From the pen of Jeffry Huyghebaert, Assistant Manager, Black Bear Neighbourhood Pub
Every Monday night at the Black Bear we run a trivia game for our guests, with questions running the gamut of general knowledge and obscure facts. There is no cost to play, and teams are encouraged; best to bring a few people with different interests and knowledge than yourself! The only real rule is that Google cannot be one of your teammates.
The game starts at 7:30 p.m., and usually runs until around 9:30 p.m. There are two rounds of fifteen questions per round, and the team with the highest score at the end of two rounds claims the victory, and has a choice between a plate of 24 hot wings or a pitcher of Molson Canadian to celebrate their win.
Besides general knowledge and obscure facts, we occasionally choose to run with a certain theme, which is usually based around a certain event; on Canada Day the theme was Canadiana, during the Olympics the questions were all about Olympic events and history, and around the time of the Oscars we did a night of Movie Quotes.
Next week will mark the 20th week of Black Bear Trivia, which means that our guests will have answered 800 questions since we started playing. The questions themselves come from the staff and managers of the Black Bear, rather than simply being pulled down from a website or lifted from Trivial Pursuit. It’s been a lot of research, a lot of fun, and a lot of being impressed by just how much our guests actually know about really, really random things.
About a year ago, North Vancouver women were invited to write a 2,000-word biography of their mother as part of a new project launched by the Mothership Stories Society. In October, a book launch and theatre production will give you the chance to be captivated by the stories that resulted.
Since 2004, the non-profit organization organization founded by Marilyn Norry has solicited, promoted, performed and published the stories of ordinary women written by ordinary daughters. But as participants in the various “My Mother’s Story” projects always discover, there is no such thing as ‘ordinary’ when it comes to talking about mothers and their varied lives – what’s astonishing in one family is commonplace in another.
You can read two hundred or so of these collected stories on the website archive, but next month you’ll have the chance to see several of the stories from the most recent North Vancouver project co-mingled in a dramatic presentation at Presentation House.
Of the 60 stories submitted by North Vancouver women, eight will be featured in My Mother’s Story: North Vancouver, and 41 will be published, along with photos, in an anthology that will also be launched next month.
The play is sure to evoke a variety of emotions, and provide the audience with many conversation-starters as they see a picture of North Vancouver’s social history emerge from the stories of some of its residents.
Happily, Lynn Valley daughters and mothers are well-represented. Pat Ceraldi writes of her mother, Dorothy McMillan, who lived the life of a diamond driller’s wife, moving from the dust bowl of the prairies to the wild outposts of northern Manitoba; to the glamour of Toronto and finally west to her Vancouver family.
Aranka Lukacs, client services representative at the Lynn Valley RBC, tells of her mother wanting the freedom that was denied people in Hungary during the 1940s and 5os and up to the 1956 Revolution, and how her search for that freedom brought her to Canada and a whole new world.
Maria Torres writes of her mother, who came here from Portugal at sixty years of age with two requests: the chance to learn English, and to get a job.
Other Lynn Valley writers include Suzanne Rayment, Jean Redpath, Sandy Crawford, Patricia Young, Janet Dysart, Peggy Trendell-Jensen, Suzanne Ristic (who is also performing in the play), and Grace Gordon-Collins. Each story is as unique as the woman who inspired it.
My Mother’s Story: North Vancouver runs from October 17 to 28; more information and ticket sales are to be found on the Presentation House website. For a sneak preview of some of the North Vancouver mother’s stories (or to learn how to write your own!) check out the My Mother’s Story website and have a look through its archives.
Once again Lynn Valley is celebrating an important centennial. Having already marked the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the L.V. Community Association and the first-ever Lynn Valley Day, everyone can pull out their party shoes again in order to honour 100 years of swinging good times on the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge.
On Saturday, Sept. 15th, between 10 a.m. and noon, North Vancouver District is inviting locals and friends to come to the park for music, cake, antique fire trucks and more. The Lynn Valley suspension bridge and canyon gained worldwide exposure when uber-volunteer Bob McCormack passed the Olympic torch mid-span, but those of us here in Lynn Valley are lucky to have this wilderness adventure playground in our own backyard, free of charge, all year round.
Here’s what the LynnValleyLife history section has to say about the origins of the park. After you read it, we hope you’ll be inspired to come out on Sept. 15 to start a whole new century worth of memories!
Lynn Canyon Park was the brainchild of one J.P. Crawford, a Lynn Valley land agent who convinced Vancouver’s McTavish Brothers to donate 12 acres of property to serve as an attraction that would bring more settlers to the area.
It was the first park in Lynn Valley, which was still heavily treed in most areas. Before a landslide changed the topography of the area dramatically, the park had playing fields, a bandstand, picnic shelters and outdoor cooking facilities. It hosted the first-ever Lynn Valley Day in 1912, a grand occasion attended by thousands of people from all over Greater Vancouver, who arrived via decorated ferry boats and a new B.C. Electric streetcar line.
That day also marked the opening of the suspension bridge that crosses high over the roaring waters below. When first opened, it cost ten cents to cross –whether or not you were brave enough to make it all the way to the other side! It eventually fell into disrepair and was closed, but has for some decades now been well-maintained by the District of North Vancouver, which provides this free attraction to local residents and the thousands of tourists who flock there every year.
For a historical look at the park on the occasion of its 100th anniversary, click here.
We’ve been spreading the word about new fall programs as they’ve crossed our desk, but now we think it would be useful for our LynnValleyLife readers to have them all in one spot.
So here are the community program offerings from three major Lynn Valley organizations – let us know if you’d like to see your event or workshop added to the list!
Lynn Valley Services Society: This newly formed non-profit organization operates Mollie Nye House, which houses a variety of community programming and is home to the Lynn Valley Community Association and the Lynn Valley Seniors Association. Here’s the LVSS guide of programs running from September through December, 2012.
Lynn Valley Community Room programs: Have a look at these programs offered by the North Vancouver Recreation Commission right in Lynn Valley Village. For all the North Van Rec programs on offer at the various local facilities, visit their website.
Lynn Valley United Church: The church is offering a broad range of community programs this fall. Some are physical, some are artistic, some are spiritual, and some are pure entertainment value! Have a look at their guide to see where you might fit in (and note that they are forming two community choirs in September; including one for young adults who might be missing their high school or university musical experiences!)
Lynn Valley United Church is continuing its community programming this fall with an even wider range of offerings for people of all ages, regardless of any church affiliation.
From youth groups to theatre sports to professionally led yoga classes to new community choirs, there is a lot happening at the church – more, in fact, that we can even list! So we’ve loaded up their fall programming guide here and invite you to take a look.
At LynnValleyLife we’ve long been a fan of both the yoga classes and Friday Night Live events, and we’re looking forward to seeing how these new ventures take flight. If you’ve ever hankered to make sandwiches for the hungry, learn healing touch, or take part in creative writing workshops, this may be a close-to-home opportunity!
If you’ve come here looking for excellent photos of the Canada Day Parade, you’ve come to the wrong spot.
If that’s what you’re after, you’re advised to keep an eye out for the fine work of my former colleagues at the North Shore News. I, on the other hand, love parades but spend too much time misty-eyed and waving flags to be able to produce much in the way of a visual record.
Between the stirring salutes exchanged between the marching legionnaires and the uniformed members of the reviewing stand, the skirl of the pipes, the dashing Mounties in red serge, the old folks in their red-and-white bedecked electric scooters and the young ‘uns standing tall to sing O Canada, there is much to touch the sentimental heart. A parade celebrates all that is good in a community: the volunteers and creative souls; the rescue heroes and the service men and women; the non-profit organizations that help people around the block and around the world.
So I had much to occupy my hands this morning, given the need to alternate eye-dabbing with candy-catching, and frankly you are darned lucky to get any photos at all out of me.
But I did realize it was my duty to pull myself together long enough to snap a few shots of some of our neighbourhood entries, so here they are, along with my very best LynnValleyLife wishes for a happy Canada Day.
– Peggy Trendell-Jensen, Editor
Gillian Konst and Eric Miura from the LV Community Association float
LV Legion was on hand with their band
NVD Mayor Richard Walton was handing out candy when he wasn't pedalling his bike and trailer along the parade route.
There’s no better place to celebrate your country than in your own community. Just like each journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, building a great nation starts right on our own front porches.
So get together with your friends and family members young and old, and paint the town red (and white) this July 1. The fun starts with a Lions Club breakfast at 8 a.m. at Grand Boulevard Park, and you won’t want to miss the parade that starts from there at 10 – it’s the biggest Canada Day parade in the province!
Lynn Valley Community Association members are invited to dress in red and hop aboard the LVCA float. Meet up at 9:15 at the flagpole in the Grand Boulevard Park, and be part of the festivities.
After that, there is lots of fun to be had down at Waterfront Park, but you can stay local by celebrating from noon to 4 at Lynn Valley Village. The event will include entertainment, market booths, kids events and games, and even a contest for Best Canadian Attire!
Of course, there’s no better way to end the day than with a block party. For some food and fun ideas to get you started, check out this link here.
Happy Canada Day, neighbours! We’re lucky to live in such a wonderful pocket of paradise.
Whatever your budget or artistic preference, you’ll hear music in the air this June.
For parents, of course, there are the omnipresent end-of-term school concerts and piano recitals. But that’s not all that’s on the symphonic smorgasbord this month.
Next week kicks off with the Lynn Valley Black Bear Band’s tribute to music of stage and screen on Monday, June 11. Come out to the Lynn Valley United Church venue to listen to some tunes from your favourite flicks and support your very own community band. Admission is by donation, and the fun kicks off at 7:30.
You’ll be treated to a free evening recital at Lynn Valley Library on Wednesday, June 13, when the Chamber West Woodwind Quintet – including oboe-playing Lynn Valley native Lisa Jensen! – comes to perform works by Ravel and others. Start time is 7 p.m; visit here for more details.
Wrap up your week up at the Lynn Valley Legion, which is featuring blues singer Taylor James and her band on Saturday the 16th.
Taylor has played all over Europe and the U.S, and she’s opened for performers such as Jeff Healy, Colin James and Chilliwack. She recently travelled with other musicians to sing for the Canadian Forces based in Greece, Sarajevo, Egypt and the Persian Gulf.
Tickets are $15 and available at the Legion to adults over 19. Doors open at 7, music starts at 8!
“This was, by far and away, the absolutely best Lynn Valley Day ever.”
So said an elder of the valley, who has been attending these annual affairs since the 1960s. And to judge by the comments we heard on Saturday and in the days that followed, she wasn’t alone in her views.
A full-capacity, 500-seat Gala Dinner Dance on Friday night morphed into a family-friendly, full-day festival on Saturday, thanks to generous sponsors and the tireless work of dedicated volunteers, who laboured into the night and were up in the early morning to transform the grounds in preparation for the crowd to come.
Students from the Argyle Digital Media Academy were on board to document the centennial event (they also produced the colourful promo posters that you’ve seen around the valley!). They mounted a time-lapse camera from the home of LynnValleyLife sponsor Jim Lanctot, and were able to capture the entirety of the celebrations in the following 60-second clip, from the tent going up on Thursday afternoon to its dismantling on Saturday. Whether you were at the event or not, you won’t want to miss this minute-long whirlwind tour! (And check out our Lynn Valley Day photo album on our Facebook page, too!)
The Friday night Gala participants enjoyed a great meal from Tommy’s Catering, live dance music, and the opportunity to pull out their party clothes and – instead of going to a stuffy office function! – hang out with friends and neighbours, with complimentary limousine service at the end of the evening to ensure revellers got home safely.
Hats off to all the Lynn Valley Day movers and shakers who managed to attend not just the Gala, but arrive on time to set up the park and the pancake breakfast early the next morning. (One intrepid LV Lion started his park duty at 5 a.m.!)
For a peek into the Gala night, have a look at this next super video put together by the Argyle students. (Check out some of those dance moves!)
Despite last-minute scrambling when breakfast organizers discovered they had no water supply because the District had just re-keyed the locks in the rec centre, the pancakes got mixed, poured and flipped for the early risers.
As always, the Lynn Valley Black Bear Band was out early to serenade the pre-parade crowd, kicking off a day that was jam-packed with festivities. From balloon artists, to magicians, to musicians of all stripes, event co-organizer Bob Rasmus of the Lynn Valley Lions says that the day offers attendees over $12,000 of free entertainment.
And according to parade organizer Terry Nichols, the 57-entry parade was the largest he’s ever marshalled, with groups calling at the last-minute to be allowed in. “I have never had such a big parade,” he said at the organizers’ debriefing meeting held last night. “I let it get up to 57 because I was in a good mood.”
The good mood continued with the awarding of cash prizes to top parade entries. Best Entry goes to Ferguson Moving and Storage, Most Entertaining to Freddy Fudpucker and his band, and Best New Entry to TheLiving Lab. And Terry event added a new category, Best Walking Group, to recognize the Argyle Pipers football team. Led by a piper and featuring the cheerleading team, the school principal, and the school football team, Terry says they were “exceptional for a first-time group.” He also awarded thank-you plaques to five organizations that are long-time supporters of the parade and consistent with strong entries: RBC, Zazou Salon, 30th Seymour Scouts, Lynn Valley United Church, and Brockton School. Congratulations to all!
Just some of the other highlights from the day were the dog agility show, the car show on Institute Road, free games and races for all ages, a flash mob, and the colouring contest, which had over 80 entrants. And one of the most memorable moments included the power outage that saw the Bouncy Castle deflate (more than once!) – fortunately not harming any of the resident children in the process!
The North Van RCMP’s media relations officer, Cpl. Richard De Jong, says Sgt. Paul Duffy was the proud Red Serge-clad officer in the parade, and he applauds the work of the many Community Policing and Auxiliary Constable volunteers who were out in force at Lynn Valley Day, answering questions and introducing kids and adults alike to the RCMP Safety Bear. (Cpl. De Jong also encourages people to call the Lower Lonsdale Community Policing Office at 604-969-7464 if they are interested in joining their ranks!)
While final revenue numbers won’t be available for a little while, Bob Rasmus does say “It was a very good day.”
“We were well within budget on everything,” he said. “The only area we went over budget was in the revenue category.” A main beneficiary of the day’s success, he says, will be the North Shore Rescue Team, which is fundraising for new facilities in the North Van Works Yard.
Even though the event was a resounding success, the Lynn Valley Day planners are already hammering out what will be done to make things run even more smoothly next year. Once again, LynnValleyLife wants to thank the organizers for the thousands of hours they have collectively donated over the past number of months to make the weekend festivities a reality. Please have a look at our tribute to the event hosts, and think of ways in which you can support the work of the Lynn Valley Lions and the Lynn Valley Community Association.
And now, for one more Argyle video – a look at Lynn Valley Day 2012!
On Friday, June 1, the AddLibretto theatre sports troupe will once again throw some seemingly random questions out to the audience at Lynn Valley United Church.
“What do people ask advice about?” might be one of the questions, or “What’s something worth celebrating?” Within seconds, the off-the-cuff answers are used as the fodder for a scene or song that is guaranteed to bring laughs, and sometimes even some sage life-wisdom.
Friday Night Live, an evening of music and comedy (and musical comedy!), began one year ago on Friday. Over the past year, the informal evening of entertainment has continued to grow in popularity, and has seen over 20 guest artists take to the stage along with AddLibretto. Over that time, audiences have heard pianist composers, singers, jazz combos and more.
This Friday will see the Senior Vocal Ensemble from Argyle Secondary step up with director Francis Roberts to perform some of their always-crowd-pleasing numbers. And, as always, audience members will also get to enjoy coffee donated by Waves and treats supplied by the parish.
“There are lots of people who like to come out and end their week on a really positive note,” says Kelly Jenner, church administrator. The church, she says, plans to continue hosting Friday Night Live next year, after the troupe take a summer break from their church-based performances.
For now, though, you’ll be able to catch them at the church every Friday night until the end of June; performances start at 7:30 and guest musicians are advertised on the church website in advance. A hat is passed following the performance; Kelly suggests considering what it costs to go to a movie when deciding what to donate. (And you won’t have those staggering popcorn costs to worry about!)
For more information, visit the church website or call 604-987-2114.
