This month’s guest post is written by Kathleen Stormont, Communications Specialist with the Stanley Park Ecology Society (“SPES”).

Stumps in Stanley Park

Stanley Park has no shortage of awe-inspiring giants: towering old growth Douglas firs, burly Western red cedars and the province’s largest broadleaf maple tree.

These remnants of the original forest remain a century and a half after loggers’ saws first cut through the rainforest. It’s not hard to spot evidence of  this 19th century industry in the massive stumps dotting the Park’s forest – each bearing the scars of springboard notches or platforms upon which two men would balance drawing a saw across the expansive tree trunk between them. Though most of us stand in awe with craned necks under the giants, the stumps below are compelling in their own way.  

Second and third growth forest rises around the stumps, and even from them. The old “nurse” stumps support young hemlocks sprouting from the seeds of tiny hemlock cones dropped from branches above.

As these trees themselves age and fall, their value to wildlife is immeasurable: standing snags offer nesting cavities for wood ducks and woodpeckers. The rotting wood serves up an insect buffet for insectivores like the woodpeckers, while the decomposing trees and stumps refresh the soil with a heavy nutrient load. So important are these dead trees and rotting stumps to forest health, that the Park Board only removes fallen trees that may pose a hazard to Park visitors. The rest are left to provide their vital ecosystem services. 

 The most famous stump of Stanley Park is, of course, the “Hollow Tree”. At its prime, this remnant of a Western red cedar was about 800 years old and measured 5.5 meters in girth. Likely killed by lightening, this landmark was already a stump decades before the Park was established in 1888. It has been one of the most popularly photographed landmarks of the Park, captured for all time in photographs of buggies, horses, families and early vehicles parked in its centre.

Severe windstorms in 2006 cemented the Hollow Tree’s decline, forcing the Park Board to either lay it to rest or engineer a solution. An interior steel scaffold now supports the popular giant, while its likeness has been immortalized in Douglas Coupland’s  eye-popping life size gold sculpture displayed on a plaza at the south end of Cambie Street.

For Park wildlife and visitors alike, it’s the real stumps that are most precious with both history and sustenance housed in their crumbling bark. This fall, come wander the quiet forests of Stanley Park and be sure to include the not-so-lowly stumps in your contemplations. 

Join SPES on a guided tour of the Park’s giants during Big Tree Weekend, September 21 & 22, 2019. Our Hollow Tree and Friends Walk begins at 1:30pm on Sunday, September 22, 2019.

About the SPES Monthly Feature

As a member of the Stanley Park Ecology Society, Miss604 wanted to offer the organization an opportunity to share their news, events, so we created the “SPES Series” years ago. This is where SPES can contribute and share stories with the Miss604 audience once a month. Follow SPES on Facebook for more information.

Sponsored by Metropolis at Metrotown

Work where you love to shop! More than 50 retailers are participating in the 12th annual Metropolis at Metrotown Job Fair on Saturday, September 28, 2019.  There are more than 500 positions to be filled including opportunities with Hudson’s Bay, Toys R Us, T&T Supermarket, Dynamite, Nespresso, Roots Canada, H&M, and many others. 

Metropolis at Metrotown Job Fair

Where: Metropolis at Metrotown’s Atrium and Grand Court
When: Saturday, September 28, 2019 from 12:00pm to 6:00pm

One of my very first jobs was working at a retail story in Metropolis at Metrotown and I still use the skills I learned today; from customer service to invoicing and management, to looking for the very best products.

This holiday hiring season, retailers will be looking to fill over 500 part-time and full-time entry-level or managerial positions. Hundreds of job seekers are expected to attend, many of them seeking their first job experience. Retailers are also looking for experienced talent who may want to grow their career in retail management. 

Candidates are encouraged to bring several resumés and make a list ahead of time of the retailers they are interested in visiting. As some retailers will hold on the spot interviews, candidates should dress accordingly and arrive prepared to meet with hiring managers. 

Follow Metropolis at Metrotown on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more information.

“Ktunaxa is a critically endangered language,” I read a postcard in the interpretive centre gift shop at St. Eugene Resort. “This purchase supports language development activities within the Nation.” The full-service three-diamond hotel (with 125 rooms and suites, Casino of the Rockies, and a championship golf course) was my home for three days while I was on assignment with ZenSeekers.

St. Eugene Resort

Once a residential school, Ktunaxa Elders reclaimed and restored this property to create the resort as a source of hope, strength, and pride for their people.

2019 is the year of Year of Indigenous Languages, as recognized by the United Nations. When you stay at St. Eugene, there are many opportunities to learn the language of the Ktunaxa Nation, through formal Indigenous Culture and Awareness Training programs, or simply when you’re out on the golf course.

During my stay, I met Ktunaxa Elder Dorothy Alpine (featured on the video above) who is one of only about two dozen people who speak the language fluently. She is working tirelessly to translate old tapes and documents. “We need to preserve history and move our culture forward,” she said when we met up in the conference centre at the resort. She was just about to head out with the ZenSeekers film crew to translate and interpret some of the golf course hole signs.

With ZenSeekers, I have had the opportunity to experience several Indigenous cultures and sites across the province in the last few years. I carry a little notebook with me and I make a point of learning at least 5 words in the Indigenous language when I visit a destination. Here are a few Ktunaxa words I learned:

To learn more about the Ktunaxa language, follow this page and the development of the language app, coming soon to the app store.

Proudly owned by the Ktunaxa First Nation, St. Eugene Resort is located the heart of the East Kootenays located five minutes outside of Cranbrook. They have a shuttle that will pick you up from the airport and once on site, you can spend a couple of days at the resort, learning its history, or even having an overnight stay in an authentic teepee.

When You Go

• Read more about golfing at St Eugene in my ZenSeekers article »
• Visit the St Eugene website for any pre-trip research and to connect with the businesses listed in this story, or stop by the in-town visitor centre for more details on the region.
• St Eugene Golf Resort is a free five minute shuttle ride from the Canadian Rockies International Airport, serviced by Air Canada, WestJet and Pacific Coastal Airlines.
• Check out the #RockiesExploring expedition page on ZenSeekers to see what other experiences you can have nearby.

Tri-Cities Culture Days offers nearly 30 free eventsfrom September 27 to 29, 2019 during the 10th annual BC Culture Days celebration.

Artists, individuals, organizations and communities from across Canada will host thousands of free, hands-on, interactive activities that invite the public to create, participate and share.

Coquitlam Events for Tri-Cities Culture Days Weekend

Thanks to Katya with the City of Coquitlam for putting together this list:

Get Creative with Culture Days in Coquitlam
Get ready to celebrate the arts and get creative! Culture Days are coming to Coquitlam, with a whole host of free activities to unleash your inner artist. Whether you’re interested in trying something new, or enticing your children to put down the devices to get crafty, mark your calendars for these fun events. 

Try something new
Here are multiple reasons to pop in to Coquitlam for this weekend of festivities. Whether you’re five or 85, you’ll find activities geared toward your age and interest level. And hey, can’t beat the price! 

Early Music Vancouver (“EMV”) is kicking off its 50th anniversary season with Le Concert Spirituel: Baroque Orchestral Suites on September 28th. Inspired by the seminal 18th-century French concert series, 16 members of Victoria Baroque present a lavish pairing of French Overture Suites and Italian Concerti Grossi.

Le Concert Spirituel Baroque Orchestra Suites

When: Satutday, September 28, 2019 at 7:30pm
Pre-Concert Talk with Jeanne Lamon and Matthew White at 6:45pm
Where: Christ Church Cathedral (690 Burrard St, Vancouver)
Tickets: Available from $18 online or by calling (604) 822-2697

Treasured Canadian icon, baroque violinist, and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra Musical Director Emerita Jeanne Lamon, who recently relocated to Victoria from her long-time home in Toronto, leads this celebration of the birth of the public concert in 18th-century Europe.

Le Concert Spirituel: Baroque Orchestral Suites is a tribute to the Parisian concert series founded in 1725 that first brought music previously exclusive to the courts to the public realm. This series became the most important European platform not only for the best French artists, but also for presenting and disseminating the work of the most accomplished European composers and musicians of the 18th century.

The program begins with Michel Richard Delalande’s Fantasie ou Caprice que la Roy demandoit souvent. Delalande was one of Louis XIV’s favourite composers and was charged with providing music at royal chapel services and elaborate daily dinner parties at Versailles. His music was widely loved and became a staple at early Le Concert Spirituel performances. The first half of the concert concludes with a performance of Georg Philipp Telemann’s Overture Suite in D major for two horns, two oboes, and strings, composed in 1765.

The concert’s second half opens with a chamber work: the chaconne from celebrated baroque violinist and composer Jean-Marie Leclair’s Premiere Recreation de Musique Op.6. Considered the founder of the French violin school, Leclair, like Delalande, was employed by Louis XV for many years. The full orchestra then performs a work by another notable violinist-composer in Louis XV’s employ: Jean-Joseph de Mondonville, who directed the “orchestra-in-residence” that was created for Le Concert Spirituel, and that operated from 1755–62.

The evening concludes with Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony no. 30 in C Major. Hugely popular with Parisians, Haydn’s symphonies often opened Le Concert Spirituel performances in the 1770s and 80s.

Win Tickets

I have a pair of tickets to give away for the concert on September 28th at 7:30pm at Christ Church Cathedral. Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Click below to post an entry on Twitter

Follow Early Music Vancouver on Facebook and Twitter for more info. I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Thursday, September 19, 2019.

UPDATE The winner is Francine!