According to a recent local poll, almost 4.55% of Lower Mainlanders will watch fireworks for Canada Day, 31.82% will attend local events, 13.64% will head out of town and 50% will stay at home and have a BBQ.  The numbers don’t quite add up, but you get the drift.

If you’re not keen on spending a lot of money, here are some activities that are not only free but also sound interesting.

Burnaby: 1 AM – 4:30 PM

If you  haven’t visited Burnaby Village Museum, and its set up of a 1920s village street, Canada Day will provide the perfect opportunity.  As part of the 40 year celebration, the City of Burnaby is providing free admission to the museum on Canada Day and all season.  Families will be able to enjoy a fun variety of events including heritage games, face painting, a clown presentation and a sword demonstration put on by Academie Duello.  The Canada Day parade starts at 1:45 and is followed by the serving of the Canada Cake at 2:30.

Coquitlam: 12 PM – 11 PM

The Culturecoquitlam.ca website has extensive information about the various activities that will be set up around the Evergreen Cultural Centerm in Coquitlam. From sports, arts, community information and food, to canoeing, fishing and musical presentations, this is a Canada Day celebration in an attractive location that covers everyone’s interests.  Fireworks will round out the evening at 10:30. Parking is available right at the center; however, it might be full. So do have a look at the nearest streets to the center, should you have to park and walk. The center is also located on a major thoroughfare, so bus transit is always an option. If you don’t live in Coquitlam but wonder what life is like there for families, this is a great opportunity to investigate.

Fort Langley

If you haven’t had a chance to visit the Fort Langley National Historic Site, today is the day as entrance will be free.  You can learn more about what is going on in the Fort Langley area on their website.

Granville Market:  8 AM – Midnight
Canada day is the perfect time to play tourist in the Lower Mainland.  For a colourful experience and energetic buzz, Granville Island fits the bill.  Their Canada Day celebrations include their own parade, an impressive array of events such as a ferry ballet (!), a pancake breakfast and various musical performances, including a South Asian presentation of arts and food. If you are looking for a festival that might appeal to the older child or teenager, you will want to plan your schedule carefully using their programme. If you plan to attend keep in mind that you can take ferries to Granville Island from various locations downtown.  You can also easily walk down to Granville Island from South Granville  Rise.  If you are using a wheelchair, you might want to consider taking the #50 Fasle Creek bus, which drops off close to the entrance. See the Granville Island How to Find Us page, for more information.

New Westminster: 11:30 – 3:30
In New Wesminster the focus for celebrations is on the Queen’s Park area.  For more information check out the New West Minster tourism website.  You can easily combine a visit to New Westminster with a visit to the activities in either Burnaby or Coquitlam.

Richmond: 6:30 AM – 5:00 PM

If you’re looking for an outing in Richmond, picturesque Steveston never disappoints. The Steveston Salmon Festival has been ongoing since 1945 and is a joint event on Canada Day.  There will be a pancake breakfast starting at 6:30 AM, a parade at 10 AM and various other events including a road race at 10:00, Japanese cultural displays, art and craft shows, children’s festival, horticultural show, a popular salmon barbecue and musical presentations. If you plan to drive there, be sure to check out the road closure map so that you can plan your parking.  If you are planning to take the Skytrain and bus, allow enough time as Steveston is the farthest point in Richmond from the Skytrain.

Surrey: 10 AM – 10:30 PM

Just because you don’t live in or close to Surrey doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t consider attending their Canada Day celebrations.  If you like the buzz of being in a large Canada Day celebration – much like the Duke and Duchess will get on Parliament Hill – this is one of the largest Canada Day celebrations in Western Canada. Check out their website for important information about how to get there (transit or where to park) and for information about the events. (Event information is also available on their Things to Do webpage.)  The top events have a strong family focus and includea shooting stars midway and bouncy world, a craft focussed Kids World, food and market place and a Storyville area featuring stories and songs for children.

Vancouver: 10 AM – 6 PM, followed by a parade at 7 PM and Fireworks at 10:30 PM

Canada Place is the host for the downtown festivities on Canada Day.  You can watch the Canada Day parade featuring more than 60 floats starting at 7 PM from Broughton and Georgia Street.  There will be five stages and four other centres set up around the area featuring arts, sports, a citizenship ceremony, and musical presentations.  You can also learn more about Canada’s Peace Keeping forces, have your photo taken to be part of a large Canadian photo mosaic and watch the Sail of Lights animated show from dawn until dusk.  If you attend all of the stages and centers you can collect stamps and enter to win a $2,000 BC Ferries prize.  For more information about the extensive programme downtown, visit their webpage.    Since these events take place near two Skytrain lines and major bus routes, taking transit is an easy option instead of trying to find parking.

South Granville Rise

The Whole Foods at Cambie and Broadway will host a BBQ today featuring sliders, salads, in-house made potato chips and aqua fresca
at $2 for each item.  The BBQ is ongoing until 3 PM and the store is conveniently located near the Broadway Skytrain station

Yaletown: 1 PM – 6:30

If you enjoy watching the Tour de France or if you have an avid cyclist in your family, you will want to head down to the Yaletown Grand Prix.  In this intimate setting you and your family will feel like you’re in the heart of the action.  The first race starts at 1 PM and last race starts at 4:55. Races run anywhere from 25 to 65 minutes.  If you’re wondering what this event is like, you can check out photographs from previous years. Yaletown is easily accessible by Sktrain and has limited parking available.  So do plan to take transit if you don’t live in the area.  You can easily combine attendance at this event with a visit to either Granville Island or the Canada Place events.  If you’re really keen you can attend all three!

Downtown/West Side/West Vancouver: 10:30 PM – 11 PM

Whether you’re attending a local event, or celebrating with family, you can round out the evening by watching the 5th Annual Burrard Inlet Fireworks.  There will be two barges located near Canada Place and in Dundarave, near West Vancovuer. You will be able to watch the Fireworks from locations downtown where there are good sight lines to the Inlet.  For the first time, this year, you can also pay to sit in a viewing area near Burrard Inlet. Proceeds from ticket sales will support charities such as the Food Security for Children programme.  One free child (12 and under) is available for every adult ticket purchased. The fireworks will also be visible to people in West and North Vancouver, and to a more limited degree on the west side.  They are not viewable from English Bay.

Ideally this image (taken from the Celebrate! Japan book) would say Celebrate Japan! In the days following the tsunami and 9.0 earthquake in Sendai, the idea to celebrate all things Japanese feels like an antidote to the sad, heavy and downright worrisome stories coming out of Japan these days.  If you are from Japan, have spent time living there, have visited the country or know someone else who has, you will know that Japan is a fascinating country.  There is so much to love and celebrate about Japan and her people.  So let’s do it.  Let’s share our love about all things Japanese as a way of showing solidarity for the country and her citizens.  Topics will be introduced by date with the most recent first.  Please consider responding in the comment section of this page rather than in the Facebook comment section. That way people who come across this posting will be able to read your feedback.

April 18, 2011

It’s still cherry blossom season in Japan.  Head on over to the MustloveJapan.com site to see beautiful photos of flowers in Japanese gardens.  The Japanese people have a deep appreciation of nature and make a point of going out to view seasonal flowers in special locations throughout the year.

March 24, 2011

We received the following message from Effie K. in Athens about a project that Tokyo Graffiti magazine is planning to publish.  Submissions are invited from people around the world who would like to send a message of support to the people of Japan and in particular the residents of Sendai. The deadline is at the end of March. Here are the details if you would like to participate.

Message from Effie:

I was contacted by a Japanese publishing company,?HP http://grfft.com/ and they have a new project, which is to make a magazine for those affected by the earthquake and tsunami to give them the inspiration & hope for the better in the future.

They are currently requesting us to send our message of love, hope and encouragement and they are going to put them together in the magazine!

How to participate:

Please provide the following information and send it to bcfamily@bcfamily.ca:

1 Full name
2 Gender
3 Age
4 Country
5 Occupation
6 Message: doesn’t have to be that long, a couple of lines would be good.   Just for the Japanese or for Japan, for your Japanese friend.
7 Picture: Please do not forget to include your picture so that readers could see your face.
?Language: Japanese or English

Deadline: This project is due to the end of this month, as all messages need to be collected by March 31st. I would appreciate it if you could help me out as soon as possible.

Spread the word: Please ask your friend and your family too. We need lots of messages!!

I believe this is a great way to show our love and support to Japan.  I appreciate each one of your contribution and cooperation, thank you !

Note:  Since the deadline for submission is the 31st and there is a time delay between Vancouver and Greece, please aim to submit your contribution by the morning of March 30th.

******

March 21, 2011

Here is a touching tribute to Japan and the Japanese from a group of international students living Japan.

March 17th, 2011

In Japan the changing seasons dominate the calendar throughout the year.  At any time during the year you will find people going to view a specific flower that is in bloom or surveying some aspect of nature.  As March progresses, people have already enjoyed the early blooming of plum trees and anticipate the arrival of  cherry blossoms (sakura).  There are well over 200 varities of sakura and many people will have a favourite type of blossom and favourite place for blossom viewing.

Question: Do you have a favourite type of cherry blossom?  Where is your favourite place to view cherry blossoms in Japan? (Or elsewhere if you live outside of Japan.)  What is your favourite way to view the blossoms?  Do you join your colleagues?  Do you go for walks?  Do you have picnics with others at some of Japan’s famous cemeteries? Have you had sakura blossoms served in tea? Do you have photos of cherry blossoms on a website?  Would you like to share the link?  Are you living in Japan right now or in an area that has a lot of cherry blossom trees?  Please share a sakura report.  As March comes to a close they start to bloom.

Cherry blossom season is a high point in the cycle of mother nature in Japan. Despite the many challenges being faced in Japan right now, mother nature will be sharing her beautiful blossoms very soon.

Related: Enjoying Cherry Blossom Season

Who sends Christmas cards anymore?  Do you?  Do you still enjoy finding card envelopes in the mail box, seeing who sent them, admiring the stamp and appreciating the beautiful cards that are made throughout the world?  If you’re lucky there is a message or even letter inside to fill you in on what has been happening in the lives of friends and family during the previous year. During the Christmas season,  each time you gaze upon a card you can think of the sender.

The Christmas card tradition originated in the late 19th century amongst the more affluent crowd when the Christmas card developed out of the calling card tradition.   Victorian visitors would leave small greeting (calling) cards when they visited a home.  This evolved into the tradition of leaving Christmas themed calling cards.  Following this tradition, larger Christmas cards were produced. At first these Christmas cards were exchanged exclusively by this wealthier subset of the population; however, the arrival of mass produced German cards made them more accessible to everyone.

A mailed Christmas card is a small gesture to say that you are thinking of that household at this time of year. Nowadays, more than ever, the mere fact that you send cards indicates that you have made an effort. Twenty years ago our effort threshold would have been higher.  Pre Baby Boomers used to send as many as 300 cards during the holiday season.   This tells us that back in the day people also maintained closer ties with members of their extended families. You will still find members of the pre Boomer generation (in their 60s and older) who have mantles and Christmas card wheels full of cards. Back in the day it was also frowned upon if you included a typed, generic Christmas letter. Nowadays if you send out a Christmas letter by E-mail, many of your recipients will be impressed by your efforts.

Here at BC Family the Christmas card tradition is in its “last gasps” phase. Clearly the younger generation are not keen on the tradition.   Considering the cost of buying or printing them   and the steep cost of Canada Post postage, every year we give serious thought to the length of our card mailing list. Consequently friends who are no longer sending cards are dropped off the list. Pretty soon we’ll only be writing to elderly relatives, many of whom don’t write back.  This year we had to make a choice between Santa Claus and the Virgin Mary and Child.  We decided to be anti-secular and go with the latter.  We saved a few generic Noel cards for families with no ties to the Christian faith.

It is sad because in a way because the Christmas cards tradition is one of the few simple Christmas traditions left that hasn’t been overcome by commercial concerns. After all, nothing is stopping people from making their own cards. Heck even delivering many of them by hand if we want to. It is also a tradition that you can keep up regardless of whether you are single or married/married with children. It is an all inclusive Christmas tradition. Some will argue that sending Christmas cards is a great waste of paper and causes transit related environmental concerns.  Yet the same person who sends cards might be someone who doesn’t own a car, takes transit everywhere and is an avid recycler.  She is probably the same person who will cut up all her cards in January to make gift tags for the following year.

If you have young children in your life, will you introduce them to the tradition of making, sending and receiving Christmas cards?

This cards was made using a personal photo of an orchid, with text added on top.

The card was printed by Shutterfly.com

In Northern European countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, on December 5th and 6th children celebrate the coming of St. Nicholas.  According to tradition, in the 4th century St. Nicholas was a bishop who lived in Myra, Turkey.  He had a reputation for secret gift giving and leaving money in the shoes people left out for him.  He is known as Sinterklaas by the Dutch, the original name for Santa Claus.  The most famous story is that he helped three girls who had no dowries by throwing bags of gold into their home.  One version of this story has St. Nicholas throwing the bag down the chimney while one of the daughters is drying her stockings.  (You can see where this story is going.)  Since Nicholas was so loving and kind to people in need, he was eventually asked to be the bishop of Christians in his town.

Today the story of St. Nicholas is celebrated by having a man dress as St. Nicholas visit children during the early days of December. In the Netherlands St. Nicholas arrives on a boat in late November with his horse and assistants.  Children sing songs leading up to St. Nicholas day and put out a shoe with carrots and hay for the horse. The next day there might be sweets, small toys or marbles in the shoes.  On December 6th the children find a bag of toys in the home or by the front door.   In Germany the celebration is celebrated on a smaller scale on December 6th, but a similar tradition takes place.

Children enjoy the excitement of putting out their shoes the night before and preparing the food for St.  Nicholas’ horse. If you want to keep things simple, while adding the St. Nicholas tradition to your Canadian Christmas calendar, you can think of some simple gifts to put in the shoe the next day such as stickers, coloured pencils and chocolates.  You might also want to give a new Christmas book, or put a note in each shoe with a special message for each child. The Sinterklassavond tradition (as it is called in the Netherlands) can be a sweet and simple tradition in your Christmas season.  Enjoy!

Related

St. Nicholas:  The Story of the Real Santa Claus