It’s about the time of year when I would be writing about Easter egg hunts, bunny yoga, and tulip festivals. COVID-19 has shifted every aspect of daily life and many are still trying to find simple pleasures, and ways support local businesses. Cue Maan Farms Drive-Thru Easter complete with to-go breakfast served by the Easter Bunny.
Maan Farms Drive-Thru Easter
Dylaina Gollub Photography
The Easter Bunny will dancing and delivering berry crepes, coffee and berry lemonade to vehicles. After picking up breakfast to-go, everyone is invited to drive through the farm to see the goats in the field. There is no need to exit your vehicle at any time.
Maan Farms Goats Dylaina Gollub Photography
When: April 10-12, 2020, 8:30am to 12:00pm Where: Maan Farms (790 McKenzie Rd., Abbotsford) Tickets: $10 per person, available online
Dylaina Gollub Photography
Another innovation is Maan Farm’s Mama Maan’s Drive-Thru for wine, fresh or frozen meals, such as butter chicken and chickpea curry bowls, samosas, and desserts, such as Brown Butter S’more Cookies. Orders can be placed online for curbside, no-contact pick-up everyday between 12:00pm and 6:00pm.
When I was growing up in Surrey, Chilliwack to me meant three things: Flintstones Bedrock City, swimming at Cultus Lake, or driving past the Trans Canada Waterslides on our way to summertime a BC camping adventure.
In 2007, I made my first friend from Chilliwack, Mr. Duane Storey. He introduced himself to me at the Northern Voice blogging conference and we became fast-friends. At the time he lived in Downtown Vancouver but a few years later her moved back to his hometown. John and I would spend weekends with him, with walks along the Chilliwack River followed by backyard barbecues. Duane also came with us to meet WP Kinsella when he did a reading (and signed my copy of Shoeless Joe) at The Book Man in Downtown Chilliwack.
About a decade later, John’s nephew visited from Iowa and proposed to his fiancé in the Fraser Valley, that was followed by a photoshoot at the Chilliwack Sunflower Festival. From the old Minter Gardens to the Chilliwack Tulip Festival, corn mazes, the mountains, trails and lakes, it really is a beautiful place.
I never realized it until today, since it’s Duane’s birthday and I have it top of mind, that I have some pretty stellar memories of Chilliwack. As such, and after my digressive introduction, it’s today’s #604Corners photo feature:
Chilliwack History
From the City website: “The Township of Chilliwhack was incorporated in 1873, the third oldest municipality in British Columbia. The City derives its name from the Halq’eméylem word “Ts’elxwéyeqw” which elder Albert Louie, of Yakweakwioose, talked about it meaning ‘as going as far as you can go upriver’ in reference to travelling by canoe up the Chilliwack River sloughs leading to Soowahlie. Halq’eméylem is the traditional language of the Stό:lō (People of the River).“
Bard on the Beach is cancelled for 2020 due to the risks and unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic. Western Canada’s largest Shakespeare festival has announced that while it will not be presenting a season this summer, their intended program will be presented in 2021.
Bard on the Beach is Cancelled
The Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival was scheduled to run from June 10 to September 26, 2020 in Vancouver’s oceanside Vanier Park, where the signature annual event has been staged for the past thirty years.
“Our team has spent the past month in an intensive exploration of what might be possible for our season, given the impact of COVID-19” said Founding Artistic Director Christopher Gaze and Executive Director Claire Sakaki in a joint statement.
“Our first focus throughout has been the safety and well-being of our patrons, our staff and volunteers, our donors, sponsors and partners, and the greater community we serve and entertain. It has now become clear to us that if we stage a Festival in the Park this summer, we won’t be able to ensure the health and well-being of all those people who would gather together at our site and in turn, be in contact with others. And so, we have made the deeply painful decision to cancel our Season. We know the impact it will have on so many people we care about – and we are heartsick about that – but we are sure that we are making the responsible and necessary choice.”
The Festival’s 2020 lineup featured Shakespeare’s beloved comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, playing in repertory with his epic historical drama, Henry V, both on the BMO Mainstage. The Howard Family Stage in the Douglas Campbell Theatre was to host two contrasting productions: Love’s Labour’s Lost, a restaging of Bard’s 2015 hit Jazz Age production, and Paradise Lost, Erin Shields’ critically acclaimed modern take on the battle between good and evil. The Season also included a variety of special events, from orchestral and opera concerts to the popular Bard-B-Q & Fireworks nights.
Over three decades, Bard on the Beach has grown to be a signature event on Vancouver’s summer entertainment and tourism calendar. The not-for-profit festival draws over 100,000 patrons each season, including many thousands of young people who attend subsidized School Matinee performances. Over two-thirds of Bard’s eight-million-dollar annual operating budget comes from ticket and ancillary sales, generated over its four-month run, and the organization annually employs almost 300 administrative and production staff and artists.
Says Sakaki “We know that the cancellation of our full slate of over 200 performances will have a significant financial impact on the livelihoods of the people who rely on us for a large portion of their annual income – as well as on our organization. We are deeply troubled by those facts. But we believe we must make the decision to cancel – and make it now – for the safety of all and for the longer-term financial health of our company.”
Patrons who had bought 2020 tickets and ticket Packs will have the value of their purchases honoured through a range of options including 2021 ticket credits, charitable tax-receipted donations, and full refunds.
On April 6, 1886 Vancouver was incorporated. Historian Chuck Davis writes: “The ceremony was delayed when it was discovered no one had thought to bring paper on which to write down the details. Someone had to run down the street to the stationery store! The ceremony was held in Jonathan Miller’s house. The population of the city was about 1,000.”
Photos of Vancouver in 1886
September 1886 – City Archives# CVA 1477-419.
From the momentous occasion on April 6th, to the Great Fire on June 13th, and beyond, thanks to the City of Vancouver Archives we can take a peek at our town back then. For more dates of note in 1886, I reference Davis’s History of Metropolitan Vancouver:
1886, Foot of Granville Street. Archives# CVA 1477-415
May 15, 1886 Lauchlan Hamilton began to survey what would become Granville Street. (Hamilton named the street for the Colonial Secretary of the time.)
May 28, 1886 Vancouver’s first fire department, Volunteer Hose Company Number One, was formed.
Before the fire (Tremont House in White) Maple Tree Square 1886. Archives# CVA 1477-413
Morning after the Great Fire in 1886. VPL# 1094. Photographer / Studio: Devine, H.T.
July 13, 1886 Vancouver city council passed by-law No. 258 to regulate the use of bicycles, which must henceforth not exceed 8 mph.
Tremont House rebuilt on Carrall Street between Cordova and Powell Streets, erected after fire. Archives# SGN 123
July 26, 1886 The first inward cargo to the port of Vancouver arrived: tea from China.
October 1886 The city council of newly-born Vancouver (a name chosen by CPR president Van Horne) induced the CPR to build shops, stores and other terminal facilities on the north shore of False Creek for which the railway received 20 years of freedom from city taxes on the property. The result was the English Bay Branch and Drake Street yard.
Cordova looking west from Carrall, 5 weeks after the fire. Archives# Str P7.1
Also in 1886 The Oppenheimer family (food wholesaling) built a warehouse that today is home to The Warehouse Studio. It is the oldest brick building in the city.
We’ve seen virtual music lessons and concerts, but how about a virtual gardening, farming and learning about where our food comes from? BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation (“BCAITC”) has a multitude of free online resources, lesson plans, and activities to support learning about agriculture and food from home!
“BCAITC is able to assist students, teachers, and parents with at home learning during the current COVID-19 pandemic. We offer a wide range of free elementary, intermediate, and secondary level agri-food educational materials that anyone can download from our website at any time,” said Pat Tonn, BCAITC Executive Director.
“Now more than ever, we believe that it is essential to focus on the important aspects of agriculture, food, and health and provide students with valuable learning opportunities.”
Agriculture in the Classroom… at Home
Geared for grades K-12, the organization’s tools provide valuable agriculture, math, science, art, language arts, technology, and career learnings for children across British Columbia.
Additionally, fun agricultural trivia contests are also being hosted on the organization’s social media sites this spring. More resources and activities are being added to BCAITC’s online sites on a regular basis.
New this spring, BCAITC is hosting weekly storybook readings on Instagram Live and Facebook Live; families are invited to tune into the virtual agriculture adventures. BCAITC has also compiled a comprehensive schedule of weekly downloadable online lesson plans to extend the books’ learnings.
