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#TakeOutBC Support Local Restaurants

1 Apr

This past year certainly feels like a roller coaster ride with many ups and downs. So many local businesses and organizations are struggling during this pandemic. We’ve already seen a number of restaurants shut their doors permanently. Just the other day, we learnt a long-standing Greek restaurant in SE Vancouver shut their doors on March 5th. We expect there will be more to come, but of course we hope not. With the most recent Provincial Health Orders, we have learnt there is a temporary hold on indoor dining until April 19th and possibly beyond. It is now take-out and delivery for restaurants save for those that have an outdoor patio.

We know the rapid changes in Provincial Health Orders has made it difficult for many businesses to pivot on a dime leaving them holding inventory, cutting staff, etc. We appreciate not everyone is in a position to support local restaurants due to their own personal circumstances. For those that can, we encourage you to support local where and when you can. Whether it’s take out, delivery or patio dining. There are so many great spaces around the City and some hidden gems. Did you know a personal favourite Via Tevere Pizzeria on Victoria Drive has an outdoor patio in the back of the restaurant? Add to that, they have a great online ordering system. If it’s great coffee you seek, did you know Platform 7 Coffee on East Hastings has an outdoor space behind their restaurant? There are a also number of areas along Commercial Drive that have carved out sections for outdoor patios and, of course, some have always had them like Havana Restaurant. Main Street and Fraser Street have also created many outdoor spaces for patio dining. We hope you will join us in supporting our local restaurants and #takeoutBC when and where you can.

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The Cultch Presents The Essentials April 16-18, 2021

25 Mar

The Cultch and Soft Cedar bring The Essentials to the stage for three online performances incorporating live and pre-recorded elements, for a unique concert experience, April 16-18, 2021.

For three days only, live from The Cultch’s York Theatre, renowned Vancouver musician, Khari Wendell McClelland is joined on stage virtually by local and international musicians, scholars, and poets in a multidisciplinary performance exploring the question: What is essential and needed in these times? With the help of award-winning poets as well as acclaimed scholars, Khari and the musicians joining him each night, probe the pressing questions facing us today as we encounter unprecedented societal, environmental, and public health challenges.

While the full allotment of poets and scholars will be a part of each performance, along with sound bath artist Faye Mallet, other musical guests will be different each night. Friday, April 16 sees Wendell McClelland joined by the gospel trio The Sojourners, Kwakiutl Hereditary Chief Henry Seaweed, the St. James Music Academy, as well as the folk duo, Twin Bandit. Saturday, April 17 brings another night of incredible performance with JUNO award-winning oud/guitarist, Gordon Grdina, as well as Soul/R&B heavy hitter, Tanika Charles. Sunday, April 18 will be Inuit style throat singing duo, PIQSIQ, and Vancouver’s favourite high energy dance band, Queer As Funk. 

If you wish to check out this unforgettable performance that aims to bring people together in this time of isolation, visit The Cultch for tickets.

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Spring Dessert Virtual Class With Chef Giulia Lombardo March 28th

21 Mar

Giulia Lombardo invites you to join her for a virtual cooking class this Sunday, March 28th. In this 1 hour class, Giulia will show you how to prepare a delicious English trifle dessert with an Italian twist. You will learn step-by-step how to make a trifle that’s layered with lemon curd, vanilla cake, Chantilly cream and fresh peaches. Before your virtual class, you will receive the full Trifle recipe by email with the ingredients and your shopping list. During the virtual class, Giulia will provide step-by-step instructions on how to create this delish dessert. If on the other hand you prefer to watch the video and make the trifle after at your own pace, you have that option as well. This virtual class is by donation with a suggested price of $20 per person. A portion of the ticket sales will be donated to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. To register, visit Eventbrite. You can also visit Giulia on Instagram @justguiliaa to see what else she’s been creating these days.

If want to try another fun creative recipe over Spring Break that’s easy to make at home, check out Giulia’s recent feature on ETalk.

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Still Moon Arts Society On The Hunt For Eco-Arts Program Manager

16 Mar

Do you have experience in project/program planning and community engagement? Are you passionate about the interaction between arts and nature? Still Moon Arts Society is on the hunt for an Eco-Arts Programs Manager that coordinates and oversees Still Moon’s Art Programs. You will be taking direction from the Artistic Director and supported by the Operations Manager. This role will have a Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) student to support you in your responsibilities. Still Moon has recently received funding for large projects and requires support in detailed project planning and implementation. You will be passionate about arts, nature and community engagement. Program planning, supervisor experience and exceptional time management is required. You are invited to submit your resume with cover letter to lindy@stillmoonarts.ca by March 17, 2021. To learn more about the posting, visit Eco-Arts Program Manager. To learn about more job postings in East Van, visit our Job Board.

Photo Credit: Zhaozhong Zheng

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Neighbourhood Small Grants: Projects That Connect Neighbours

1 Mar

The Neigbourhood Small Grant program is back for 2021. The foundation of this program is connecting people within their own communities. Hard to argue that this is needed now more than ever before. Although the program is envisioned a little differently this year in light of COVID, the fundamental principles still apply.

  1. Small is beautiful. Small ideas are beautiful and manageable.
  2. Everyone has something to offer. Whether you can teach a skill or give some tips, or provide a service. We all have something valuable to share.
  3. It’s your project. You create how you want it to look and feel.
  4. Create your chosen family.  A platform to help build networks within your community.

What are Neighbourhood Small Grants? As the name implies, you apply for grants for a project within your community. You can receive grants of up to $500 for projects that connect people socially, or involve sharing a skill or talent. If you are sharing a skill, you may pay out an honorarium of up to $350. Projects must stay within guidelines for physical distancing.  Anyone who lives in any of the communities listed below can apply for the grant:

Britannia, Carnegie, Ray-Cam, Strathcona
Cedar Cottage, Hastings-Sunrise, Renfrew
South Vancouver: Renfrew Collingwood, Renfrew Heights,
Sunset, Marpole, Killarney, Champlain Heights, Victoria-Fraserview, Oakridge

The premise of these grants are the belief that the best people effect change in a community that they live in. When money is less of an issue, it allows more ideas to shine.  What have other people done?   A few ideas include book exchanges, benches and community gardens.  Some other idea befitting our pandemic times could include creating small care packages for seniors with a few spring flowers and crossword puzzles and/or word search games.  For young children, what about a scavenger hunt in a park with prizes?   The ability to be with other children, but still physically distanced.   You could also create art cards for seniors in long term care.  Art in the park?  Whether it’s adults sketching or using pastels, or kids painting rocks to be displayed in the neighbourhood, connection is key and the ideas are limitless.  Need more ideas or wish to apply for a grant?  Visit Neighbourhood Small Grants.

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Petition To Bring Non-Food Vendors Back to BC’s Farmer Markets

23 Feb

One of our favourite vendors at the Vancouver Farmers Market is East Van based The Front Yard Flower. Co. As the name depicts, it initially started with growing flowers in the front yard of Rose Dykstra’s childhood home. Her business has grown substantially over the years and has evolved to include growing flowers on a farm in Richmond.   There is a large financial investment in doing this, along with time.  Rose Dykstra along with other small businesses sell their items at the many farmer markets around Vancouver.   In March of 2020 when the COVID restrictions hit, many non-food vendors were shut out of the farmer markets which caused angst and hardship for many of the vendors.  The ban lasted from early April 2020 to June 2020. Rose’s flower business had to suddenly pivot to e-commerce and with a perishable item this was no easy feat.

The ban for non-vendors had been lifted over the summer and fall. In mid-December the ban on on-food vendors went up again. This was at a time when many of the non-food vendors rely on sales from the Christmas period to support their families. As of today’s writing, the current ban continues with no sign it of being lifted.

Vancouver Farmers Market has done a great job of adhering to COVID protocols in an outdoor environment.  Rose Dykstra doesn’t see why she and other non-food vendors have been shut out the markets.   On this point, we do agree.  We are big supporters of local business. As we think about this issue, we know people are still having birthdays, anniversaries and celebrating new babies. What does this mean? People are still buying or sending gifts, often in lieu of in person celebrations. We see it regularly on our walks. Gifts are being delivered in person with masks, dropped at the door, then a brief interchange before saying a few words and leaving the gift behind.

In our view, by including non-food vendors you are including them in the BC economy by allowing them to work and to continue to sustain themselves, their families and any employees they may have.  If you can’t get it locally, where will people turn? For many items, our guess is Amazon. We’d much prefer people support local vs. Amazon. As it comes to flowers and Rose’s business, really could we not all use some flowers to brighten up the spaces we are all stuck in during this pandemic that just seems to go on and on?

If you are in support of bringing back non-food vendors to Vancouver Farmer Markets, feel free to add your support to the Petition at Change.org.

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The Cultch presents Mx February 18 – 24, 2021

14 Feb

The Cultch and Off The Corner Productions bring you a live streamed show to your living room February 18 – 24, 2021. You are invited to The Nancy Show where each night one lucky guest from the African Diaspora is granted a unique opportunity to reconnect to their ancestors. This is where you will find Max, a gender-questioning and mixed-race introvert, who has hopes of gaining insight into their African ancestry, and finding a better understanding of where they fit in the Black community. Max is seeking answers to some of life’s major questions – What of culture and ancestry lives within us, and how much is determined by our upbringing? Does blood equal belonging?—Max meets the famed Mz Nancy, our host for the night. Witty and glamorous, Nancy seems to have an answer for everything… but, as Max discovers, things are never black and white. 

Mx is written by an emerging playwright Lili Robinson which is inspired by personal experience. Robinson was “Raised in Vancouver by my white Canadian mother, I grew up with little connection to the city’s Black community, which was at that time particularly small in number. It was not until late into my teens, witnessing the onslaught of police murders of unarmed Black people in the States, that I was unavoidably confronted with the question, ‘Where do I fit?’ Robinson goes on to say that . “Doing this show means being able to engage frankly with dynamics around the consumption of Black culture, the politics of mixed-race identity, and white folks’ engagement, or lack thereof, with the topic of race.”   To pick up your tickets, visit The Cultch.

What people are saying about Mx:

“Mx addresses racism, Black erasure, and the complicity of false “color blindness” — but leaving no stone unturned, it also confronts what can be the false promises of performative Black culture.”
THE PEAK

“Check your privilege at the door. Mx will challenge and make you feel uncomfortable…At its most powerful, Mx also calls upon members of the audience to be more than purely witnesses.”
VANCOUVER PRESENTS

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Local Love This Valentine’s Day

10 Feb

We know not every one gets behind Valentine’s Day. Some see it as a made up day. Even if that’s your view, considering what a struggle this past year, why not show someone special a little love just because. It can be your partner or a good friend who has been a great support for you this past year, your sister, mother, brother. Or what about that next door neighbour or isolated senior? Whomever it might be, there are so many ways to say “I Care”. As we love our local businesses, we wanted to highlight a few you can throw your support behind this Valentine’s Day.

Soprasotto

Pizza Love

A few East Van pizza joints (and likely more) are doing heart shaped pizzas for Valentine’s Day. Check out Lombardo’s Ristorante and Soprasotto on Commercial Drive and Pizza Farina on Main Street.

Flowers

Who does not love to get flowers? There are so many great options in East Van whether it’s local florist shops like the Flower Factory at 4285 Main or Full Bloom on Commercial Drive. If you are lucky enough to have a neighbourhood corner store, be sure to check them out. They often have a nice selection on hand. If you are in River District this Sunday, you can also stop by the Brock Floral Cart which will be on site at the foot of Kerr Street near Romer’s Burger Bar. This is a mobile floral cart that will have a selection of flowers available from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm or until sold out. It won’t be quite as pictured, but you get the idea.

Sweet Treats

Oh Sweet Day

So many great local businesses are offering sweet treats for Valentine’s Day whether it’s chocolates at Beta 5 or the Purdy’s outlet store on Kingsway. If it’s cookies you are after, Oh Sweet Day, Bench Bakehouse and many others have a great selection. To see a full list of our Favourite East Van Bakeries, click the link. If you are looking for sweet treats for the kids (big and small), don’t forget the Licorice Parlour. They’ve added some new items so not just licorice.

Jewellery

White Sapphire Anna

If this is the year, you are going big on the jewellery front, we invite you to check out Era Design Jewellery at 1795 Venables Street near Commercial. They design some beautiful jewellery whether custom or ready made.

Love Songs

Jill Barber

If you are looking to set the mood with beautiful love songs, you will want to catch Jill Barber’s live streamed performance from The Cultch on February 14th.

Whether you celebrate the ‘day’ or not, be sure to show your local businesses some local love this weekend.

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Pandemic Pivot: Loved & Local New Online Shop

1 Feb

2020 was a year of challenge and change for many and 2021 continues on that same vein.   The pandemic has many people pivoting to earn an income from a new source. Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenn Franzen who did a complete 360 and created Loved & Local.  Jenn was a self-employment travel agent for 15 years. As we all know, with the current travel restrictions, planning trips isn’t first and foremost on people’s mind nor will it be for some time. So Jenn pivoted and created Loved & Local.

Loved & Local is an online store that features gently used clothing and accessories for women, men and children.  Loved & Local also carries items from local artisans including Oona Clothing,  Mosaic Earrings, beeswax food wraps by Etta & Olive, candles by Grain & Honey and knitted toques by Littlee Lambs Boutique to name a few.

Loved & Local carries a wide range of items and yes they deliver!  They offer free delivery on orders over $20 within a 10 km radius of Loved & Local which is located in Hastings Sunrise. If you are interested in trying on a specific item, feel free to reach out to them directly.   They have also just added a weekly auction on Facebook and Instagram that runs from Thursday to Sunday with a starting bid of $1.00. For those wishing to give back to charity in an easy way, Loved & Local supports some local charitable endeavours including Victory House Mental Health Facility. They are currently selling Valentine’s Day cards made by residents. 100% of the sale proceeds go back to Victory House.

We invite you to visit Loved & Local online and give them a follow on Instagram where they post many of their newly acquired items.  As always, support local when and where you can.

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Bell Let’s Talk: Now More Than Ever Every Action Counts

28 Jan

The pandemic has cast a new light on mental health. Many know it is an issue, but for so many isolated from their support system during COVID-19, mental health has come home literally. People are struggling for many different reasons, each has their own personal story. No two people are the same nor are their coping mechanisms, but YOU can be part of the action that makes a difference. It’s that call to a friend to check in, it’s checking on that senior neighbour that lives alone, saying hello and acknowledging that person you pass by. This year more than ever, every action counts. What will you do today?

Do you need help? Visit Bell Let’s Talk which has a great list of resources.

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