Dal Richards, legendary band leader and Vancouver’s King of Swing, has passed away just ahead of what would have been his 98th birthday on January 5th. Richards played 79 consecutive New Year’s Eve gigs and was a part of the PNE for 76 years. He was a radio host, performer, lyricist, and much more to the many who he has touched with his music and spirit for the better part of the last century.
1944: Dal Richards and his orchestra at the Burrard United Service Centre. Archives# CVA 586-3125. Photographer: Donn B.A. Williams.
1950: Dal Richards 10th anniversary at Hotel Vancouver Panorama Roof. VPL# 81255.
1946: Dal Richards and his band playing the Lady Luck Revue at The Orpheum. Archives# CVA 1184-2313.
“The musician was honoured with the Order of Canada, the Order of B.C. and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and was an inductee of the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame.
Over the years, he hosted national radio and television shows, including on CBC, helped launch the careers of talented young musicians and played countless concerts.
After 79 consecutive New Year’s Eve gigs, and nearly as many shows at the Pacific National Exhibition, it’s hard to imagine anyone has kept the music going for longer.
His reign began in 1940, at the brand new Panorama Roof of the Vancouver Hotel. Generations of people have rung in their new year with Dal Richards, who played every New Year’s Eve from 1936 to 2014.”
1960: Dal Richards leading his band in the PNE Parade down Hastings. Archives# 2008-022.137. Photographer: Leslie F. Sheraton.
1976: Dal Richards at the PNE. Archives# 2010-006.283. Photographer: Ernie H. Reksten.
1976: Dal Richards at the PNE. Archives# 2010-006.282. Photographer: Ernie H. Reksten.
Richards also arranged and popularized the BC Lions chant “Roar You Lions Roar”.
“Well, if you find something you like doing in life, pursue it with your heart. That is what I’ve done with music. I found that it was my love, so it enveloped my life totally.”
Downtown Vancouver hosted its first family-friendly, public New Year’s Eve celebration last night around Canada Place and the Vancouver Convention Centre. There were two fireworks displays, with one earlier at around 9:00pm for young families and then the grand finale at the stroke of midnight.
Tree chipping events, enabling you to recycling your Christmas tree, begin the first weekend of January. Check your city’s official website for disposal, chipping, and recycling information or check out these events that support local organizations:
January 3, 2016
Join Mount Pleasant Elementary School at Kingsgate Mall from 10:00am to 4:00pm. Get free hot chocolate and cookies when you bring your tree for chipping along with a donation. Your donation goes to Mount Pleasant’s new community playground, furniture for the school library, and equipment for outdoor play.
Until January 5, 2016
The annual UBC Botanical Garden tree chipping fundraiser for School Food Gardens is open 9:30am to 4:30pm daily, by donation. This year, UBC Botanical Garden tree chipping fundraiser will proudly support Tillicum Community Annex SPEC School Garden Program. $5 Suggested donation.
January 9 & 10, 2016
Every year City of Vancouver staff and Lions Club volunteers provide Christmas tree chipping events. After the trees are chipped, they are taken to the Vancouver Landfill to be composted. Your cash and non-perishable food donations collected at the events will be distributed to local charities.
Drop-off your Christmas tree from 10:00am to 4:00pm at one of these locations: Rona Home & Garden, Grandview store; Sunset Beach parking lot at Beach Avenue and Broughton Street; Kitsilano Beach parking lot; Kerrisdale Community Ice Rink parking lot.
You can also set out your tree out for collection. Check your city’s website for details if your city also collects food scraps and yard waste. In Vancouver, you can set out your live, cut Christmas tree for collection by 7:00am on January 16, 2016. Remember to remove all tinsel and decorations.
Surrey
January 2, 2016
A Christmas tree chipping and bottle drive event in support of the Surrey United Soccer Association from 9:00am to 3:00pm at Cloverdale Athletic Park (6410 168 St, Surrey).
January 2, 2016 Annual Tree Chip at Newton Athletic Park (7395 128 St, Surrey) from 9:00am to 4:00pm with all donations going to the Surrey Firefighters Charitable Society.
January 2, 2016
Enver Creek Secondary Dry Grad fundraiser with Christmas tree chipping by donation, along with a bottle and clothing drive from 10:00am to 3:00pm at the school (14505 84 Ave, Surrey).
January 2 & 3, 2016
Tree Chipping hosted by Rotary Club of Surrey Guildford from 10:00am to 4:00pm daily at North Surrey Secondary School (15945 96th Ave, Surrey).
Langley
January 2 & 3, 2016
The Ride 2Survive is holding a tree chipping fundraiser by donation at the Willowbrook Mall parking lot from 9:00am to 4:00pm each day. The Ride2Survive operates a one-day cycling event from Kelowna to Delta BC to raise funds for cancer research through as an Independent Fundraising Event for the Canadian Cancer Society.
As we ring in the new year, we often look back as we move forward. Thanks to the late, great Chuck Davis for his History of Metropolitan Vancouver, and the City of Vancouver Archives, we can take note of some major events and milestones that happened 100 years ago in Vancouver:
Vancouver in 1916
February 14, 1916 The first trans-Canada telephone call was placed. It was between Vancouver and Montreal. The circuit ran 6,763 kilometres through Buffalo, Chicago, Omaha, Salt Lake City and Portland, Oregon. Not until 1932 was a telephone line for an all-Canada connection completed.
May 4, 1916 The first convocation for conferring of degrees was held by UBC.
May 16, 1916 The new post office opened up on Main Street. Postal Station C is known today as Heritage Hall.
Photo of the postal station in 1917. Archives# CVA 99-356. Photographer: Stuart Thomson
June 2, 1916 The Buzzer began publishing. Today it’s still a resource for riding transit in the Lower Mainland.
July 1916 The spectacular second Hotel Vancouver opened. It was closed in May of 1939 when the present Hotel Vancouver opened and demolished in 1949.
Photo of the second Hotel Vancouver in 1920. Archives# CVA 371-884. Canadian Photo Company.
Also in 1916…
Vancouver aldermen voted to open civic offices to women.
The first grain elevator was built in Vancouver.
The Vancouver Shakespeare Society was formed.
Fred Deeley, Sr. acquired the Harley-Davidson franchise here, becoming its second oldest dealership.
West Vancouver began its municipal bus service, which would become known as the “Blue Buses”.
Stanley Park’s Lost Lagoon became landlocked, an artificial lake created by construction of a causeway. It got its curious name (now inaccurate) from poet Pauline Johnson, who remarked how the lagoon disappeared at low tide.
Photo from 1898, before Lost Lagoon was created/landlocked. Archives #St Pk P225
Industrial construction began on Granville Island. At the time it was 36 acres in size, 10 feet above highwater mark.
Construction began on the Pantages Theatre on Hastings Street. It was finished in 1917 (in 2011 it was demolished).
The UBC Botanical Garden was established, the oldest university botanical garden in Canada, today featuring 70 acres of plants from around the world, set in a coastal forest, including 400 species of rhododendron.
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by Michelle KimDisclosure: Review — Views and opinions are those of the author. Tickets were media comps courtesy of Ballet BC. Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
Though I’ve seen The Nutcracker every year for quite a few years now (and twice this month) it was only after watching Alberta Ballet’s rendition on Tuesday night (presented by BC Ballet), that I think I fully understood the ballet. There was a clarity and crispness to the dancers’ moves in how they communicated the surreal story of a young girl named Klara who gets a doll and watches as the world changes around her.
Alberta Ballet’s The Nutcracker, Presented by Ballet BC
There wasn’t a superfluous moment in Edmund Stripe’s choreography which helped keep the this ballet, which has a tendency to be made overly complicated, lucid. However, having said that, Stripe was able maintain the dreamlike and magical nature of the ballet. From the way the Snow Queen fluttered across stage en pointe to the gorgeously angular movements of the wolf dancer, to the crawling of the mice across the floor, there was an elegance, magic, and cohesion that I’ve never witnessed before in another version of the The Nutcracker.
When watching past performances, my attention usually wanes by the time The Sugar Plum Fairy and Her Cavalier arrive. But Luna Sasaki and Garrett Groat totally blew me away and kept me memorized every moment they were on stage. As did The Nutcracker/Karl, played by Nicolas Pelletier who, for me, embodied (and looked like) what The Nutcracker ought to–athletic, elegant, and very handsome (when his mask came out, there were a couple gasps of delight in the audience).
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s enhanced the ballet, and this particular aspect of the performance was such a treat for me (because I’m a huge fan) and really added to the spirit and collaboration and coming together of the season by being part of Alberta Ballet’s The Nutcracker, presented by BC Ballet.
