BC’s largest Earth Day celebration, Party for the Planet, returns to the Surrey City Hall Plaza on April 23rd. This year’s festival headliner is 2016 JUNO nominee for Breakthrough Artist of the Year Scott Helman.

Surrey Party for the Planet

Scott Helman leads a lineup of free family entertainment that includes Vince Vaccaro, family entertainers Bobs & LoLo, Music with Marnie, Franklin the Turtle and “Science Surprise Show” by Science World on the Road. Over 20,000 people are expected to participate in the day’s festivities that will include environmental themed activities and craft stations.

Additional attractions include a rock climbing wall, bike powered smoothie stop, digital photo booth, farmers’ market, tree and plant sale, an “Enviro-bungee” and a variety of local vendors.

Where: The Plaza at City Hall (13450 104th Avenue, Surrey)
When: Saturday, April 23, 2016 from 10:00am to 6:00pm
Admission This is a free event. No tickets are required!

Follow the Surrey Events team on Facebook and Twitter for more information. Miss604 is a proud partner of Party for the Planet 2016.

Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet presents a poignant tale of hope and understanding in Vancouver with the premiere of Going Home Star. This heartrending ballet pays tribute to the experiences of residential school survivors and opens up an important dialogue about truth and reconciliation.

Going Home Star – Truth and Reconciliation

• Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre (600 Block Hamilton St, Vancouver)
• When: April 7th to April 9th, 2016. Show at 8:00pm. Pre-show Chats will take place prior to each performance from 7:00pm to 7:30pm, in the east wing of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre lobby.
• Tickets: Available online via Ticketmaster for $29 to $89 (plus fees) or by phone 1-855-985-ARTS (2787).

Commissioned by Artistic Director André Lewis, Going Home Star – Truth and Reconciliation explores the world of Annie, a young, urban First Nations woman adrift in a contemporary life of youthful excess.

But when she meets Gordon, a longhaired trickster disguised as a homeless man, she’s propelled into a world she’s always sensed but never seen. Not only do they travel the streets of this place but also the roads of their ancestors, learning to accept the other’s burdens as the two walk through the past and toward the future. Together, both Annie and Gordon learn that without truth, there is no reconciliation.

“Going Home Star is without question one of the most important productions in the RWB’s 75 year history. We feel immensely honoured to have been entrusted with this story – and to use the ethereal beauty of ballet to further an imperative dialogue around truth and reconciliation,” says André Lewis, RWB Artistic Director. “Born from a collaboration between some of Canada’s finest creative minds, it is a gorgeously raw, exquisitely honest work whose artistry and message will resonate in the hearts of all Canadians.”

Receiving widespread acclaim, Going Home Star is a powerful production that bravely faces the pains and atrocities of Canada’s past, while giving hope for healing and wholeness in our future.

Win Tickets to Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Going Home Star

I have a prize pack available for this show thanks to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet that includes:

• 2 VIP Tickets to see Going Home Star at The Queen Elizabeth Theatre, April 7th ($228+ Value)
• A Pair of Exquisite Pointe Shoes signed by RWB’s Principal Dancer Sophia Lee
• A CD (2 Compact Discs) soundtrack of music for Going Home Star by composer Christos Hatzis, featuring Tanya Tagaq, Steve Wood & The Northern Cree Singers, as well as Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)

I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Monday, March 28, 2016. Follow Royal Winnipeg Ballet on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to learn more about this touring production and more.

Update The winner is Laura!

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 @mrmikelan on Instagram, featuring beautiful pink blossoms and the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver:

A photo posted by Mike (@mrmikelan) on Mar 19, 2016 at 12:19pm PDT

View more images from @mrmikelan 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!

A combination of rising food costs and a flood bills can make managing budgets this time of year, for many, a little more difficult than usual. Maple Leaf Foods wants to alleviate some of the pressure Canadian families are experiencing.

Through efforts that started on Family Day, Maple Leaf is giving 10,000 families across Canada $100 of free groceries, totalling nearly $100,000 in free groceries across the country!

Maple Leaf Feed it Forward

Not only is this a challenging time for individual families, but it’s also a difficult time for not-for-profit organizations that rely on donations. With this in mind, Maple Leaf is launching a Canada-wide Feed it Forward contest to help Canadians “Feed it Forward” and give back to the volunteers that have made a deep impact on their lives.

You are encouraged to tell Maple Leaf your heart-warming story of an organization or individual that has gone above-and-beyond to support their community or even yourself or your family.

Why Feed it Forward?

Food is a powerful means to build community and individual capacity. Whether it’s addressing the critical issue of hunger that affects 1 in 6 Canadian children or as a means to help people reach their potential, good food nourishes people in many ways.

Countless Canadians continue to volunteer and work tirelessly to help people lead better, healthier lives with good food. They are finding ways to help people eat well – and we want to support them. Let’s Feed it Forward to thank and recognize the people in our communities who have made a positive difference by feeding the potential of others.

How I Can Feed it Forward

Maple Leaf has empowered me to Feed it Forward and make a contribution to a local non-profit that makes a differences and I have selected the Strathcona Community Centre Association’s Food Security Program:

The Breakfast Program welcomes students of Lord Strathcona Elementary School every weekday morning before school and summer programs. It was started in the late 90’s by Linda Murota, a local parent who volunteered in the school cafeteria and observed how hungry some of the children were during the school day. How could they focus and participate in class with nothing in their stomachs? In the early days, Linda arranged to use the kitchen and room space at the community centre and ran the program as a volunteer cooking food using her personal funds. Over the years, the Breakfast Program has become an established healthy morning tradition that serves up to 150 breakfasts each day.

The program focuses on providing a healthy, balanced and varied meal in a friendly and social setting. It is made possible by a dedicated team of staff and volunteers, led by Jane Newton-Moss, the Breakfast Program Coordinator. This team also includes an amazing group of elementary students who commit their early mornings as Breakfast Buddies to prepare and serve food for their classmates. Through their volunteer work at the Breakfast Program, the young students gain skills, self-confidence, and a sense of belonging.

I first learned about the program back in 2009 when I interviewed Recreation Programmer Ron Suzuki. At the time, Ron told me that the Food Security Program wasn’t so much about securing food for the children, it was about giving them access to HEALTHY food.

Once 3:00pm comes around, Ron says that “as many as 200-250 children are engaged in after-school activities that run until about 6:00pm.” During this after-school time, children tend to be hungry again so Canada Place’s funding also helps about 175 children with the “Healthy Snack” program.

Ron told me then that it’s truly a community effort as the youth (usually grade 6 or older) learn how to wash and prepare the snacks to serve to the younger ones. Donations support access to those who face challenges including limited and low income to health challenges and give opportunity for all to participate.

How You Can Feed it Forward

You can also make a difference by nominating someone in your community who is using food to make a positive difference in people’s lives. They could receive a $10,000 donation towards their organization and enjoy free Maple Leaf groceries for a year. And just by nominating them you could have the opportunity to receive free Maple Leaf groceries for a year.

Here’s how it works:

• As the nominee, you must volunteer with or work for a registered not-for-profit organization or community group (kids camp, community drop-in centre, school nutrition program, etc.) that uses food as a key component of supporting their program goals.
• The organization or community group must rely on donations for the majority of their operating costs. They cannot be registered businesses or for-profit companies.
• The organization must have a clearly defined strategy, vision or program for how it uses food to improve people’s lives through, but not limited to, nourishment and skill building (nutrition education, meals and food hamper delivery, cooking and food preparation skills, etc.)
• As the nominee, you must have a deep commitment to the organization based on either their years of service, contributions to advancing the organization’s food program or service delivery, commitment to go-above-and beyond to their defined roles and responsibilities.

You can make a huge difference not only for a local non-profit, but also for the lives it serves. Get your Feed it Forward nomination in by March 21, 2016 to participate. Follow Maple Leaf Foods on Twitter and Facebook for more information about this campaign.

The lineup for FVDED in the Park in Surrey was announced this morning, including Jack Ü (Skrillex and Diplo) & Zedd as headliners.

FVDED in the Park Lineup Announced

Where: Holland Park in Surrey
When: July 2nd & July 3rd, 2016

Proudly presented by Blueprint, in partnership with Live Nation Canada, the festival features over 30 world-renowned artists from across the globe on its three stages. Grammy award-winning headliners include the recently combined forces of Diplo and Skrillex’s super-group, Jack Ü, along with one of modern electronics youngest hit-makers, Zedd.

More than 28,000 music fans attended last year’s festival, making it the largest outdoor music event in the Greater Vancouver Area. The scope of the event resulted in a positive impact on the local economy and helped strengthen the case for bringing large festival-type events to other municipalities in the Lower Mainland.

Full FVDED in the Park 2016 Artist Lineup:

All photos © John Biehler for Miss604

General Admission Two-Day Festival Passes and 19+ VIP Area Passes will be available for purchase on Monday, March 21st at 11:00am via the website. General Admission passes will be valid to admit all ages. Details on Single Day Passes will be released in the coming weeks.

Follow the festival on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram along with the tag #FVDED2016 for more information.