The Vancouver Mural Festival is bringing life to boarded up Downtown Vancouver, Robson Street and South Granville with 40 new artworks during COVID-19 isolation.
40 New Murals in Vancouver To Bring Life to a Boarded Up City
A few weeks ago, as local grassroots art projects began popping up on boarded up businesses in Gastown and the Downtown Eastside, Vancouver Mural Festival (“VMF”) approached some of the City’s other impacted neighbourhoods to see if there was an opportunity to collaborate.
“Many local stores and restaurants may be temporarily closed for business due to COVID-19, but they remain open for inspiration,” says Clayton Buckingham, Chief Financial Officer at Vancity.
The result is these 40 murals with all artists paid and their supplies covered thanks to the incredible support of the local BIAs as well as key funding from Vancity Credit Union who will be matching all artist honorariums. Paint is provided by the City of Vancouver’s Mural Support Program.
The the first wave of murals is going up over the next week, throughout 40 locations across Downtown, Robson Street, and South Granville and will feature images intended to spark joy, inspire hope and celebrate resilience.
Participating local artists Mark Illing & Tierney Milne in front of a previously completed mural on the Irish heather in Gastown
Photo by: Dylan Hamm
The team behind the VMF has always believed in the power of public art to connect communities, inspire creativity, support artists, and bring smiles to everyday lives. Over the past 5 years, VMF has transformed blank walls in Mount Pleasant and throughout Greater Vancouver into over 200 murals by artists from our city and around the world. You can search them all online here.
Mural by Medianeras. Photo via Vancouver Mural Festival on Facebook
VMF wishes to stress that City of Vancouver COVID-19 social distancing rules remain in effect. All artists will be following health and safety regulations. Please respect all guidelines for physical distancing.
Follow the hashtag #makeartwhileapart to see the art in progress and the final before and after shots via the @vanmuralfest Instagram and Facebook.
This year’s tulip festivals may be cancelled due to COVID-19 but organizers have found a safe and exciting way to ensure that at least a few people get to experience the popular springtime event. Starting today on Instagram, you can win a day alone with BLOOM Abbotsford Tulip Festival‘s millions of tulips!
Win a Day Alone with BLOOM Abbotsford Tulip Festival’s Millions of Tulips
“We wanted to find a safe way to allow at least a few people from the same household onto the site to enjoy the tulips while still adhering to provincial COVID-19 guidelines,” said Alexis Szarek, founder of BLOOM, the Abbotsford Tulip Festival. “It will give us great joy to welcome the winner of this contest to BLOOM for this once in a lifetime experience.”
Enter to win a prize package that includes up to three hours alone in the BLOOM tulip fields at anytime of the time of the winner’s choice, including the popular sunrise or sunset times. The winner and their household may attend. In addition, the winner will have the chance to fill their own bucket with as many tulips as they can pick during their visit to BLOOM!
To enter, “like” the contest post on BLOOM’s Instagram and follow @abbotsfordtulipfestival, plus tag one friend. Both receive entries. The winner will be chosen Friday April 24th and will be contacted by direct message. The winner can only attend the festival along with members within their own household. Prize must be redeemed by May 1st, 2020.
Unfortunately, this year the pandemic has forced the cancellation of the beloved festival but the tulips had already been planted and now through to early May, acres of fields are in full bloom creating a stunning display along HWY 1 near the Sumas exit in Abbotsford. The event remains closed to the public until the BLOOM 2021 season.
At this time of year, as BC Youth Week‘s longstanding social media partner, I would be scrolling through dozens of events all scheduled for May 1-7, 2020. Due to COVID-19, BC Youth Week will look quite different this year but a handful of organizations have found clever ways to continue to celebrate and engage with youth through online initiatives. One of such campaigns is CityFest at Home in North Vancouver.
CityFest at Home in North Vancouver
To promote physical distancing and limit the spread of COVID-19, the original event CityFest at the Shipyards, is now CityFest at Home.
The event will take place virtually on Instagram on Saturday, May 2, 2020 and will celebrate youth on the North Shore ages 10-24, especially to showcase how resilient and creative they are during these challenging times.
This online youth celebration will feature over 150 awesome prizes, including Apple AirPods, longboards, skate merchandise, Disney+ and Skip the Dishes gift cards — for the best youth-submitted content (ages 13 to 24).
To enter to win, show how you are making creative use of your at-home time, for the betterment of our community. The categories are: skateboard + longboard, visual arts, performing arts, and baking/cooking. Share your content on the CityFest Instagram with #CityFestAtHome. Youth ages 10-12 are encouraged to enter through an adult or guardian’s Instagram account.
Another Online Contest!
Throughout April, there’s also a #CityFestPhysicalDistancing contest to highlight and award youth who are making creative use of their time at home. Leading up to CityFest, there are weekly giveaways every Friday on the @nvcityfest Instagram account.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-0GRlwH56b/
Youth are encouraged to upload an unlimited amount of photos of how they are spending their time during physical distancing, #cityfestphysicaldistancing, tag a friend in the post, and follow @nvcityfest.
What makes BC Youth Week so great is that it’s for youth, by youth, and it’s encouraging to see this community celebration persevere. Follow BC Youth Week on Facebook and Instagram for more info.
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by Rebecca BollwittDisclosure: Sponsored Post — Sponsored by VisitCoquitlam.ca Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
Due to COVID-19, the monthly #ExploreCoquitlam series, which highlights fun family activities, festivals, events, places to visit and shows to see, is on pause. However, culture and great food and supporting local businesses is more important than ever! Here’s the latest update from the VisitCoquitlam.ca team that can help you Explore Coquitlam From Home.
Explore Coquitlam From Home
Take Out from Fat Tuna Coquitlam. Photo via Facebook
Take-Out Options in Coquitlam
You can order take-out and delivery from over 150 Coquitlam restaurants! This list has you covered, whether you’re craving Clever Cupcakes or Chicko Chicken, Dim Sum World or Ta Bom Korean, or how about a Smokehouse Burger from Browns? Pair your meal with a filmed-in-Coquitlam television or movie night at home. Spot local locations in The Good Doctor, Riverdale, or Batwoman, and see how the city was transformed for Deadpool 2, or War of the Planet of the Apes.
Learn more about Coquitlam’s history via the City of Coquitlam Archives including online exhibits and hundreds of photos that will keep you fascinated about years gone by.
From expanded delivery and take-out, to virtual museum exhibits, everyone can enjoy Coquitlam like never before. Here are a few more ways to give your community a boost right now:
Continue to buy and order from local businesses, arranging for pickup or delivery if necessary.
Buy gift certificates from your favourite shops, restaurants or businesses.
Keep your subscriptions/memberships to local businesses active.
Ask your favourite businesses what you can do to help.
The 31st season of Bard on the Beach and the 80th season of Theatre Under the Stars have been cancelled, and now the 110th season of the PNE up in the air — among many other events and summer traditions in Vancouver.
PNE Summer Night Concerts (supplied photo)
A Summer Without the PNE (as we know it) in Vancouver
Because of COVID-19, this summer will look different at the PNE. The opportunities to celebrate will be different and we absolutely recognize that our plans for the PNE Fair and Playland will need to adjust accordingly. We continue to monitor progress and work with Government officials and, when the time is right, we will be ready to welcome the province back in ways that makes sense for all our health and safety.
These are challenging times but we are resilient. Yes, the summer months are vital for us financially, and hearing confirmation today that all large summer gatherings are unlikely to happen, will of course, make the coming year very difficult. We are deeply concerned about the thousands of our youth, staff, vendors and partners that depend on us each summer to pay their way through school and to support their families and businesses each year. But the PNE succeeded through impacts of two wars, a great depression and the economic recession in early 2000’s. We were the site where British Columbia came together to wrap our arms around each other in celebration following both world wars. The PNE celebrates community resiliency, innovation, creativity and fun, even during extremely challenging times. We are the home of generations of great memories – we’ve been down before, but we’ve never been out.
We will be the place where British Columbia will come together again – to laugh, clap, cheer, sing, ride and scream through the lazy days of summer. As British Columbia’s largest employer of youth and the largest ticketed event in this great province, we thank you for 110 years of your support British Columbia.
So stay tuned, the events may be smaller, and protocols may be different, but we have a few bright ideas up our sleeve for when the time is right.
PNE Food Options in 2016
We’ll get through summer without the Coaster, fried onions, the lumberjack shoes, and free nightly concerts. We’ll get by without bumper cars, pickle cotton candy, a tour of a prize home, and even the SuperDogs. But, we’ll sure miss them all. Even the fried crickets.
