As we transition calendar years, we want to take this opportunity to wish each of you the very best for the holiday season and the upcoming year. We’re looking forward to more public space fun and collaborations in 2022.

In the meantime, for those of you searching for some holiday-themed fun, be sure to check out the festive light displays found at Granville Island, St. Paul’s Hospital, and šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square (Vancouver Art Gallery North Plaza). There’s also magic to be had in discovering the many individual examples of seasonal placemaking that adorn homes, businesses and streets throughout Vancouver.

Fancy a little more adventure? The outdoor skating rink at Robson Square is now open!

There are also a number of ticketed activities taking place, including:

• The Vancouver Christmas Market (through December 24)
• VanDusen Festival of Lights – (through January 3) – More than one million lights decorate the 15 acre VanDusen Botanical Garden.
• Stanley Park Bright Nights – through January 2, 2022 – The Bright Nights train chugs through the sparkling magically-lit forest of Stanley Park. (Note: The City’s webpage says this is sold out, but tickets are still available through 3rd party ticket agents.
• PNE WinterLights (in partnership with TransLink) – Ride the reindeer shuttle through nine enchanted lands filled with glowing lights, special characters and festive performers along the way.

Lastly, a chance to usher in New Year’s Day with a modified take on the annual Polar Bear Swim (January 1, 2022). As with last year’s event, the 2022 polar bear swim is online. You can find out details on this year’s “digital dip” by checking out the Park Board webpage.

Whatever it is that you get up to this holiday season, please stay safe, take good care, and look out for one another,

- Your friends at the VPSN

Photo: Holiday lights wind across the sidewalk of West 11th Avenue, between Yukon St. and Alberta St.

Annual New Year’s Day Polar Bear Swim – 1968

Check out the English Bay Pier – not to mention the fantastic swim trunks – in the first image!

For more on the Polar Bear Swim you can check out the Park Board’s webpage here, as well as a VPSN article (and cool word-of-the-day) here.

Images courtesy of the Vancouver Archives.

Curglaff: the shock felt in bathing when one first plunges into cold water.

(This public space ‘word of the day’ comes courtesy of John Jamiesons’s Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808. As reported in Jeffrey Kacirk’s Forgotten English.)

Happy New Year everyone! Looking to get things started with a splash of excitement? Why not start 2016 with one of Vancouver’s most bracing public space events.

The 95th annual Polar Bear swim takes place at English Bay today, January 1st. Registration (if you want to get your name on the official docket) opens at 12:30, and the event itself takes place at 2:30. Last year more than two thousand folks signed up for a chilly, collegial dunk in the Pacific Ocean.

For those that want more than just a quick plunge, there’s the Peter Pantages Memorial 100-Yard Swim Race – named for the fellow that started the Vancouver tradition in 1920. The first three first three swimmers to complete the race and reach the marker buoy will receive trophies.

(Pantages, incidentally, is pictured in the archival photograph above – though we’re not quite sure which of the swimmers he is.)

If you’re thinking of participating, the Park Board offers the following tips for participants:

• Bring supplies to stay warm – a towel, blanket, change of clothes, and warm outerwear
• Do not swim if you have a health condition (e.g. heart concerns)
• Know your limits in the cold water.
• Avoid diving into the water.
• Children must be accompanied by an adult.
• Keep your dogs at home.

For more information, photos and details on last year’s price recipients, check out the Park Board website. You can also download the registration form here.

This story is republished, with modifications. It first ran on January 1, 2014.

Curglaff. The shock felt in bathing when one first plunges into cold water.

(This public space ‘word of the day’ comes courtesy of John Jamiesons’s Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808. As reported in Jeffrey Kacirk’s Forgotten English.)

Happy New Year everyone! Looking to get things started with a splash of excitement? Why not start 2014 with one of Vancouver’s most bracing public space events.

The 94th annual Polar Bear swim takes place at English Bay today, January 1st. Registration (if you want to get your name on the official docket) opens at 12:30, and the event itself takes place at 2:30. Last year more than two thousand folks signed up for a chilly, collegial dunk in the Pacific Ocean.

For those that want more than just a quick plunge, there’s the Peter Pantages Memorial 100-Yard Swim Race – named for the fellow that started the Vancouver tradition in 1920. The first three first three swimmers to complete the race and reach the marker buoy will receive trophies.

If you’re thinking of participating, the Park Board offers the following tips for participants:

• Bring supplies to stay warm – a towel, blanket, change of clothes, and warm outerwear
• Know your limits in the cold water.
• Avoid diving into the water.
• Children must be accompanied by an adult.
• Keep your dogs at home.

For more information, you check out the Park Board website.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world… a crowd gathers for New
Year’s celebrations at Mrs Macquerie’s Point in Sydney Australia.
Submitted by VPSN member Lisa M.

A late year greeting to all of you from the gang at the VPSN. This is it: day 365 of 2010 and we’re a mere few hours away from a brand new year. We hope you’re having a grand time with you various celebrations.

We wanted to take this opportunity to send you out a quick thank you for all your support this past year. 2010 has been an exciting one for us – and a busy year for public space related issues in the Vancouver. We had the opportunity to be involved in a great number of initiatives, and it’s been fun take this holiday period to reflect on the public space ‘scene’ in Vancouver over the past 12 months.

This time last year, Vancouverites of all political stripes were gearing up for the Olympics, planning a range of activities. In addition to some pre-Games advocacy work around Olympic gathering areas, corporate signage and the deployment of surveillance technology, the VPSN also launched our blog during the 1^st month of 2010 – using it to report out on urban issues – starting with the Game’s related transformation of the City. Since that time, we’ve seen our readership grow in leaps and bounds… and it’s been a great tool to connect with residents of the City about civic affairs issues.

2010 was also a big year on the active transportation front. The Olympic transportation plan marked a watershed moment for shaping urban mobility during the Games. But that was only the start! The Vancouver Courier recently declared their ‘Newsmaker of the Year’ to be the bicycle – no small tribute to the many initiatives that have taken place concerning the humble two-wheeler this year. Chief amongst these was the installation of the Dunsmuir viaduct separated bikelane in the Spring of this year and the more recent opening of the Hornby Street separated lane. These weren’t controversy free, to be sure, and yes, the process could have been handled better… but regardless, we feel that they will help to put Vancouver on the path to a more sustainable, healthful future.

Pedestrian issues have also begun to come to the fore and we’ve been working to support these where possible. There been an increasing focus on improving the pedestrian experience, the walkability of neighbourhoods, and attending to issues of pedestrian safety. And with the City focusing on “green mobility” as part of its Bright Green Future initiative and planning to develop a new Transportation Plan in 2011, this positive trend will only continue. Our prediction? 2011 will be to pedestrian issues, what 2010 was to the bicycle. Just watch what happens when the international Walk 21 Conference landing in town in November.

Animating the city’s public spaces has always been part of our strategy to focus attention on the public realm. This year was no exception! In the summer time we transformed Granville Street into a giant percussive ensemble with our Stick it to the Streets event. Later in the year, we were pleased to roll out two of our annual favourites: in September we participated in our third Park(ing) Day celebration – that international day of parking space reclamation (this year we had sites in Davie Village and at City Hall). Then in late October, we had our annual Halloween transit party – a massive costumed take-over of the Seabus. And then in November we managed to get 100 folks together on Vancouver’s coldest, snowiest day, to make a giant ‘ecological footprint’ as part of an international public art project.

In 2010 we continued to wear our advocacy hats on all aspects of Vancouver’s public space policy – from arguing against the deployment of surveillance cameras in schools to raising the alarm over new forms of corporate advertising, from to registering concern with increased fees for community-based events, to taking a stance against the proposal to extend the municipal vote to corporations.

We’ve also weighed in on site-specific spaces as well – we participated in the discussion around moving the Vancouver Art Gallery, developed new community gardens, completed an ethnographic film on Yaletown Park, and focused a considerable amount of resources towards advocating for a sufficient quantity and quality of public space (and other public benefits) as part of the development of Northeast False Creek. And of course there’s another item we’re very excited about: the push to transform the 800 block of Robson Street into a public square (a move that was recently supported by all three municipal parties!)

This was just a sampling of some of the things we were involved in last year. As with all our projects, the aforementioned initiatives gave us the chance to work with fantastic volunteers, amazing community organizations and stellar people in local government, schools and universities and the community at large. It’s an honour for us to be able to collaborate with Vancouver’s many excellent space-makers and urban enthusiasts. 

* * * * * 

VPSN Coordinators also took the first weekend in December to plan out some of our activities for 2011. Here’s a sneak peek of a few of the many things you can expect to see over the next 12 months:

• Where’s the Square II – stay tuned for our summertime animation of Robson Street – with a fantastic food-themed event.
• Vancouver Votes / Public Space Manifesto – 2011 is election year, and as with the last municipal contest, the VPSN will be developing a new manifesto and a number of election related events aimed at putting public space issues on the agenda. 
• Relaunching PubliCity – we’ve had an issue ready to go for a few months now… and we’ll be rolling this out in the first few months of 2011.
• Transforming Broadway – Due in January, our report on transforming Broadway into a Great Street will showcase exciting options for the future of Vancouver’s longest east/west corridor.
• Speaker Series / Backgrounders / Websites – We’ve been developing new backgrounders on public health, parking space reclamation, and greenspaces, to name a few. We’ll also be launching version 2.0 of our website, holding key speaker series events and a range of other open-source materials
• Collaborative ventures – We’ve got some exciting things lined up with the Museum of Vancouver and the Vancouver Art Gallery, and other projects in the hopper as well.

And there will be lots of other stuff coming as well… including all your favourite annual events, parties, film fest activities and more. 

Finally… don’t forget, the first big community opportunity to embrace public space takes place tomorrow morning, January 1, with the annual polar bear swim. Even if you don’t brave the chilly waters of English Bay yourself, the scene is a festive one.

The year begins and ends with celebrating in public space. Happy 2011 everyone! Very best wishes to you all.

Your friends at the Vancouver Public Space Network