2004 Features
Listed below is an archive of featured stories spotlighted
on the Park Board's home page in the
'feature boxes' section. These four boxes accentuate timely activities,
events and other information of interest to the public.
The Park Board web site maintains its "freshness" by changing
the home page feature boxes on a weekly basis to reflect the events
and highlights of the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation.
December 6, 2004 - It has been said that the heart and soul
of a city can be read through the art it leaves behind. New generations
interpret symbols of those who came before. Our parks have been the
recipient of many monuments through its history creating a road map
disclosing celebration, occasion, loss or heartbreak.
Within the last week, new sculptures were unveiled at two of Vancouver's
most beautiful waterfront parks...
December 6, 2004 - One of the city's icons, the Bloedel Floral
Conservatory, celebrates its 35th opening anniversary on December 6th...
November 23, 2004 - Throughout November and early December Vancouver's
community centres serve as home base for numerous lower mainland artisans
at craft shows. This is the time when they display the creative results
of a year's work and let lucky consumers in on special sales just in
time for Christmas!...
November 1, 2004 - The daylighting of a salmon stream at Spanish
Bank four years ago has paid off this year as over two dozen chum fish
made their long journey home to spawn. Just last week the adult fish
started to reappear demonstrating first hand one of nature's most intriguing
mysteries...
October 25, 2004 - It's always interesting, even after years
of driving to work into one of the most beautiful landscapes, to think
back to how it all came about. Though other areas of the Park Board
web site contain more detailed information about the park's provenance,
this story will shed some light on Stanley Park's official dedication...
October 18, 2004 - The Vancouver Park Board counts among its
many duties the planting and care for the city's 130,000 street trees.
This along with ongoing plantings on parks and remnant woodlands equates
to the need for between 2500 to 3000 trees each year. And where do these
trees come from?...
October 12, 2004 - There are events in the life of a city that
are long remembered by its denizens- these include the unlikely companions
of centennials, elections, wars, annual summer fireworks etc- but little
can compare with the remembrance offered by Mother Nature...
October 4, 2004 - Everyone loves street trees but, as many of
our residents grow a little older or infirm, the once highly regarded
woody sentinels offering shade in summer and blossoms in spring, can
mean more work than some seniors can handle. Enter the Vancouver Park
Board and our Street Trees Division...
September 30, 2004 - Working at the Vancouver Park Board can
have a huge impact on your life, especially if you stay more than the
few years you originally planned on. Staff have been known to arrive
at retirement surprised at how quickly the time sped by, and many saddened
at the prospect of missing a park spring or winter of which they have
grown so accustomed...
September 27, 2004 - The 8.8 kilometer seawall is Stanley Park's
most scenic and popular walking/biking/blading route. Though it took
over 60 years to complete, starting in 1917, much of its incremental
progress was overseen by Park Board Master Stone Mason James Cunningham
from the late1920s until his retirement some 35 years later. A plaque
commemorating Cunningham's dedication can be seen in the rock face above
the wall at Siwash Rock...
August 30, 2004 - Who among us does not long for just one more
week of summer? Another stroll along the beach to gather shells; a final
swim in English Bay's waters as high tide envelops hot sand; a sunset
cycle along a seemingly endless seawall. Well, there may only be one
week of real summer left, before the rule of autumn pulls children back
to schools and others back to the work-a-day routine, so let's make
the best of it...
August 23, 2004 - It was Henry James who said, that the two
most beautiful words in the English language are "summer afternoon."
And who among us would not agree when we are collectively experiencing
what seems an endless summer, where garden outings and al fresco dining
can be planned on most days without need of prayer or potion to ease
the way...
August 16, 2004 - Monday August 16th will see the second batch
of new golfers take club in hand as part of Vancouver's Inner City
Youth Golf Program...
July 5, 2004 - Celebrate Skateboard Week from July 3rd
to 10th by grinding and sliding your board at some of the city's best
riding locations. Skateboard facilities are sited on a number of parks
around the city offering something for everyone from the beginner to
the highly skilled and for a range of interests - including bowls, ramps,
hipboxes and street style layouts...
June 28, 2004 - There's no better place to learn the rules of
the road than in one of Vancouver's most beautiful parks. This half
hour excursion offered free to the 5-8 year old set makes for a great
addition to a typical summer outing at Vancouver's first park...
June 28, 2004 - Don't wait for the annual expedition of your
friends and relatives to enjoy all the wonderful parks and attractions
that reach their peak of perfection during June, July and August. Be
a tourist in your own city while the weather and holidays permit...
June 18, 2004 - The Vancouver Park Board and the Garden
Club of Vancouver have announced the winners of a spring contest
that drew over 200 entries. Launched in early April and organized by
the dedicated members of one of Vancouver's most esteemed service clubs,
the Up Front Gardens contest recognizes wonderful front gardens,
small and generous, that can be viewed from the sidewalk...
May 25, 2004 - Vancouver's ever popular seaside restaurant in
Stanley Park re-invented itself on May 5 when the old Teahouse, at Ferguson
Point in Stanley Park, became the brand new Sequoia Grill, a contemporary
West Coast bistro...
May 17, 2004 - The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre
will be holding its second annual Goodbye Salmon Fry event this
month, allowing paid visitors to release a baby salmon fry into the
BC Hydro Salmon Stream Project in Stanley Park...
May 17, 2004 - The City of Vancouver has bestowed an Award of
Recognition to the Vancouver Park Board for a recent refurbishment at
the English Bay Bathhouse...
May 10, 2004 - In a city the size of Vancouver it may seem at
times that there are no hidden horticultural treasures waiting to take
us by surprise, but you would be wrong. Now, and for the next several
weeks, the wood-chipped lined pathway that encircles the Stanley Park
Pitch & Putt Golf Course is blooming in a confetti of pastel colours
with rhododendrons and azaleas taking centre stage...
May 10, 2004 - On May 12th 1886, the fledgling Vancouver City
Council made a fortuitous decision. They unanimously voted to support
a petition to the Federal Government of the Dominion of Canada to lease
a 1,000 acre peninsula near the then downtown, to be used for park purposes...
May 3, 2004 - Having trouble coming up with a truly special
gift for Mother's Day? Take our advice, and consider a gift with gardeny
overtones...
April 1, 2004 - The Garden Club of Vancouver and the Board of
Parks and Recreation are sponsoring an Up Front Gardening Competition.
The focus of this first time event is to recognize wonderful front gardens,
small and generous, that can be viewed from the sidewalk...
March 29, 2004 - The flowering Magnolias near the Beach Avenue
entrance to Stanley Park are in beautiful blossom this week. Many of
these much looked-forward-to bloomers take as long as two decades to
reach flowering age so when they put on a show, everyone wants to see
it...
March 22, 2004 - A.E. Housman waxed poetic about them, an entire
nation of Japanese celebrate beneath them and small birds line their
nests with their petals. Vancouver's over 19,000 ornamental cherry trees
are bursting into bloom all along city streets, boulevards and in parks
heralding the start of yet another glorious spring...
March 8, 2004 - Whether permanently in place or on long-term
loan opposed to short-term stay, Vancouver's wide variety of park sculptures
enliven any encounter between park visitor and art piece...
March 1, 2004 - Realizing that after three years, these birds
had come to stay, Park Board crews recently erected a rustic log fence
directly under the Stanley Park heronry to help minimize any disturbance
to the birds, while reducing the risk to people from falling nest debris...
February 16, 2004 - Where else but in Vancouver can you play
golf practically 360 days of the year (the rare snowy days excepted)?
Now is a wonderful time to get that first whiff of early spring while
getting the kinks out of your winter swing!...
February 16, 2004 - Though everyone is appreciative and impressed
with larger parcels of land that have been dedicated to park space,
there are a multitude of diminutive parks whose unadorned realms are
equally prized for that very reason...
February 16, 2004 - One of the oldest known hand crafts, the
art of knitting is taking a new generation by storm. Once bone, metal
or wood took the place of modern plastic needles in this art that is
thought to have had its start in Persia thousands of years ago...
February 9, 2004 - Just as in real estate, planning that special
Valentine's dinner can depend on location, location, location. On this
upcoming romantic weekend devoted to lovers and mates, take extra pains
in finding that perfect setting for your "tete a tete" while
breaking bread. Where could be more beautiful than in one of the several
Park Board leased restaurants?...
February 2, 2004 - The snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) is a much
looked forward to harbinger of spring in eastern climes that comes much
later than their west coast cousins in Vancouver...
February 2, 2004 - The Park Board has always been very fortunate
in having the very best in horticultural hearts and minds busily sowing
the seeds of future public garden displays in a little known location
in south Vancouver...
January 26, 2004 - This expansive eastside greenspace encompassing
27.40 hectares has a most interesting history that reads like a chronicle
of the Who's Who in early Vancouver...
January 12, 2004 - Vancouver Community Centres have geared up
for the snowy season with a wide variety of day trips and other activities
to local and regional mountains...
January 12, 2004 - If you could pick just one exercise that
promises good conditioning while impacting joints as gently as possible,
swimming meets all the criteria...
January 12, 2004 - Some people might think that the winter landscape
is devoid of bloom and scent but they would be in for a pleasant surprise.
Now is the peak blooming time for the witch hazel clan with their often
heavily scented fright-wig flowers...
New
Sculptures Unveiled in Parks!
Bloedel
Conservatory Turns 35 with Beautiful Holiday Displays!
Christmas
Craft Fairs
"Chum"
Come Home to Spanish Bank
The
Most Beautiful Park in the World: Stanley Park Dedicated 115 Years Ago
From Sapling to Street Tree
Hurricane or Typhoon - Looking Back
Lend a Hand - Raking for Our Friends!
The Ebb and Flow of the Seasons - Spring Bulbs
Walking the Stanley Park Seawall
Holding On To Summer
Vancouver's Public Gardens at the Height of Perfection
Inner City Youth Golf Program Teeing Off on Park Board Courses
Skateboard Week
Traffic School in Stanley Park
Tourism Week in Vancouver
Vancouver's Best - Up Front Garden Winners Announced
The Teahouse at Ferguson Point Becomes 'Sequoia Grill'
Goodbye Salmon Fry
English Bay Bathhouse Receives Heritage Award for Interior Restoration
Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Garden In Full Flower Now and Through
Middle May
This Week in History
Give the Gift of Parks and Gardens to Mom
Vancouver's Up Front Garden Competition
Walking in the Magnolias - The Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Garden
in Stanley Park
"Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now is Hung"
Some Sculptures in Parks
Good Fences Make Good Neighbours Herons Wing Back to Stanley Park
Great Golf - Great Prices
Ravine Park - Hidden Wonders
Knit One, Purl Two
Dining in Park Style on Valentine's Day
Snowdrops and Snowflakes
What's Cooking at Sunset Nursery
John Hendry Park
Ski and Boarding Activities Offered Through Park Board Community Centres
New Year's Resolution #1 Get in the Swim!
Wondrous Witch Hazels
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© Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation 2003-
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