CHERRY JAM CONCERT

Thursday, April 5
12 noon to 1:30 p.m.
Burrard Skytrain Station Concourse
Free

Featuring amazing local talent and our new song, “Cherry Blossoms For You & Me!”

The 12th annual Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off the season with a noon-hour concert in the downtown core featuring local talent and memorable performances. Come soak in the festive atmosphere with performances of Vancouver Sings One Song directed by Kathryn Nicholson with our host choir, Sound Eclectic, a spectacular Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble collaboration with Chinese er-hu paired with tap dance, Tetsu Taiko and shamisen collaboration with Alcvin Ramos, and readings of the 2017 Haiku Invitational winning poems, under Burrard Station’s famed cherry blossom canopy.

The Red Winged Blackbird is a well-known neighbour in the West End.

Birds In Residence / Artists In Communities

Birds In Residence is a Vancouver Park Board initiative celebrating our winged neighbours, from songbirds to birds of prey, waterfowl to shorebirds in Coal Harbour and the West End. Through the coming year participants will learn everything they can about the birds who live in, and fly through, our neighbourhoods. The aim of the residency is to deepen our relationships with the birds which live with us, through nature walks and a multitude of art forms including drawing, mapping, listening, movement, and song. Combining the insights and talents of community engaged artists with biologist, ornithologtists, and amateur bird enthusiasts. Through the summer the program will partner with the Vancouver International Bird Festival and the 27th international Ornithological Congress to create a chorus of birds on stilts for local events, and to represent our community of birds in a grand opening parade on August 20.

April's Birds In Residence events include:

Habitat Mapping: The residency will include a series of discovery walks through the neighbourhood to identify birds and bird habitat. Each walk will be followed by some kind of art-making as we begin to map the birds in our community. Meet in the lobby of the West End Community Centre for the first walk on Saturday, April 28 at 1 p.m. and plan for a two-hour outing. Free.

Bird Chorale: Bird Songs artfully arranged by a local choir master. Learn together the morning and evening songs, songs of warning, and songs of love. Then put them together in a unique compositions for presentations or just to sing with the birds. Sunday, April 29 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Coal Harbour Community Centre. Free

Marlon Brando in the 1951 classic A Streetcar Named Desire, screening this month at Barclay Manor.

FREE FILMS @ BARCLAY MANOR

Tuesday, April 3 / Friday, April 6 / Sunday, April 8
Barclay Manor (1447 Barclay)
By Donation
(with WESN membership)

The West End Seniors’ Network (WESN) screens three movies each week. Cinema Classics every Tuesday at 1 p.m.; Friday Movies at 1:30 p.m.; and Sunday Movies at 1:30 p.m. Admission is by donation, with a WESN membership ($10). Popcorn is included!

This month’s features are:

Tuesdays (1 p.m.)
April 3: Funny Face (1957)
April 10: The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
April 17: The Odd Couple (1968)
April 24: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Fridays (1:30 p.m.)
April 6: Pitch Perfect (2015)
April 13: The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017)
The Theory of Everything (2014)
Steve Jobs (2015)

Sundays (1:30 p.m.)
April 1: Breathe (2017
April 8: St. Vincent (2014)
April 15: Churchill (2017)
April 22: Secret in their Eyes (2015)

Pull up a chair and enjoy!

MASON JAR SALAD ANYONE?

Sunday, April 8
1 to 3 p.m.
West End Community Centre
$12.50 / Free for Seniors 50 +

The West End Neighbourhood Food Network brings you the Village Vancouver workshop on healthy menu planning and meal preparation, including a hands-on experience creating a mason jar salad.

Yes, that's a thing! A great way to use pint and quart-sized canning jars is to pack them with salads. Dressing goes on the bottom, veggies and other salad goodies get piled on top. Everything stays separate and dressing-free until you toss the salad together in the bowl — never eat another soggy lunch salad again. Even better, these salads last for days in the fridge so we can make a week's worth of lunches ahead of time.

For more information on West End Neighbours Food Network activities, visit their website here.

Bon appétit!

DISCOVER THE INDIGENOUS PLANTS OF STANLEY PARK

Friday, April 6, 13, & 20
3 to 5 p.m.
Stanley Park
$22 Stanly Park Ecology Society members
$28 non-members

The Stanley Park Ecology Society invites you to walk through the forest with an experienced guide of Coast Salish descent and learn about the traditional and present-day indigenous relationships with local flora and fauna. While there will be no collecting on these tours, Stanley Park offers a perfect setting to learn about sustainable harvesting.

Join this walking tour to nurture yourself with nature and harmonize your well-being with the natural world. Meet at the #19 Stanley Park Bus Loop. The tour begins promptly at 3 p.m.

Visit their website here for information on their many other activities ... including some free activities.

PHILOSOPHER’S CAFE

Thursday, April 12
7 - 8:30 p.m.
Joe Fortes Library
Free

In this month’s Philosopher’s Café at Joe Fortes Library part-time psychotherapist and part-time musician, Aiden Ansarian guides a conversation about the cost of emotional suppression, and the question of how nd when do you make yourself vulnerable.

Aiden is a New Zealand-born clinical counsellor with a Masters of Counselling Psychology (MCP).

Philosophers’ Café is a series of informal public discussions in libraries, cafés and restaurants throughout Metro Vancouver. The cafés, which are open to everyone, have brought dialogue and discussion to thousands of people who are interested in exploring issues from the absurd to the sublime. To learn more about the Philosophers’ Café, please visit their website here.

FIRESIDE BOOK CLUB

Friday, April 13
11 a.m. to 12 noon
Joe Fortes Library / Stanley Court Room
Free

Connect with other avid readers to talk doubt what you’ve been reading and why you love it — or didn’t! Every second and fourth Friday of the month.

April 13 is Reader’s Choice - Potpourri (as is the first meeting every month) when you can discuss whatever book you’re currently reading or recently read and share why you liked it, or didn’t.