THE TALK OF THE TOWN

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What Do We Have For You This Month?

Welcome to The Talk of The Town for June, 2021. Scroll through the following features (and click on images to enlarge) to find:

West End News & Notes

Charlotte Tarver with a “Butterflyway” plaque.
(click images to enlarge)

A BUTTERFLYWAY FOR HARO STREET
An Open Letter To The City of Vancouver

The following open letter was sent to Ivan Malis, the senior project manager/project delivery branch, for the City of Vancouver; Lon LaClair, the City’s general manager of engineering services; and City Councillor and West End resident Adriane Carr.

We are a group of West Enders supporting our friend Charlotte Tarver – a Butterflyway Ranger with the David Suzuki Foundation – in her efforts to have the newly re-designed boulevard running along Haro Park Centre planted with native wildflowers and shrubs to attract pollinators.  

A longtime Haro Park Centre resident, Charlotte is one of more than a thousand trained volunteers from over 100 communities in Canada sharing a mission to create butterflyways in yards, schoolyards, streets, and parks to support birds, bees, and butterflies. In Metro Vancouver, Butterfly Rangers have planted close to 70 Butterflyways across the region. Learn more about those here.

Charlotte is a lifelong outdoor enthusiast who spent many years in Haida Gwaii as a mother, teacher, and tour boat guide, sharing her knowledge of the flora and fauna of the islands.  She was also a “citizen scientist” with the non-profit Laskeek Bay Conservation Society which ran a biological field station on a remote island.  A few years ago, a stroke left her in a wheelchair, living in the middle of the city away from the plants and creatures she loves.

Today a construction zone, tomorrow perhaps a safe oasis for pollinators.

Construction of the new bike route along Haro Street between Bute and Jervis includes a widened boulevard which Charlotte says would be ideal for a Butterflyway garden. She points to the City's own website, which encourages citizens to: “Start a boulevard or street garden of pollinator plants in your neighbourhood as part of the City’s Green Streets Program and to ‘Beautify Your Boulevard and Street’.” 

We urge the City of Vancouver to get behind Charlotte’s Butterflyway project.

Sincerely,

James Oakes / Judy Graves / Andrew Luketic / Jeff Gibson (Beekeepers Society) / and 23 other signatories.

“Stay Connected Online” by Taka Sudo is one of the colourful banners now adorning Robson Street.

ART TO CHEER OUR STREET - A year ago, at the height of the pandemic, the Robson Business Association commissioned a group of eye-catching murals for their Make Art While Apart project, which West Enders have been enjoying and commenting on. To honour the one-year anniversary of the project, which transformed Robson’s boarded-up storefronts with images and messages of love, gratitude, and hope, they have partnered with a few of the artists to recreate their murals into banners. The four designs include A Dash of Hope by Carson Ting, You're Doing Amazing, Sweetie by Ciele Beau, Stay Connected Online by Taka Sudo, and Ça Va Bien Aller by Tierney Milne.

The bold artwork and colours will bring vibrancy to the street scene and continue to cheer our days long after the temporary window coverings have been removed. Learn more about the artists and their work at their blog.

 

Word On The Street

Formerly The Attic Thrift Shop, soon to be a Wonderland.

OPENINGS & CLOSINGS

SHOPPING IN WONDERLAND - When Gordon Neighbourhood House had to pull back its operations during the COVID pandemic, their second location for The Attic Thrift Shop at 1340 Davie closed.

The newest news as of press time was a sign announcing the “Opening Soon” of a business called Wonderland Smart Shop. No further details were available, though there is a Wonderland dollar store on Broadway. Inquiries are being made - stay tuned!

Keto Caveman is open for tasty business on Davie.

DINE LIKE A CAVEMAN - With three other locations in and around Gastown (Vegan Cave, Caveman Cafe, and Keto Caveman Cafe) the Caveman Keto Cafe & Bakery has opened at 1230 Davie, to great online reviews.

Boasting “healthy meals for any diet protocol”, their great menu includes options to complement any paleo, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, or other dietary needs.

MI TIERRA LATINA - Another new addition to the growing diversity of shops, cafes, and restaurants in our community is Mi Tierra Latina Grocery, at 1104 Davie, former site of an internet coffee shop.

The new venture is a neighbourhood convenience store, bringing a taste of Latin culture to the community. You’ll find your favourite Latin foods, drinks and groceries of all sorts.

Welcome to the ‘hood!


A CAPITAL TRANSFORMATION — Work began more than a month ago on renovations to the Capital at 1179 Davie, and workers on the site told The West End Journal that the plan was to update the premises and reopen as The Warehouse Davie, a rebranding to align with the other restaurants in The Warehouse Group, which include The Moose and The Dime Granville in downtown Vancouver and numerous other outlets across Canada.

In mid-May, the location was gutted by a fire. Since then, work appears to continue and we have inquired of the head office as to plans for the future. We’ll let you know what we know when we know it.

 

Milestones

Bertram Allen, doing what he loved best.

IN MEMORIAM

Bertram Allen - There is a traffic circle garden at Jervis and Nelson that was looked after by a popular Vancouver Shade Garden Society member, Bertram Allen. Bertram passed away earlier this year at Vancouver General Hospital after a long battle with a lung infection. He was an extremely capable gardener and landscaper, with a great passion for horticulture, who worked on many gardens around our area of the West End.

If there is a garden in heaven, Bertram will be there. RIP.

Tim Woodford, soon-to-be new music director at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church.

COMINGS & GOINGS

THE NEW MUSIC MAN - St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church is pleased to announce that following an eleven-month search and vetting 97 applicants they have chosen Tom Woodford their new Director of Music Ministry.

English-born Woodford has sung and played piano or organ at Royal Albert Hall, the Vatican and many other worldwide venues, played for the royal family on several occasions, Dame Judy Dench, and Sir David Attenborough. He serves as a lead vocal coach for children’s choirs at Oxford, Cambridge, and London. He is also a composer and arranger. Demonstrating his impressive range, his audition included his own organ composition, Debussy on the piano, a piece for a children’s choir, and Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way”

Provided the immigration process goes smoothly, Woodford is expected to join the team in August.

CARING FOR THE PARK - The Stanley Park Ecology Society (SPES) has announced its new Executive Director Tricia Collingham. Collingham joined SPES in early May 10 to overlap for three weeks with outgoing ED Dylan Rawlyk who, for the past year, has been supporting SPES remotely from Kingston, Ontario.

Collingham first encountered SPES over two decades ago when she joined the school programs team for a year as a volunteer program leader. Since then, she has honed her leadership skills in senior positions in the not-for-profit sector including time at Science World, BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, BC Centre on Substance Use, and most recently as ED with the BC Borstal Association.

With her passion for nature, Collingham will be busy familiarizing herself with the many SPES initiatives in Stanley Park and beyond, focusing her experience and skills on driving SPES’s mission to promote awareness of and respect for the natural world through collaboration in education, research, and conservation.

 

West End / Coal Harbour In The News