Legacy Interpretive Panels Celebrate the 120th Birthday of Stanley Park

September 25, 2008 (No. 53) - At a ceremony earlier today Park Board Chair Korina Houghton was joined by Mayor Sam Sullivan for the unveiling of several Legacy Interpretive Panels at the Chilco Plaza near Lost Lagoon. Mr. Johnny Fong, one of seven project donors from the Community Care & Advancement Association also participated in the unveiling ceremony.

Stanley Park was officially opened with much fanfare by Mayor David Oppenheimer on a beautiful fall day in September 1888. One hundred and twenty years later, Stanley Park has garnered international renown as one of the great urban parks of the world. In honour of this important milestone, the Park Board and the Vancouver Museum have partnered to create a unique project to celebrate our city's largest and oldest park. Along with the Legacy Interpretive Panels, an historical exhibition has been mounted by the Museum entitled "The Unnatural History of Stanley Park". Together the two projects explore the park's remarkable history, adding to the public's understanding of how natural forces and human intervention have shaped this urban greenspace.

Following the December 2006 windstorm, the interpretive panels had to be repositioned within the long-term Restoration Plan for the park, becoming part of the "Supporting Legacies"-one of the five key principles that have guided the restoration over the last two years.

At the unveiling event today, Park Board Chair Korina Houghton said, "What more meaningful way to celebrate this park's contribution to our City over the last 120 years than to provide opportunities that would expand the public's knowledge and understanding of this national treasure? We are very grateful to our donors for helping us make this project possible."

Thirty-six colourful, illustrated panels have been permanently installed around the park at key locations. In an accessible, engaging style they tell some of the important stories of the park's history, ecology and geology. This is the first time that the Park Board has developed such a comprehensive, interpretive program for placement throughout the park. Staff of the Stanley Park Ecology Society lent their expertise to assist with content development for the ecology-focused panels. A self-guided brochure about the panels is available at the Information Booth in Stanley Park and can be downloaded from our website.

The Legacy Interpretive Panels and the Museum Exhibition were generously supported by the Community Care & Advancement Association (Johnny Kwan Hok Fong, Shek Kwong Leung, Cheng Jia Huang, Zhan Wei Hao, Hua Chen, Kwok Chun Yu and Shun So).

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For more information contact Carol DeFina, Communications Coordinator, at 604-257-8440
or 604-377-3950.
www.vancouverparks.ca

The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation maintains 220 parks and 40 major facilities throughout the City of Vancouver. The Park Board's mission is to provide, preserve and advocate for parks and recreation services to benefit people, communities and the environment.