The Renfrew-Collingwood area is looking to generate ideas to develop a plan for art and cultural spaces within its community. They are looking for support for new studios, galleries and rehearsal and performance spaces within the area. If you are an artist, resident, community organization or stakeholder interested in supporting arts, you are invited to an Ideas Gathering Event: Places Faces Spaces on April 26th at the Collingwood Neighbourhood House on Sunday, April 26th. The event takes places from 1:30 – 6:30 pm and you are asked to RSVP online or by calling Collingwood Neighbourhood House at T: 604.435.0323. If you are a resident and artist and not able to attend the event, you can also participate by way of a survey to indicate what you’d like to see for art and culture in the area.
Ideas Gathering Event April 26 To Support Art In Renfrew-Collingwood
7 AprHelp Vancouver’s Urban Forest And Plant A Tree
2 Apr
Help Vancouver’s urban forest and plant a tree. It’s that easy and Treekeepers makes it affordable as well. TreeKeepers is a non-profit partnership between Tree City and the Environmental Youth Alliance working with the City of Vancouver to grow our urban forest. Every tree you plant provides ecological, economic and cultural benefits. David Tracey, Executive Director of Treekeepers states in a recent Vancouver Courier article that “trees provide cleaner air and intercept rainwater so fewer stormwater infrastructures are necessary. He also said trees give us aesthetic pleasure by softening the harsh lines of infrastructure and maintain a thriving biodiversity by providing habitats for birds and insects.” There are a variety of trees including fruit bearing (apple, plum and fig), flowering and evergreen trees available. This April you can pick up a tree for the very reasonable price of $10 – $15, but you must pre-order your trees. To pre-order a tree visit Treekeepers.
List of upcoming tree sales in East Vancouver:
April 11 – Trout Lake Community Centre, 3360 Victoria Drive 1:00 to 2:30 pm
April 18 – Slocan Park, 2750 East 29th Avenue, 10:00 am to 11:30 am
April 18 – Sunset Rink, 390 East 51st Avenue, 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm
April 19 – Strathcona Community Centre, 601 Keefer Street, 10:00 to 11:30 am
April 22 – Mount Pleasant Community Centre, 1 Kingsway, 6:00 to 7:30 pm
Do your part to help create the world’s greenest City and plant a tree.
Photo Credit (Above): Pasi Pitkanen
Photo Credit (Below): Makio Kusahara
Double Bill Of Rocky Horror Picture Show Rio Theatre April 1st
31 Mar
In case it slipped your mind, April Fool’s Day is Wednesday, April 1st. For this ‘fun’ day on the calendar, the Rio Theatre, 1660 East Broadway, will be showing the ultimate cult classic film The Rocky Horror Picture Show not once but twice. If you haven’t seen the film, it has a newly engaged couple, Brad and Janet, who encounter a few monsters, a sweet transvestite in a castle and there is, of course, lots to sing and dance about, in particular the “Time Warp”. This is a great opportunity to dress up and have some fun with your favourite character. Those with costumes get to see the show for $8.00 and those without costumes $10. The movie will show first at 7:00 pm which will be open to all ages. Then a second showing takes place at 9:45 pm for 19+ crowd which will include an exclusive April Fool’s cut of the movie featuring some Geekenders performers. Advance tickets are available online at Rio Theatre.
Workshop On Small Space Vegetable Gardens At Figaro’s Garden April 11th
30 Mar
Our favourite garden shop, Figaro’s Garden, 1896 Victoria Drive is hosting a hands on workshop on Small Space Vegetable Gardens. The workshop will be led by Andrea Bellamy, author of the award winning blog Heavy Petal. Andrea will be sharing her tips on small space gardening. Whether you wish to create an edible garden in a small yard, an apartment balcony or a small plot in a community garden, she will provide lots of great advice to help your garden grow. The workshop will be held on Saturday, April 11th from 11:00 am – 12:30 pm. Although there is no cost for the workshop, there is a $7 fee to cover the cost of supplies, being a post, soil and seeds. To register, contact Figaro’s Garden at T: 604.253.1696 or by email at info(at)figarosgarden.ca.
Tonight Is Earth Hour 8:30 to 9:30 pm
28 Mar
Tonight you can join people from around the world by participating in Earth Hour. To participate, you only need to turn off the lights for one hour between 8:30 to 9:30 pm local time. This event started in Australia in 2007 to bring awareness to environmental issues and climate change and now involves 162 countries. This is one of those events where individually it may not seem like you are making a big difference, but collectively it does. BC Hydro states that for Earth Hour last year the provincial electrical load was reduced by 1%. That meant 1.4 million lights were turned off in this province alone. It’s a great excuse to bring out the candles, turn out the lights and get cozy.
Photo Credit: David Cowan
1st Annual Beer League BASH April 4th Britannia Community Rink
23 Mar
You are invited to the First Annual Beer League BASH being presented by Bomber Brewing. The event is a fundraiser with all proceeds going to BASH, Britannia After School Hockey. The event will take place at the Britannia Community Rink, 1661 Napier Street. On hand during this event, will be 11 local craft breweries pouring tasters on the rink concourse. At the same time, 4 craft brewery teams, Bomber, Red Truck, Parallel 49 and the ‘Craft Beer All-Stars’ will be having a show down on the ice in a round-robin tournament. Some of the breweries on site pouring tasters for this fabulous event include Bomber, Red Truck, Parallel 49, Main Street, Strange Fellows, Off the Rail, Bridge, Central City, Storm, Yaletown and Moody Ales. Tickets for this event are $25 and are available online at Eventbrite. Each ticket will include 3 taster tokens. Although you can and we encourage you to earn extra tokens by donating gently used hockey equipment to the BASH program. Some items they welcome receiving for the BASH program include elbow pads, helmets, hockey sticks particularly composite sticks and socks. The First Annual Beer League BASH gets under way at 4:00 pm and goes till 10:00 pm. Note, this is a 19+ event. Come out and support this great community event!
East Van GoGos 7th Annual Jazz Brunch March 22
10 Mar
The East Van GoGos invite you to their 7th Annual Jazz Brunch Sunday, March 22nd. What is a GoGo? Gogo is a Zulu word meaning “grandmother”. The Greater Van Gogos which includes chapters in various parts of the Lower Mainland are grandmothers and ‘grandothers’ working in groups to support African grandmothers raising a generation of children orphaned by AIDS. This network of grandmother groups in south western BC are dedicated to raising funds and awareness for the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign and the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
In March 2006, Stephen Lewis, a Canadian humanitarian and former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, issued a call to Canadian grandmothers to bond with their African counterparts. In his travels, Lewis noticed the phenomenal grandmothers who had buried their adult children and stepped in to raise the orphans left behind. They needed money for school fees and uniforms, food and other necessities. In the Vancouver area, three women answered the call. They invited a few others and launched Greater Van Gogos in the summer of 2006 with four groups. Although grandmothers in Africa’s many countries are addressed in different ways – ja ja in Uganda, sho sho in Kenya or nyana in Zambia – the word gogo felt right. Many years later, there are 20 groups registered with approximately 600 members from Vancouver and the surrounding areas. Together they have raised more than $1 million for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. The funds are distributed to community level projects supporting grandmothers and the children in their care in 15 sub-Saharan African countries.
The brunch on Sunday, March 22nd is a fundraiser for the East Van GoGos which will feature a musical performance by What It Is! The group consists of Mimi Beyene, Cass King, Patti Powell and Carol Wiedemann. We hear that these four unique voices are quite the powerhouse and have a captivating sound with a cappella soul. Their distinct arrangements are steeped in the soulful sounds of such greats as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Etta James, and Laura Mvula. They will be bringing East Van Soul to a whole new level.
Brunch will be provided along with coffee, tea and juice. Suggested donation is $25. To order your ticket contact Sharon at T: 604-254-4071 or eastvangogos@gmail.com. The brunch takes place from 11:00 am to 1:30 pm in the Grandview Room at the Trout Lake Community Centre, 3360 Victoria Drive. The music gets under way at 12:15 pm. Come out and support these great GoGos!
Blim Market At The Heritage Hall March 8th
4 Mar
Blim Market takes places this Sunday, March 8th at the Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street. There will be 48 local vendors on hand with an array of items including handmade accessories, jewellery, vintage items, pottery, cards, gifts and sweet treats. A few of the vendors we hear that will on site include first timer, Rescued Clothing Co., with their collection of upcycled t-shirts. There will also be favourite Blim Market vendor Galit Mastai Design, Product of Science and Art with beautiful natural soaps. As well, Barefoot Books will have a great selection of children’s books. Entry for the Blim Market is by donation and the event runs from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Hot food will be on hand by Open Sesame. Also, if you time it right, there will be two free raffle draws at 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm for $25 Blim Gift Certificates.

