Spring has just started but some of Vancouver’s summer traditions are already drumming up some buzz, including the Honda Celebration of Light. Teams and dates have recently been announced for this season’s offshore fireworks competition.

July 27, 2019 INDIA

AMIR MORANI FIREWORKS
India’s first family of fireworks, their founder began in 1937 establishing a continued legacy of excellence. The Morani’s live and breath fireworks – and look forward to sharing this passion with locals and visitors alike.

July 31, 2019 CANADA

FIREMASTER PRODUCTIONS INC.
The producers of over 100 displays across Canada and Internationally each year. Their passion for custom soundtracks and high-quality products are sure to leave you in wonder.

August 3, 2019 CROTIA

MIRONVEC FIREWORKS
Founded in 1993, “Mirnovec” is a synonym for
fireworks and special effect. This European team manufactures their own fireworks and are excited to put on a show to remember this summer in Vancouver.

While the fireworks are the main attraction, you’ll want to make an afternoon and evening out of every event day by stopping by the Park Stage at Second Beach and Z Fest. There will be three days of music featuring a diverse set of BC-based multi-cultural music and arts programming at Second Beach and Z Fest, on Bathhouse Roof at English Bay each night of the fireworks will feature: Vidya Vox, Khanvict, Scott Helman, Famba, Kardinal Offishall and Maestro Fresh Wes.

Follow the Honda Celebration of Light on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for more info leading up to one of the highlights of summer in Vancouver.

Related: Honda Celebration of Light Barge Tour

Try your best to throw a football like Jerry Rice and Joe Montana to win prizes, then walk over and meet the legends themselves. The atmosphere at the 26th annual JCC Sports Dinner was festive and fun, even before the doors to the dining room opened for the evening’s dinner and program.

It was a record year at the event, held March 5th at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver, which ended up raising $1.5 million for community programs. Over 900 of the city’s top executives and sports enthusiasts also heard from keynote speakers Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, along with Jack Diamond Award recipient: Greg Douglas a.k.a. ‘Dr. Sport’.

Through a raffle, wine draw, live and silent auctions, guests raised much-needed funds to provide scholarships and programs for members of the community who wouldn’t otherwise have access to these services. The crowd was so generous in fact, $150,000 was raised for the Fund-A-Need initiative and a lucky bidder walked away with a brand new Cadillac from Dueck GM for $37,000.

Everyone is welcome at the Jewish Community Centre (“JCC”), which provides exceptional cultural, educational, recreational and social programs and services. The JCC offers daily activities, services, and programs including fitness offerings and award-winning early childhood education, and more.

Miss604 is the proud 2019 social media sponsor of the JCC Sports Dinner, follow along on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for more info about next year’s event.

Starting at 11:00am at the EasyPark parking lot at the corner of Cambie and West Georgia (688 Cambie St), White Spot will be handing out 300 of their Avocado Beyond Burgers today from their food truck. This 100%-plant-based Beyond Burger® patty is new to its menu and they want Vancouverites to give it a try.

Available at all full-service White Spot restaurants in BC and Alberta beginning Monday, April 15, White Spot’s Avocado Beyond Burger features a hearty four-ounce chargrilled Beyond Burger patty, fresh avocado, pickled onions, roasted corn, crisp lettuce, vine-ripened tomatoes, jalapeño ranch and edamame hummus.

The Avocado Beyond Burger is joined on the White Spot menu by the new Southwest Power Bowl, which features a Beyond Burger patty complemented by fresh avocado, cherry tomatoes, radish, roasted corn and cabbage and served with quinoa and jasmine rice with greens, jalapeño ranch and edamame hummus.

Both the Avocado Beyond Burger and Southwest Power Bowl are available in a vegan-friendly format when ordered on a gluten-free bun and without jalapeño ranch. Guests can also substitute the Beyond Burger patty in any of White Spot’s signature burgers for $1.99, make it a lettuce wrap at no additional charge or substitute a gluten-free bun for only $1.

Starting Monday, May 6, the Beyond Burger patty will also be added to the menu at White Spot’s quick-service brand Triple O’s in a new Beyond Original signature burger as well as a limited-edition Mushroom Avocado Beyond Burger™.

Join the conversation about White Spot’s new Avocado Beyond Burger on social media by using the hashtag #beyondlegendary.

This month’s guest post is contributed by Dannie Piezas, Environmental Educator  with the Stanley Park Ecology Society (“SPES”)

A History of Herons in Stanley Park

In 1921, a Province article featured a scruffy tree with branches weighed down by large nests. This is our first record of a Pacific Great Blue Heron nesting colony in Stanley Park. They may have long been nesting here before this time, which is a meaningful connection to the Park’s pre-colonial history, and today these birds continue to captivate onlookers who get to glimpse into the pre-historic… at living dinosaurs dwelling right in our city.

This colony has persisted through changes in the Park over the decades, moving from Brockton Point to an area by the Aquarium, to Beaver Lake, and to its current location near the Park Board head office on Beach Ave. Since 2001, the big birds have returned between February to March to this busy location each year, marking spring for many Vancouverites. It is known as the largest urban colony of Pacific Great Blue Herons in North America.

A History of Herons in Stanley Park

With this year’s late snows and persistent cold, the herons took a while to gather around the heronry but finally settled in among the trees on March 11^th after scoping out the area from nearby rooftops—their 19^th consecutive return. Quickly taking up their courtship and chest-puffing displays, the herons can now be seen pairing up in the nests which are viewable through the Park Board’s Heron Cam.

The public can choose nests to view by controlling the camera for a minute at a time, following the drama of the breeding season closely. Watch the herons’ flirtatious “bill duels” and nest-building, glimpse their blue eggs, and coo over fuzzy nestlings as they hatch!

Our first colony survey after they returned this year found 106 nests and more than 80 herons in the trees, and this number will only continue to grow through the coming months until they fledge in August-September. Read about how the colony did last year on the Stanley Park Ecology Society’s (SPES) 2018 heron report.

You can learn more about the Stanley Park herons and their behaviours through the Heron Cam page and the SPES website. You can also stop by the heronry on Wednesday afternoons to engage a SPES naturalist right underneath the action, or follow the Vancouver Park Board and SPES on Twitter for the latest updates (tweet your questions with #HeronTalk). If you would like to personally support the herons, please consider joining our Adopt A Heron Nest program where your proceeds go to their research and conservation.

The Pacific Great Blue Heron is a species-at-risk due to habitat loss and population decline. SPES gathers data on the number of birds, nests, eggs, and chicks to determine the colony’s productivity and population size. We also install and maintain metal bands on the trees to protect the herons from predators like raccoons.  Even though the exact location of the nests will inevitably change, we hope that—with your help—these wonderful herons will continue to call Stanley Park home for another 100 years.

About SPES Saturday

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

The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts presents Portugal’s brightest star Mariza on April 17th in the Chan Shun Concert Hall. The internationally lauded fadista — a performer of Portugal’s traditional soul music, fado — will showcase brand new material from her recently released eponymous album produced by Spain’s Javier Limón, the singer’s seventh studio recording.

Mariza at the Chan Centre

When: Wednesday, April 17, 2019 at 8:00pm
Where: Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (UBC, 6265 Crescent Rd)
Tickets:Available online now from $54

Effortlessly effusing passion, joy, and nostalgia, the talented vocalist will weave her impressive vocal range and commanding stage presence into a deeply moving and memorable evening of music.

Recognized as an undisputed leader in the new fado movement, Mariza has captivated audiences worldwide, re-imagining fado’s ancient melancholic woe into a majestic, graceful, and contemporary sound for world music aficionados. In addition to six additional multi-platinum album releases over the past 17 years, Mariza has made appearances on some of the world’s most iconic stages, including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Paris’ Olympia Hall, London’s Royal Albert Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, among many others.

Win Tickets

I have a pair of tickets to give away to see Mariza at the Chan Centre!

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 The Chan Centre on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for more information about upcoming shows. I will draw one contest winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Tuesday, April 16, 2019.

UPDATE The winner is Debbie!