Tonight the YWCA Women of Distinction Awards winners will be announced via a live online ceremony. Awards will be handed out (virtually) in fourteen categories, honouring amazing women in our community.
Previous Awards Night Gala Room
As social media sponsor, I am taking to Instagram to post live updates in my stories and I will also have some updates on Twitter, both using the tag #YWCAWODA. Check back here throughout the night for updates…
Women of Distinction Awards Winners
The evening begins with a chat with Dr Bonnie Henry, this year’s Icon Award recipient. Previous recipients are May Brown (2018) and Kim Campbell (2019).
“One of my dear friends and mentors won this award a number of years ago,” Dr Henry says in her acceptance speech, referencing Dr Sheela Basrur who won a Woman of Distinction Award in Toronto. “Having been through one of the most challenging times in the last few months, this is a tremendous honour. I want to remind you all to be kind, be calm, be safe.”
Surrey’s 2020 Civic Distinction Awards (formerly City Awards) are awards of excellence that acknowledge business and community leaders who have made a major contribution to the City of Surrey in their respective fields. Nominations are now being accepted until October 16, 2020.
Surrey’s Civic Distinction Awards
Nominate a Surrey resident, organization, group or business for an award of excellence and demonstrate your civic pride by recognizing outstanding projects that positively impact the City of Surrey.
Fort Langley National Historic Site will be offering their highly-anticipated Grave Tales event this year in a modified capacity. Join expert storytellers for a two-hour program of spine-chilling stories, as you walk through the Fort Langley village at night.
Grave Tales at Fort Langley
Tickets ($22) go on sale at 9:00am on Friday, September 25, 2020. This event sells out well in advance each year, be sure to book your tickets!
The program will run Thursdays to Sundays, October 8 to 30, 2020. Book for 7:00pm, 8:00pm or 9:00pm. There will be a maximum of ten people per tour. This event is for adults only, 18+.
Masks are mandatory for guests and physical distancing is to be maintained at all times. Grave Tales takes place outdoors so be sure to dress for the weather (and cemeteries).
Fort Langley National Historic site reopened in July with COVID safety protocols in place. Open daily from 10:00am to 5:0pm, you can climb the bastions and gallery, and peer through the entrances to several historic buildings. Parks Canada interpreters are on site at a few stations. Picnic areas and outdoor park areas are open.
Rising from the mist of the Fraser River, the palisades of Fort Langley stand tall. Inside the walls, rough-hewn timber buildings recreate the rugged 1800s. See where Hudson’s Bay Company fur traders mingled with California gold prospectors and hear First Nations interpreters tell century-old tales.
Vancouver artist David Wilson presents his newest collection, Close to Home — his first since 2019’s Everywhere From Here — October 1 to 21, 2020 at the Kurbatoff Gallery.
David Wilson Close to Home
Dreams of Distant Memories by David Wilson
Where: Kurbatoff Gallery (2435 Granville St, Vancouver) Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11:00am to 5:00pm; Sunday 12:00pm to 4:00pm
Close to Home offers a peek at those final, pre-COVID days in early 2020. In the poignantly titled “Come Back to Me”, Wilson’s vibrant acrylics capture the Stanley’s grand marquee as it presides over a rain-slicked South Granville Street, still busy with traffic and—typical to the artist’s often-waterlogged work—hunkered pedestrians clutching their umbrellas.
“It’s a world that, despite its many monstrosities, seems a little bit whimsical now,” says Wilson. “It’s a place that, in spite of all of its shortcomings, doesn’t seem so bad.”
“It’s less about being a literal visual documentation and more of a synthesizing of what I am feeling about the time while I was there. It’s a very strange alchemy of representation, memory, sound, smell, and feel as I work through those moments that eventually coalesce into something tangible and visibly recognizable.”
For perhaps the first time in modern history, our experience under COVID-19 is truly universal. With two immuno-compromised family members in his own home, Wilson had especially concrete concerns in those early months of the pandemic. He was used to “uncertainty,” but nothing on this scale.
“As the news raged about COVID’s ability to spread with impunity and overwhelm populations in great numbers, the thought of making art seemed so trivial, perhaps even a little bit self-indulgent. It was the first time in many years that I did not feel inspired to create. My thoughts were consumed by the crisis at hand and its implications for me, my family, my community, and the world at large. So, I stopped for a while and watched and listened. COVID created a concentrated time for introspection. Not just for me but for all of humanity.”
Mercifully, inspiration returned. As such, desire and reverie mingle in Close to Home. With an unknowable future, Wilson turned to the past, emerging from a familiar cycle of grief and despair to find solace in a trove of old photographs. “Feels Like Only Yesterday” takes us back to a thriving Granville strip at night. “A Path Through the Sea” pits the Burrard Street bridge against a twinkling Fairview at dusk, suggesting a city pregnant with energy. That same landmark is given a chilly, vivid rendering in “The Wind in Our Faces.” In all cases, Close to Home feels like an attempt to time-stamp the tone of pre-COVID life in Vancouver.
Feels Like Only Yesterday by David Wilson
In a roundabout way, David’s work reminds me of my time away from Vancouver. When I moved away to Massachusetts for work in 2002, I enjoyed my new city but I also craved anything that reminded me of home — hence the creation of my “Miss604” moniker. When I look at David’s work, I see my home. These are the pieces I would have wanted on the wall of my room in Cambridge. They make me homesick even while I stare out my office window on a grey and rainy West Coast morning.
Following its highly successful Fair Drive-Thru Experiences, the Pacific National Exhibition is proud to announce its October plans for Halloween fun at the PNE for fans of all ages.
Halloween Fun at the PNE
“Halloween is an incredibly important part of the year for everyone here at the PNE,” says President and CEO Shelley Frost, “and we’ve had a lot of questions and interest in our plans for 2020, given the situation with COVID-19. I’m really proud that our team has developed two very unique experiences for a wide range of guests. Although it is not possible to host our traditional Fright Nights, we have a new haunting experience and chilling décor for our young adult Fright Night fans and this year we will have a separate experience on-site aimed at children and parents who are limited in their trick-or-treat options due to the pandemic.”
Slayland at the PNE
Dates: October 9-11; October 16-18; October 22-25; October 29-31. Times: 6:00pm to 10:00pm Admission: Oct 9-25 $39.50 and Oct 29-31 $44.50 (admission includes complimentary mask, while quantities last, and all fees and taxes)
Although the Fright Nights haunted houses are not possible during COVID-19, Playland is thrilled to announce that as of October 9th the park will be transformed into Slayland – Night of a Thousand Screams. It will feature twenty rides, including The Beast, the iconic Wooden Roller Coaster, the Atmosfear and a walk-through outdoor haunted experience and chilling décor throughout the park. Slayland is the first time in the PNE Halloween event history that guests will be allowed to wear costumes. There will be themes for costumes each weekend, from retro to superheroes. While costumes are allowed, please note that face paint and costume masks are not allowed, and COVID-19 masks will continue to be required in all queues and while on attractions.
A Taste of the PNE Drive-Thru: Tricks-and-Treats Edition
When: October 30 & 31, 2020 book a time slot 11:00 am to 8:00 pm Admission: $25 per carload, includes one trick-or-treat bag of goodies, additional treat filled bags can purchased for $15 each (prices include all fees and taxes)
This family-oriented experience will include live spooky characters, Halloween décor, and safe trick-or-treating for the little ghouls and goblins. Admission includes the drive-thru experience as well as a trick-or-treat bag with a selection of mini PNE goodies that includes a Halloween-themed candy apple, treat-sized popcorn, mini cotton candy, mini donuts and packaged candy. This event is for the kids and families who are not quite ready for Slayland – Night of a Thousand Screams.
