Two of my favourite local organizations are teaming up for an amazing initiative! Vancouver Whitecaps FC has launched the 4th annual #BuckUp for Mental Health campaign in support of Covenant House Vancouver. The campaign started this week and it will culminate at the match on Saturday, June 3rd when Whitecaps FC take on Atlanta United FC at BC Place.
This year, the ‘Caps are aiming to raise $50,000 in support of Covenant House Vancouver and their mental health programs. There are more ways than ever to get involved in #BuckUp for Mental Health:
Raffle: New this year is a raffle with only 1,000 tickets available at a cost of $20 each. The grand prize is a pair of roundtrip tickets anywhere WestJet flies. Order raffle tickets online here.
Auction: Fans can bid on one-of-a-kind experiences and unique items with all proceeds benefitting the campaign and Covenant House Vancouver.
“A few dollars may not seem like much,” said Whitecaps FC president Bob Lenarduzzi, “but when we all come together for this worthwhile cause, we can make a big difference in the lives of some of the most vulnerable youth in our community.”
Funds raised through #BuckUp for Mental Health will be donated to Whitecaps FC community partner Covenant House Vancouver, which serves more than 1,300 homeless youth who access their services every year, many of whom struggle with mental illness.
BC’s beloved rocker, Bif Naked, will perform a free outdoor concert in Coquitlam this summer as part of the city’s highly anticipated Kaleidoscope Arts Festival. Celebrate the arts, savour the flavours of the local food truck and craft brew scene, enjoy the best of music and dance, and check out the handiworks at the artisan fair.
Kaleidoscope Arts Festival in Coquitlam
Where: Town Centre Park next to Lafarge Lake-Douglas SkyTrain station When: Saturday, August 12, 2017 from 2:00pm to 10:00pm Tickets: FREE! All ages.
Bif Naked will headline on the Plaza Stage, sponsored by Coast Capital Savings and featuring musical acts throughout the day at the amphitheatre-style Town Centre Park Plaza, overlooking scenic Lafarge Lake.
Bif Naked embarked on a cross-country ‘Songs and Stories’ tour in 2016 following the release of her new book, I, Bificus. With her nine albums, a long list of hits, videos and her new book tucked under her arm, Bif will be rocking the Kaleidoscope stage.
Local roots-rockers The Matinee are also in the lineup. There will be plenty of activities for children, too, including arts, crafts and performances that will pique the imagination. Event-goers are told to expect surprises at every turn.
Explore and Share
Pick up your copy of the Coquitlam 2017 Travel & Adventure Guide at any City facility, or read it online, and share your photos online using #explorecoquitlam.
Miss604 is proud to be the Social Media Partner of the Kaleidoscope Arts Festival
It was a gloriously (rare) sunny weekend in April when John and I hopped into the Ford Fusion Energi to go on an adventure. First stop, the farmers market for picnic provisions. Next stop, a local park with trails, streams, and a spot to eat our locally-acquired lunch.
I recently had the opportunity to take the Ford Energi Fusion for a spin. It’s a hybrid you can also plug in to to charge like a full EV and there’s also regenerative braking, which means I love watching the battery power tick up when I brake or coast down hills.
Apple CarPlay engaged when I plugged in my phone, switching from Ford’s SYNC system, which was very handy, and every time you parked the car and turned off the engine the system would thank you for driving a hybrid and tell you how long it would take to return to a full charge. How polite!
We decided that this green machine would lead us to an afternoon in nature and it also inspired me to pick out 5 Picnic Spots in Metro Vancouver:
Belcarra Regional Park
Forested trails, rocky beaches and mountain views. Trails range from easy to challenging for hikers, cyclists and horseback riders. The rocky shores are home to a rich variety of marine life and there are great photo ops and views from the pier. Nearby Sasamat Lake is also popular.
Campbell Valley Regional Park
Grassland vistas, forest boardwalks, and wetlands make this regional park great habitat for wildlife, from songbirds to salmon to squirrels and more.
Forest, marsh and rocky outcrops make this regional park a gem to explore any time of year. The network of quiet trails are great places to hike and watch for wildlife.
Derby Reach Regional Park
Located on the banks of the Fraser River, the day use areas have picnic tables and washrooms. Explore the riverside, historic buildings, and heritage apple trees.
Set up at Centennial Beach or take to the wide open Dyke Trail with its big views. Within the Pacific Flyway, this regional park is also a mecca for birds (and birders).
This post has been contributed by the Ben Hill, Communications Volunteer with the Stanley Park Ecology Society (“SPES”).
Nesting Birds of Stanley Park
We all have a mental picture of our dream home. For some it’s a city penthouse overlooking Coal Harbour, for others a cabin deep in the forest or perhaps a quiet townhouse with an immaculate yard. We want something that will suit our lifestyle, fit our likes and dislikes and give us a feeling of comfort and security. Our local birds use similar criteria when it comes to nesting each year. The variety in design and location rivals anything from the human world.
Downy woodpecker. Photo: Liron Gertsman
Some, like bald eagles, favour huge open air nests built of sticks, others an insulated cup of moss and feathers. The truly security conscious like the downy woodpecker prefer a deep hole in a tree. Birds are equally fussy about who they live with. Great blue herons prefer the hustle and bustle of community living. The colony in Stanley Park has more than 70 occupied nests arrayed in the trees above the tennis courts. Many birds are far more protective of their space and mark out a territory that they will aggressively defend.
By specializing it allows birds to avoid unnecessary competition, but birds can’t always adapt when something disrupts their nesting behaviour. It should come as no surprise that human development is one of the biggest threats to nesting birds. Part of the problem is that whereas we like nicely cut lawns and flowerbeds, this doesn’t suit some ground nesting birds.
Recent research by John Marzluff, a professor of wildlife science with the University of Washington has shown which local species are threatened by urban development and which do well around humans. Marzluff split the birds he observed over many years in Washington into ‘adapters’ and ‘avoiders’.
Adapters are birds like song sparrows, spotted towhees and juncos that will tolerate living in developed areas, even urban gardens and bird boxes.
Spotted towhee. Photo: Don Enright
The problem species for those of us interested in conservation are the ‘avoiders’. These are often ground nesting birds that need cover from shrubs, ferns and roots for their nests. Flowerbeds and lawns just won’t do. The Swainson’s thrush and Pacific wren are two local ‘avoiders’ that are threatened by urbanization. The Swainson’s thrush is a long distance migrant. It winters in the Caribbean and South America, which shows how changes to the environment here in Canada can affect birds across the continent. If their habitat at one end is compromised, so, too, is their survival.
Swainson’s thrush. Photo: Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren via Wikimedia Commons
It is species like these that really benefit from the habitat we have in Stanley Park. Although our forest is second growth – the dense ground cover, including the old stumps, is great habitat for ground nesters. The Park’s forested areas are also much larger than the average garden, which simply means more space for territories. We’re now in the heart of breeding season, and while birds are nesting, the SPES is very careful to limit its work in habitat restoration and invasive species removal to make sure it doesn’t threaten birdlife nesting in the Park’s shrubbery, including in the invasive English ivy and Himalayan blackberry.
So the next time you are walking through the forested sections of Stanley Park, be sure to look down as well as up: bird nests can be at any level in the forest. While clearing away invasive ivy in Stanley Park, SPES volunteers nearly trooped across a Swainson’s thrush nest pictured here:
Swainson’s thrush nest at knee-level in Stanley Park. Photo: Kari Pocock/SPES
Join SPES’ monthly Discovery Walks in Stanley Park to learn more about local birds in the forest and around your neighbourhood. View full program listings online here »
Artists in Our Midst (“AIOM”) is celebrating 25 years of open-door artistic explorations with the West of Main Art Walk, May 27-28, 2017. In its largest-ever year, the festivities stretch from Point Grey to Main Street and from Granville Island to 41st Avenue, as a vibrant community of more than 50 artists share their works in garden studios, cafés, shops, and community centres.
West of Main Art Walk
Open Studio Tour and Sale
Saturday, May 27 & Sunday, May 28, 2017 from 11:00am to 5:00pm
From Point Grey to Main Street & from Granville Island to 41st Avenue
During the West of Main Art Walk, more than 30 studios, several cafés, and shops will open their doors to showcase the artists’ eclectic and expressive works. As the public traverse between the exhibition spaces, they will have the opportunity to venture to stunning garden studios, personally meet the creators, and engage in dialogue about their art and process.
The Roundhouse Exhibit
Leading up to the Art Walk, The Roundhouse Exhibit will offer early glimpses of the discoveries to-be-made on Thursday, May 18, 2017 from 1:000am to 9:00pm at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre. The day-long event highlights a wide range of paintings, ceramics, jewellery, textiles and photography, and acts as a prelude to the following weekend-long art walk.
A silent auction will also be held during the Art Walk with all proceeds going to the West of Main Art Walk Legacy Scholarship Fund in support of young and emerging artists from Arts Umbrella and Lord Byng Secondary School.
Win a Prize Pack
Three participating artists have offered up artwork for this prize pack:
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Follow the West of Main Art Walk on Twitter and Facebook for more information. I will draw one contest winner at 12:00pm on Tuesday, May 23, 2017.
I recently had the opportunity to take the Ford Energi Fusion for a spin. It’s a hybrid you can also plug in to to charge like a full EV and there’s also regenerative braking, which means I love watching the battery power tick up when I brake or coast down hills.
