THE TALK OF THE TOWN
/What Do We Have For You This Month?
Welcome to The Talk of The Town for July 2021. It’s a pretty bare-bones section this month - pandemic issues, heat-wave issues, timing issues - but we promise that next month we’ll be back up to speed with all the features and items you look forward to, including more news here in Talk of the Town and our Spotlight, Artist, and Then & Now features.
In the meantime, scroll through the following features (and click on images to enlarge) to find:
West End News & Notes
West Enders (from left) Judy Graves, Paul George, and Councillor Adriane Carr meet with Butterfly Ranger Charlotte Tarver (James Oakes Photo)
HARO CENTRE BUTTERFLYWAY UPDATE
by James Oakes
Following up on last month’s story on efforts to create a dedicated butterflyway by Haro Park Centre, we are pleased to report that we had a productive meeting with Vancouver city councillor Adriane Carr and her husband Paul George.
The initiative was first proposed by West End resident Charlotte Tarver – a Butterflyway Ranger with the David Suzuki Foundation. You can find the open letter that got the ball rolling here.
After touring the newly constructed but still unlandscaped boulevard outside Haro Park Centre, our group gathered in the Bute Street plaza to discuss the next steps. Councillor Carr agreed to put forward the proposal to City staff. Charlotte was pleased with this meeting and we look forward to hearing back from Carr.
A Suzuki Butterfly garden features native flowering plants that attract pollinators like birds, butterflies, and bees.
Stay tuned for further developments as Carr lends her support to the proposal.
HOT TOWN - SUMMER IN THE CITY!
And Plenty To Do At Your Community Centre
We’re sure you’ve noticed that summer has arrived with a vengeance. But the late-June heatwave may be over, or nearly so, by the time you read this, and against all odds summer programming at your community centre is in full swing.
The West End Community Centre Association operates the Community Centre on Denman, the Coal Harbour Community Centre on Broughton, and Barclay Manor. The Summer Recreation Guide for all three facilities is now available for pick-up at the reception desks and at numerous coffee shops and other gathering places around the community.
Click QR code to enlarge.
From licensed childcare to activities designed for older adults, you’ll find great programs and activities for everyone in the family. You want ballet for little kids? They’ve got it! Pottery workshops or watercolor courses to nourish your creativity? You bet! Yoga, Pilates, and other indoor and outdoor fitness activities? Of course! That’s what your community centre is all about.
Pick up the Recreation Guide, or download it using this QR code, and register by phone, in person, or online.
Tidal mapping via drone at Ferguson Point. (Jacqui Birchall Photo)
DRONES OVER ENGLISH BAY
by Jacqui Birchall
Early one morning in June, a crew from UAviation and city employees were spotted at Ferguson Point. Because of the Drone Operating Zone sign, I had to ask!
There is a Bathymetric Lidar hanging from the drone. This is tidal mapping the seawall to help in future repairs. It uses a technique to capture geospatial data of the coastline and shallow water to help create hydrographic data.
Recycling at the West End Farmer’s Market — first Saturday of each month only.
RECYCLE AT THE FARMER’S MARKET
Look for the green tent at the West End Farmer’s Market near the corner of Comox and Bute on the first Saturday of each month (July 3, August 4, September 4, and October 2) and drop off your small appliances and power tools for free recycling.
The tent will be just outside the boundary of the Farmer's Market so you do not need to go in the market line-up to recycle.
Everyone who recycles at the tent can enter to win a $100 gift certificate to the Farmers Market. Our Farmer's Market booth will accept small appliances and power tools including vacuums, slow-cookers, fans, hairdryers, and electric sanders. Unfortunately, they cannot accept TVs, printers, computers, or audio — call 604-RECYCLE to find a recycling location for those items.
Visit the Electrorecycle website for the full list of accepted material.
(Jacqui Birchall Photo)
𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧 𝗜𝗧 𝗜𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗘𝗘 𝗜𝗧
An unattended campfire was burning hot at Third Beach one morning in late June, just one of many such incidents locals note and comment about on social media.
Don’t try putting such fires out yourself. If you don’t have the training and knowledge you could make things worse, or injure yourself.
If you see a fire like this report it to the non-emergency number, which is 604.717.3321. Make a note of that number on your mobile phone contact list. You never know when it will come in hand.
Vancouver Empress X Oliv celebrating at Jim Deva Plaza. (Victor Graham Photo)
XL FOR X
Vancouver’s Empress X Celebrates Her 40th
by Kevin Dale McKeown
Many of our community’s individuals and organizations have missed out on important celebrations these past 16 months, with major and minor events being canceled or downscaled beyond recognition due to COVID-19 restrictions. But trust Vancouver Empress X Oliv to come up with a way to mark the 40th anniversary of her coronation in style, and safely. And with perhaps the most bizarre entrance anyone has ever made to an event anywhere.
On June 18, following some grassroots social media promotion, a crowd assembled at Jim Diva Plaza to await — nobody was sure what. A white van pulled up to the curb and a group of attendants opened the side door and pulled out a black body bag, carrying it carefully to the center of the plaza and setting it on the concrete. Someone unzipped the bag and out sprang (with some assistance - she’s no spring chicken you know! ) - the anniversary gal herself!
With scarcely a heartbeat for the audience to digest this scene, Oliv went right into her first number, doing Dizzy Miss Lizzy by the Flying Lizards followed by Let Me Entertain You, by Nina Hagen. in all with as many costume changes (right there in front of us all). It was short and sweet and just what was needed on the brink of summer.
If you’re not familiar with the Empress of Vancouver and the Dogwood Court, bring yourself up to speed here. It’s all part of a North American “court system” of drag artists and their courtiers which the late ted northe (as in ted northe Lane) brought to Vancouver in 1971, and is the organization that raised more money (and spirits) through the AIDS crisis than any other.
Happy Anniversary Oliv!
POP-UP PLAZA AT SUNSET BEACH
Stay Calm And Ping Pong!
A temporary pop-up plaza with a bright ground mural inspired by the sunset, ping pong tables, picnic tables with umbrellas, and food trucks is now animating Sunset Beach Park.
The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation opened the plaza on June 13 in the parking lot near the popular Beach Avenue bike path (between Park Lane and Hornby Street). Two ping pong tables will arrive in July.
Last summer, Beach Avenue was the busiest cycling route in Vancouver, regularly exceeding the 10,000 cycling trips per day milestone that other routes only occasionally see. This summer peak volumes are expected to surpass existing records.
Reserved parking, accessible parking stalls, and the EV charging station at the Sunset Beach lot will be reopened and enhanced for the 2021 summer season. Three new accessible stalls have been added for a total of five. General public parking at the Sunset Beach lot will remain closed while the Jervis parking lot has been reopened.
Food trucks and food carts will be stationed in the pop-up plaza throughout the summer, as well as at the nearby Inukshuk parking lot, which is also closed. The plaza will remain in place for this year and, based on the outcomes, will be assessed for continuing into 2022.
The operational changes being piloted this summer will be assessed through the West End Waterfront Master Plan engagement and park master planning process. More on that in future issues of The West End Journal.
