From the Light Water Drums Festival in 2007

Light Water Drums

Interested in a little rain-proofing fun on Saturday afternoon and evening? Make haste to Hastings Park for the Light Water Drums festival, a lantern procession that celebrates the dark and wet of Vancouver winters and the joy of Hastings Park’s restored natural beauty.

According to the organizers, the festival combines themes of Light (“fire, lanterns, candles and glowing things in the dark”), Water (“the rain, the pools and ponds, the underground stream running through the park”) and Drums (“the joyful noise of celebration”)

Gather at 5:30pm at the NW side of Garden Auditorium (the first large building inside the PNE gates at Renfrew and Hastings). The parade starts at 6:00pm and lasts for about an hour. Entertainment and other fun to follow, including fire spinners and fire throwers, music, circus performers, Coast Salish and African drumming.

For more information check out the Festival webpage.

And speaking of Hastings Park…

The grand greenspace and exhibition ground has been undergoing some substantial redesign work over the past few years. On February 22, there will be an open house where the latest concept designs will be showcased, focusing on several spaces within the larger 154 hectare park, including:

• Empire Field
• Connection to New Brighton Park (greenways fro walking, jogging and cycling)
• Creekway Park and the daylighted stream
• Plateau Park sports field

The open house will be running from 1:00pm to 9:00pm (Pacific Coliseum, 100 North Renfrew Street, main entrance). Drop by and have your say on this important greenspace. And if you can’t make it, take a few moments check out the City’s webpage for other ways to provide input.

Courtesy of City of Vancouver

The city wants the public’s feedback on projects going on in three prominent parks in Vancouver: Vanier Park, Mount Pleasant Park, and perhaps most substantively, Hastings Park. Check out the following open houses and have your say!

Vanier Park

Last September, the Parks Board approved the construction of a BMX/mountain bike facility in Vanier Park. Here’s your chance to view the initial plans and offer your input. More details of the project so far can be found here.

June 23
5pm – 7pm
Vancouver Museum’s local history lab
1100 Chestnut St.

Mount Pleasant Park

With the opening of the new Mount Pleasant Community Centre at 1 Kingsway earlier this year, the existing facility and outdoor swimming pool on 16th Ave. and Ontario St. were removed and plans for the park’s redevelopment are now taking shape. A concept design was approved by the Parks Board last year and now they want the public to voice their opinions on the program elements and design features.

June 21
5pm-8pm
Simon Fraser Elementary School
110 W. 15th Ave.

Hastings Park

Home to the Pacific National Exhibition, Hastings Park was never really seen as a place to be beyond the final two weeks of August every year. The city wants to change that and “re-think Hastings Park and the PNE as a greener, more active, year-round destination, one that is better connected to the waterfront and surrounding community.”

As it stands, Hastings Park to me feels vacant, uninviting, and fragmented. So many important changes are a part of the Hastings Park Master Plan, including new bike routes, expansion of Playland, better accessibility, traffic calming on Renfrew St., new and refurbished buildings and facilities, more greenspaces, and general upgrades throughout the park. Visit vancouver.ca/hastingspark to view the entire plan and also complete a questionnaire. The plans and questionnaire are also available at the open houses:

June 19
10am-4pm
Granville Island Public Market Courtyard

June 20
12pm-6pm
Car Free Day on Commercial Drive (@ Parker St.)

June 23
11am-7pm
Collingwood Neighbourhood House
5288 Joyce Street

Hastings Park is a jewel in east Vancouver but there is clearly a need for park improvements and enhancements to support the site as a greenspace and a cultural node. Even if you only visit the PNE once every other year, a project of this magnitude will benefit greatly from your opinions in shaping the future of Vancouver parks. For a local take on the Hastings Park process, you can also check out the website of the Hastings Park Conservancy – a neighbourhood group that has been advocating for the greening of the park.

This was my first time in Hastings Park not during the PNE. A friend and I rode our bikes onto the grounds and it was just so exhilarating weaving down the tarmac, whizzing past Farm Country, and ending up at the exhibition bowl with not a soul in sight. There, we circled around the desolate pavement on our bikes for a bit and I found simple pleasure in running and jumping up and down the grandstand, testing their bounce before accidentally breaking a bench in half. After all that, we relaxed at the very top seat, enjoying the view of the mountains juxtaposed to the roof of the Agrodome. We would never have been able to do this during the fair.