Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (“VCBF”) is hosting a very unique event in April. We love the ocean and the trees in Vancouver, and the VCBF is now going to put them together, parading a Blossom Barge around the water to show off the fun, friendliness and creativity that defines Vancouver.
The floating installation will feature 36 flowering cherry trees, navigating around the city before mooring at Dock 7 by Granville Island Public Market Courtyard. A mini festival will then take place with free performances at Granville Island Market, including Tetsu Taiku & Tzo’kam collaboration, Langley Ukulele Ensemble, Kutapira, Chibi Taiko, and the international yoyo superstar – Harrison Lee.
Saturday, April 16, 2016
- 8:30am: Blossom Barge departs Tymac Launch Service near Crab Park, parading past Canada Place, Stanley Park, English Bay, Granville Island to Science World, returning to Granville Island Market
- 10:45am: Granville Island Dock 7
- 12:00-2:00pm: Free performances from the Blossom Barge Stage with viewing from Granville Island Public Market Courtyard
Sunday, April 17, 2016
- 12:00-2:00pm: Free performances from the Blossom Barge Stage with viewing from Granville Island Market Courtyard
- 3:00pm-5:00pm: Blossom Barge Flotilla departs Granville Island Market down False Creek to Science World on its return voyage back to Tymac Launch and Crab Park
The barge will be moored at Dock 7 by Granville Island Market (on the Arts Club side). Audiences can get a great view of Blossom Barge parading past Stanley Park, English Bay, The Pier at Canada Place, Harbour Green Park, Jack Poole Plaza, Granville Bridge, and all along False Creek and Granville Island.
Participation in the Blossom Barge festivities is free to the general public. Follow the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival on Twitter and Facebook for information about this event and more this spring.
To celebrate its 35th vintage, Sumac Ridge Estate Winery spent an entire year thanking its loyal customers for their support through a Pay It Forward campaign. From a non-profit dental clinic on Vancouver Island to an ice rink in the North Okanagan, two dozen British Columbians and Albertans were rewarded for giving back to their communities.
Recipients ranged from sisters who travelled from Vancouver to Kelowna on a regular basis to help care for their father suffering from ALS to a giving mother in Calgary who showed up on a friend’s door step – a brand new mother herself – with everything she needed to care for her baby.
I was honoured to be a part of the program’s launch last March, supporting Dress for Success Vancouver with a $500 donation to get the year of giving started.
Dress for Success Vancouver is a community empowering women into the workforce by providing them with professional attire, career services, and skills development programs. Their purpose is to offer long-lasting solutions that enable women to break the cycle of poverty. Dress for Success is part of a global movement for change, empowering women to obtain safer and better futures.
“We are able to help women feel confident on the road to self sufficiency.”
“With the $500 donation from Sumac Ridge in 2015, we were able to purchase plus size and extra small size office wear for our boutique, along with size 10 shoes and handbags,” says Dress for Success’ Christina Florencio.
“In addition, Sumac Ridge was our wine sponsor for our biggest fundraiser, IMPACT on June 4th which helped us raise over $70,000 towards our programs.”
Supporting Dress for Success gives women the gift of self-esteem, self-sufficiency, and success through education, mentoring, and professional attire.
This year, to wrap up the campaign, Sumac empowered me to provide Dress for Success with an additional donation. The organization will use to supply their boutique with much needed plus size clothing for women sizes 16+.
Learn more about Dress for Success Vancouver by following them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For more information, and to join the Pay it Forward conversation, find Sumac Ridge on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The saying is, “if you build it, they will come” but in some cases, once you’ve built it, they will still go their own way. At the TED conference in Vancouver, designer Tom Hulme spoke at a TED University session about desire paths. These are paths are created by human or animal foot traffic and often represent the shortest or most navigated route between an origin and a destination.
My favourite example is in Vancouver’s West End, along a stretch of Robson Street. There is a desire path that cuts from Robson to Broughton, even though there is a sidewalk along both streets:
“People are resourceful, they will always find the low-friction way around,” Hulme said during his talk. “Often our job is to pave emerging desire paths.” An example he gave was that when they were designing a portion of the UC Irvine campus they waited on paving walkways until they could see the desired routes students took for a full year, then paved those carved paths.
Thinking about this approach to design, I decided to seek out desire paths around Vancouver. Some I spotted from the air using Google Earth, and others have been posted on social media.
Desire Paths in Vancouver
1. Around the Sea Wall
2. Kitsilano Beach Park and Cornwall
3. Waterfront Road near Crab Park
4. Chestnut at Cornawll in Kitsilano
5. Western Parkway at Toronto Road, UBC
Do you know of any other desire paths around the city? If so, post a photo with the tag #photos604 on Instagram or Twitter and I can add it to the collection.
Wines of Chile was onsite at TED to spark discourse about Chile’s own dream for sustainability and diversity in the wine industry, and I was honoured to be their social media ambassador in attendance.
Spring Break is coming to an end but the fun won’t stop this weekend, which is full of activities for the family: Easter Egg Hunts, an Easter Carnival, the Stanley Park Easter Train, shopping at some spring markets, and more!
Things to do in Vancouver Easter Long Weekend
Events that run for longer than three days in a row are highlighted in green.
Friday, March 25, 2016
Canada vs Mexico, Men’s World Cup Qualifier, Soccer
BC Distilled Festival
Easter Skate at Langley Events Centre
Abbotsford Tulip Festival
Seasons Festival: Electronic Music, New Media Art, Tech & Community
Cap Theatre Presents: Cabaret
Return to Grace at the QE Theatre
Stanley Park Easter Train
Vancouver International Auto Show
Little Miss Glitz: A Musical Parody of Child Beauty Pageants
SCF Presents: This is Really Important Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
The Cherry Blossom Photo of the Day series contains photos that you have shared with the Miss604 Flickr Pool and/or the #Photos604 tag on Instagram.
Today’s selection, by @mr_dilly on Instagram, features pink blossoms with a view Downtown Vancouver and the Granville Street Bridge.
View more images from @mr_dilly on Instagram and check out other photography posts on Miss604, like the Vancouver Photos of the Week. Tag your photos with #Photos604 and you could be featured next!
