Between The Bridges – June 22

Sunday, August 25, 2023, from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm.

We love where we live and cannot think of a better way to celebrate it than at the spectacular Charleson Park, among our friends and neighbours.

Share a meal with friends and friends you haven't met yet, be WOW'd by our local musical talent, indulge in some creative crafts, play games, and much MORE!

The False Creek South Neighbourhood Association (FCSNA) presents the Annual Grill 'n' Chill. Join your False Creek South community for a BBQ & fun afternoon on Nine Tree Hill at the western edge of Charleson Park next to the seawall.  

Barbecued hot dogs and burgers (including veggie burgers), cookies and beverages are provided courtesy of FCSNA.  We are striving for a zero-waste event, so bringing your own dishware will be a great help in reducing the amount of recycling and compostable waste we produce.

Volunteers are needed!  If you’d like to have fun being part of a team and helping out with crafts, slinging burgers, set-up (10:00 am) and/or take-down or any number of other little tasks – or you have an idea for some fun games – just email FCSNA vice-president Vincent Pierce, *email is hidden, JavaScript is required*.

Pre-registration is required at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/927057161927/

City issues call for consultants

The City of Vancouver has issued a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEOI) for consultants to carry out a study on the technical and infrastructure needs of future development in False Creek South. This study will include:

The consultant team is expected to be chosen in the fall, with the study beginning before the end of 2024. Overall, the study and initial landowners plan is expected to take approximately 18-24 months. RePlan has met with City staff and will continue to meet regularly through the process.
 

If you missed our session on the False Creek South Resident Protection and Retention Plan, you can watch it on YouTube here.

Questions? Email Robyn at *email is hidden, JavaScript is required* or Sarah at *email is hidden, JavaScript is required*.

Drone light show, entertainment - and races, too

The annual Dragon Boat Festival is in full swing, but there’s still time to catch Vancouver’s first Drone Light Show at 9:30 pm June 22 (visible from much of False Creek South). Many of the 200 races and much of the entertainment at North America’s largest Dragon Boat Festival are scheduled for Sunday, June 23. 

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A whole lot of Indian Summer events

Starting July 4 and continuing almost every day for nine days, the 14th Indian Summer Festival on Granville Island will present a series of 13 mostly paid, sometimes free, cross-cultural events as seen through a South Asian lens.

The original intent of the non-profit Indian Summer Arts Society “to break stereotypical perceptions of South Asian art as ossified, traditional, and nostalgic…has since grown to serve as a meeting place for many more cultures...to build bridges and foster dialogue”. 

From the opening party at Performance Works on July 4  to the July 14 closing free music fest in the Public Market Courtyard, festival-goers will find music, dance, visual arts, fabric and textiles, poetry, story and song, and talks that range from dominant narratives to ancestral memory to food and plants to resistance.

More info at: https://indiansummerfest.ca/

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Narrated harbour tours on now

If you’re looking to entertain guests (or yourself) this summer, check out False Creek Ferries’  Harbour Tours on their electric boats. Narrated by the skipper, this is an hour-long tour around the Creek and a bit beyond, checking out historical sites and such landmarks as Granville Island, Science World and Kits Point, among others. Rain or shine. Cost is $25. To reserve, email *email is hidden, JavaScript is required*.

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Meanwhile, back in the Square…

If you’re anywhere near Leg-In-Boot Square on June 29, 2-4 pm, you’ll hear the Brock House Big Band before you see them, because an 18-piece band is pretty darned Big. For the full summer roster see Music In The Square in this issue.

A book club focused on community and all things urban, the legacy brainchild of RePlan’s Nathan Edelson, now has two successful sessions under its belt. Participants' comments indicate a lot of satisfaction with the books chosen, the discussions themselves, and the facilitation by RePlan leads Sarah Brown and Robyn Chan. 

Next up is Land of Destiny: A History of Vancouver Real Estate by local author Jesse Donaldson on Saturday, September 28. Copies are available to borrow from *email is hidden, JavaScript is required*.

The next Christine Sinclair and Alphonso Davies? Whether either of Canada’s stars began their footie careers this young, these little kids discovering soccer in Charleson Park are getting a pretty good start.

Our summer music program started on June 15 with a stunning performance from singer-songwriter and storyteller, Shawn Bullshields.  Did you miss it?  Not to worry; Shawn will return for an encore performance on August 17.

Some other artists confirmed to date are:

The Brock House Big Band, (a BIG band, need I say more?) is an 18-piece ensemble playing classic tunes from Count Basie, Duke Ellington and others, plus Latin and jazz standards and big band arrangements of contemporary popular music.  Waltzes and polkas by request! - June 29 and September 14 

The 2 Jayz, a two-piece band creating soulful, bluesy indie rock with a dollop of 60's pop July 6

Joshua Minsky, singer/songwriter specializing in French chansons, Blues, Jazz, Brazilian, Reggae, and Funk - July 20 and August 24

Jeff Standfield, award-winning West Coast singer-songwriter entertains with poignant original lyrics, rich acoustic guitar, tenor vocals, and warm and fun banter - August 3

Jon Dron, with “songs from the age of swing to the swinging ‘60s” -  August 10

Lui-Fox Gutierrez, singer-songwriter from Alma Chevere World Latin Band - September 7

Special Events:
Irish Day – Saturday, July 13,  2-5 pm, 'An Siopa' presented by IRL Group: Irish folk music, dancers, AND a small, licensed portable Pub

Yoga in the Chair in the Square – Tuesdays - 10:30-11:00 am – July 16, 23, Aug. 7, 14, 21, 28. Facilitator Sylvia Smallman (Alder Bay Co-op), has been teaching therapeutic yoga for over 20 years. She loves making yoga more accessible to more people; her drop-in sessions encourage everyone to enjoy slow & simple movements while staying within their comfort range. You will feel better after!

Art and Craft Fair – Saturday, August 10, 2-4 pm

Swap Meet/Thrift Sale – Saturday, September 14 - details TBA, organized in collaboration with the FCSNA’s Sustainability and Resilience Committee
 
More events are added all the time and schedules are subject to change. To get the latest event info and details, check out the calendar at www.leginboot.ca, drop in to Convivial Café to see the posters on the windows, or email *email is hidden, JavaScript is required* and we’ll send you a listing.

Plaza events are always free and 100% volunteer run. Volunteers are always needed to help the musicians and special events with set-up, take-down, and other small things. Please contact us at Convivial Café or by email at *email is hidden, JavaScript is required*.

Susan Dehnel is active in the Leg-In-Boot Reboot working group.

As our summers become hotter and drier due to climate change, responsible water management is becoming increasingly important. Join us for a two-part workshop supported by a Greenest City Neighbourhood Small Grant, where we delve into the world of drip irrigation. It’s a smart technology as fun as building with Lego and as efficient as a heat pump. Become a drip irrigation champion and support your enclave's sustainable gardening!

Part One: July 4, 6-7:30 pm (tentative)

Discover the advantages of drip irrigation systems and explore irrigation planning in different scenarios. Gain practical experience with the typical components and set-up of drip irrigation, and practice cutting, punching, and connecting parts. 

At this session, each participant can nominate their enclave for the prize of an installed drip irrigation system. At session end, we will draw the winning enclave.

Part Two: July 13, 10-11:30 am (tentative)

We will implement our knowledge and install a drip irrigation system in the courtyard of the winning enclave. All equipment and tools will be supplied. 

Last month 663 Leg-In-Boot Square became home to a new multi-purpose gallery dedicated to “growing arts and culture in the heart of the city”, and next month 660C in the Square will see a new-to-Vancouver independent school. 

The stated objective of Eaton Arrowsmith, a school with an online presence in 22 countries, is to help children and teens address learning disabilities and allow a subsequent transition back to public or other private schools.

An in-class/online “Hybrid Cognitive Intensive Program” for students aged 10 and up is planned for the Vancouver school (another exists in Redmond, Washington) from July 2-19, then online for four months in the fall. Tuition cost is $7000+tax.

More information at: 
https://eatonarrowsmith.com/blog/eaton-arrowsmith-vancouver-is-moving-to-false-creek.

You may not know that there is no public washroom on the Creek’s south side between the two community centres, Creekside in Olympic Village and False Creek on Granville Island.

Other parks, some much smaller and less frequented, have public washrooms. Not having one has long been a problem for users of Charleson Park, a destination park incorporating a school, playground, dog park, community garden, sports fields and picnic areas, all adjacent to the much-used seawall. 

Notwithstanding, it was not park needs but the seawall realignments in 2017-18 separating bike and pedestrian traffic that moved City Council to approve an accessible public washroom “in or near Charleson Park”.

It fell to the City Engineering’s Active Transportation Department, responsible for the entire seawall project, to situate the proposed washroom. Because its focus was to service seawall traffic, it chose a proposed site at the very tip of the park’s western boundary.

This choice incurred immediate community opposition because of where the washroom was to be located – and where it was not. Residents argued that the planned site in an already congested corner was way too close to nearby strata and co-op housing and would impede access to Spruce Harbour’s floating home co-op. The Neighbourhood Association opposed the planned site because it could not easily meet the needs of any of the groups and individuals that used the park.

That opposition led to the formation of the facilitated 17-member Charleson Park Public Washroom Working Group. Seven individuals represented False Creek South (FCSNA, RePlan, three residences, False Creek Elementary and the community garden), six the City, and the remaining four other non-resident interest groups. Meeting physically and online in early 2018, the group considered five possible washroom sites. 

In the result, there was no majority vote for Site A, the City’s original proposed site, or for Site B, and both sites D and E had low support. The only site that a majority approved was Site C, between the dog park and the seawall.

That majority vote effectively ended the matter. The City did not proceed with any washroom plans then or since, leading many to wonder whether the actual choice was either Site A or no way. 

However, a few years later an unrelated minor construction project left behind a Porta Potty. Seems there’s a public washroom in Charleson Park after all.

As this is the last issue of Between The Bridges before our summer break, we’d like to acknowledge the six month anniversary of The Taking Of Timber Bridge, felled by a city snow plow last December 23rd. Hopefully, when we return in September, the path from seawall to community centre will be open again and we’ll have a different photo to show. Happy summer!

Between The Bridges welcomes readers’ contributions of story ideas, events of interest, original photographs, and completed articles relevant to the False Creek South Neighbourhood Association’s goal to “promote an economically, social and culturally diverse neighbourhood with a friendly, positive and vibrant sense of community”. Signed articles reflect the views of their authors. For details go to: