September looks much different this year but we still have some mainstay events and activities like the Fringe Festival (on now, virtual), corn mazes and more. Here is a quick list of things to do in Vancouver this weekend, online and beyond:
You can show your support for the protection of our local rivers and streams, and preservation of our salmon by participating in the Coho Challenge Virtual Run/Walk this season.
The Coho Society of the North Shore’s festival is usually held the second Sunday in September, features the Coho Run, Coho Swim, a barbecue, main stage entertainment and the Squamish Nation Village. In order to continue to raise funds for their cause, organizers are offering a virtual run/walk option.
Coho Challenge Virtual Run/Walk
Register online and then between September 13th and October 12th, run or walk your distance (choose from 5km, 10km or 14km) on the course of your choice. Track your own time and distance, or you can use an app like Runkeeper, Strava. Upload your results weekly, and overall by October 13th and redeem your finishers’ certificate.
Each week of the the society will randomly draw prizes for those that have uploaded results that week (before midnight Saturday).
All net proceeds of this event go to the Coho Society of the North Shore who provide support to local organizations in river and stream enhancement projects that benefit the sustainability of salmon and other fish.
About the Coho Society
For four decades, the Coho Society has been a volunteer-run, environmentally based organization committed to supporting the protection and revitalization of North Shore salmon streams and rivers.
The objective of the society is to raise public awareness of current and potential threats to local waterways and fisheries and educating about the need to resolve these issues through protecting, enhancing and restoring salmonid habitats. The society helps to support volunteer-managed fish hatcheries and local environmental groups involved in stream protection. This work is done through partnerships between community stewardship groups, local government, First Nations and the business community, and concerned citizens.
In my line of work, September usually means three things: Posts about corn mazes, film festival screenings and galas, and emails from playwrights promoting their awesome new Vancouver Fringe Festival productions. Everything looks a bit different this year, including the Fringe Fest, but it will be forging ahead with staggered dates, virtual events, and limited live performances September through December.
Vancouver Fringe Festival. Photo by Clayton Wong.
Vancouver Fringe Festival 2020
When: September 10 to 20; October 1 to 10; October 29 to November 8; and tentatively November 26 to December 6.
Tickets: Single ticket prices start at $15 and the Fringe membership fee, which is required to purchase festival tickets, starts at $7.
Where: Online and in person (limited). In order to meet the guidelines laid out in the BC Restart Plan, the in-person, concentrated festival events will be held at fewer venues and with social distancing in place (maximum capacity of 50).
The 2020 Vancouver Fringe Festival kicks off on September 10 at 6:00pm with its Opening Night Free-For-All, which will take place virtually. Patrons are invited to join this online gathering for inside scoop on the highly anticipated 2020 Digital Program Guide, info regarding September programming, and plans for the events taking place from October to December.
September Lineup
In partnership with Ruby Slippers Theatre, Playwrights Theatre Centre, Playwrights Guild of Canada and Savage Society, The Vancouver Fringe Festival is thrilled to present Advance Theatre: New Works by Diverse Women, 2020. Curated by Tai Amy Grauman (Métis, Cree, and Haudenosaunee), these works showcase dramatic readings of plays written by Indigenous women.
Ūtszan | Performance Works | September 14 at 1:30pm Written by Yvonne Wallace; Directed by Marisa Smith
The In-Between Place | Performance Works | September 15 at 1:30pm Written and directed by Nyla Carpentier
Women of Papiyek | Performance Works | September 16 at 1:30pm Written and directed by Quelemia Sparrow
Turtle’s Island | Performance Works | September 17 at 1:30pm Written by Brenda Prince; Directed by Renae Morriseau
The Seventh Fire| Performance Works | September 18 at 1:30pm Written by Lisa C. Ravensbergen; Directed by Lisa C. Ravensbergen, Christine Quintana, and Laura McLean
Vancouver Fringe Festival. Photo by Clayton Wong.
Art Heist | Yellow Crane Pad on Granville Island September 11, 12, & 18 at 7:00pm, 7:20pm & 7:40pm; September 13 & 20 at 3:00pm, 3:20pm & 3:40pm; September 19 at 6:00pm, 6:20pm & 6:40pm Co-created by TJ Dawe and Ming Hudson; Directed by TJ Dawe
Judith Fair: an outdoor variety night Picnic Pavilion on Granville Island | September 12 & 13 at 7:00pm Performed by Raven John, Lili Robinson, Siobhan Barker, Cherine Amr, Caroline Hébert, Jackie T Hanlin & Nathania Bernabe, Bella Dé Colletage & Isla Lesbos, Ragini Kapil, Liesl Lafferty, and Alex Masse
Hard 2 Kill| Performance Works | September 15-18 at 7:30pm; September 19 at 8:00pm; September 20 at 5:00pm Written and directed by Richard Lett
On September 10, 1898 a fire broke out on a wharf along New Westminster’s waterfront and when it was done raging through town, over $2.5 million in damage was done.
New Westminster’s Great Fire of 1898
Bank of BC Building. Right: 1890 Before the fire. Left: 1898 After the fire. Archives# Out N574 & Bu P267.
According to the City, within 10 minutes the blaze had jumped across to the brick buildings on Front Street, and three three Stern Wheeled steamers had also caught on, igniting nearby canneries before as were cut loose on the river.
Columbia Street. Right: 1888 before the fire. Left: 1898 after the fire. Archives# CVA 371-2873 & Out N582.
The fire covered an area from the Market on Lytton Square to a residence on Carnarvon Street and Begbie Street.
“It was thought that the north side of Columbia Street might be saved, but from the burning Columbian Newspaper office in the Powell Building the flames jumped to No. 1 Fire Hall opposite. The fire hall was a wood frame building situated between two brick buildings on either side, consequently it was consumed by flames like a shingle in a stove.
Soon the YMCA, Duncan McColl and Public Library buildings were fired from the rear, while St. Leonards Hall and other buildings on Clarkson Street were belching smoke and flames. About this time, the Hyack Brigade was reinforced by the Vancouver Fire Department under Chief Carlisle. These men proceeded to the Begbie Block at the north east corner of the fire area. The Vancouver firemen were aided in their efforts by the fire pump on the ferry boat and they were accredited with saving the Burr Block, the only brick building remaining after the fire and still in existence today.” [City of New West]
After two days, the City from Royal Avenue to the waterfront had been ravaged, and the lower westerly portion known as the Swamp (Chinatown) had been completely swept bare.
“Walking through this devastation along Columbia or Front street, a visitor who was familiar with the city would have noted the tremendous loss wherever they looked. The street of popular stores and offices was gone.
The market was gone. The docks were gone. The opera house was gone. The library was gone. The post office was gone. Their favourite Chinese shops were gone. A number of churches were gone.” [New West Record]
The New Westminster Library, the first public library in British Columbia, has just moved into a new building, which was destroyed by the fire. “The only items not burned were those books checked out and a few saved by Alderman William A. Johnson, among them the Queen’s book.”
1898 After the fire. Archives# Out P549
The cause of the fire remains unknown.
“In the days after the great fire of New Westminster in 1898 many residents were in shock, while others were gripped by a passion to blame someone. Among the latter, feelings ran high. A few local men went over to Vancouver and roughed up a newspaper editor because they did not like what he wrote. As to the cause of the fire, a couple of theories dominated the rumor mill, one having to do with a steamboat, and the other, which raised the most ire, had to do with a pirate flag and suspected incendiarism.” [Opposite the City]
1898 Front Street after the fire. Archive# Out N584
“Only one month after the Great Fire, New Westminster residents were lobbying to open a new library. A temporary Reading Room was established in half of a store building, with the other half occupied by the Fire Department, including its horses.”
1898 Library & Holy Trinity Church after the fire. Archive# Out P1033
The two buildings that survived are the Guichon Block (Queen’s Hotel) and the Burr Block (The Met Hotel) next door: “The City of New Westminster had the challenge of re-building its city after this heart-breaking disaster, and successfully achieved this by 1910. From those times until today, Columbia Street has been known as “The Golden Mile” due to its colorful and inspiring historical background.”
The world premiere of Sundance award-winning Vancouver filmmaker Jennifer Abbott’s new feature doc The Magnitude of All Things tops a powerful lineup of National Film Board of Canada (“NFB”) produced and co-produced documentary and animation at the Vancouver International Film Festival (“VIFF”), taking place September 24 to October 7, 2020.
NFB Films Showing at VIFF
Magnitude of all Things: Mukutsawa Montahuano, Youth Activist of the Sápara Nation in the Amazon rainforests of Ecuador, where oil and mining exploration threaten her home.
The Magnitude of All Things draws intimate parallels between the experiences of grief—both personal and planetary. Stories from the frontlines of climate change in Northern Canada, Australia, Ecuador, Sweden and England merge with recollections from the filmmaker’s childhood on Ontario’s Georgian Bay. What do these stories have in common? The answer, surprisingly, is everything.
Two NFB feature docs by acclaimed creators are also making their BC debuts:
John Ware Reclaimed by Cheryl Foggo, a Calgary-born filmmaker, author and playwright whose work often focuses on the Black Canadian experience.
John Ware Reclaimed follows Foggo on her quest to re-examine the mythology surrounding John Ware, the Black cowboy who settled in Alberta before the turn of the 20th century. Her research uncovers who this iconic figure might have been, and what his legacy means in terms of anti-Black racism, both past and present.
Inconvenient Indian by Michelle Latimer, a filmmaker, producer, writer and activist of Algonquin, Métis and French heritage.
In this time of radical change and essential re-examination, Inconvenient Indian brings to life Thomas King’s bestselling book, dismantling North America’s colonial narrative and reframing history.
The festival is presenting two NFB animated shorts:
The Great Malaise by Quebec animator and illustrator Catherine Lepage.
A young woman describes herself and her life in glowing terms, but the visual narrative tells a different story: with heart-rending power it illustrates the heavy burden of anxiety carried by this worried overachiever. In VIFF’s Short Forum Programme 3.
The Fake Calendar by Meky Ottawa, from the Atikamekw Nation in Quebec, produced through the Hothouse program.
A neon glimpse at how people come up with interesting and creative ways to avoid social functions, in favour of their own private space. In VIFF’s Short Forum Programme 4.
For its 12th edition, the NFB’s Hothouse program for emerging animators teamed up with imagineNATIVE and associate producers Amanda Strong and Amanda Roy to help address underrepresentation of Indigenous creators in film animation.
The Fake Calendar
The full VIFF program and film schedule is now available online.
