause and very worthy of your participation. Read about my first experience in 2013 here, which kept me coming back to support the cause. Register as a team or individual today »
It’s been almost 17 years since I started Miss604 from my hometown of Surrey and I’m finally launching a merch store, for a cause! Thanks to my friends at MAKE Vancouver, the Miss604 Surrey Nostalgia Collection is now OPEN, for a limited time only…
About the Cause
For its 50th Anniversary, Options Community Services has united 50 influential South Fraser women, myself included, for the Women of Options campaign to help raise $1.5 million in support of a new affordable housing build. Our goal is to each raise $25,000 in support of this project. Options board members and staff have also contributed to the cause and the Surrey Homelessness and Housing Society has contributed $250,000. The $1.5 million raised through Options will go towards a 100-unit complexon King George Blvd.
My fellow fundraisers have been hard at work hosting auctions, art sales, gift card campaigns, and more. It’s been wonderful to see how all of these women have been supporting this cause. For my personal fundraiser, I wanted to offer something a little different. I thought about my hometown, I thought about special places and moments, and I decided to create the Miss604 Surrey Nostalgia Collection – for a cause, of course!
Miss604 Surrey Nostalgia Collection
“Meet up at Muffin Break and do some shopping at the mall before heading to a birthday party at Stardust, or grab a Froster at Mac’s after the Trojan Class basketball tournament. Hop on the nostalgia bus at Whalley Exchange and reminisce about growing up in the City of Parks in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.”
I picked Surrey Place Mall, West Whalley, and the legendary Rodeo Drive-In to start, representing my own sense of nostalgia and kick-starting my memory bank. HUGE shout out and thank you to my friends at MAKE Vancouver for not only hosting the store, but running with my ideas and creating some awesome products for this campaign!
“MAKE is the most creative store in the universe! Our Granville Island store is THE place to find one-of-a-kind, hand-made, local, and quirky gifts as well as being the ultimate place to create your own custom work. We have the technology in our store, and our website, to help you customize just about anything with printing, laser engraving and embroidery too.“
West Whalley Jr High: Striving for Excellence! West Whalley Junior High was a fixture of the neighbourhood from 1958 to 2002. The home of the blue and orange played host to the annual Trojan Classic Basketball tournament.
Surrey Place Mall:Before the big city centre redevelopment at the turn of the century, there was Surrey Place Mall. Built in 1972, the original shopping centre, with its iconic brown brick floors, was anchored by The Bay and Sears. Maybe you bought your first tape or CD at Sam the Record Man or stocked up at High Low Groceries too. A hop skip and a jump away from Stardust and A&B Sound in the heart of Whalley.
Rodeo Drive-In:This Surrey landmark closed in 2006, and was a fixture on the corner of 152nd Street and Highway 10 for 45 years. Mosey up to a picnic table under the recognizable orange tarp and order yourself a Rodeo Burger, made with fresh, lean ground meat – never frozen. Pair it with a fries, onion rings, a shake — or a helping of nostalgia!
Working on community projects has always been a passion of mine and I attribute that to the caring, diverse, and inclusive community I grew up in. This project evokes nostalgia but it also gives back.
We have t-shirts, hoodies, water bottles and mugs in the store right now! 25% of your purchase will be donated directly to Options Community Services as part of the Women of Options campaign to fund an affordable housing build at King George at 81st.
The collection is only available for a limited time so act fast! You have until June 15, 2021 to purchase your items and support the cause.
NOTE: Products will ship just twice, so please know your order will be printed and shipped either May 30th or June 15th. This helps keep costs down so more can go to the cause.
Thank you so much, dear readers, for your support over the last 17 years. I hope you enjoy this collection and supporting the campaign for affordable housing.
~ Rebecca.
Enter to Win
I would like to ship one winner the collection item of their choice! Here’s how you can enter to win:
[clickToTweet tweet=”RT to enter to win an item from the Miss604 Surrey Nostalgia Collection by @MakeVancouver supporting @OptionsBC http://ow.ly/qCu350ESpZ9″ quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Wednesday, May 26, 2021. The prize is one single item (t-shirt, hoodie, bottle or mug) from the Miss604 Collection. UPDATE – the winner is Linda!
This weekend Miss604 is proud to sponsor the first of two Aunt Leah’s Virtual Trivia Extravaganza events on Saturday along with Summer at Burnaby Village Museum. Find these events and more things to do in Vancouver this weekend (online, and beyond) listed below:
