Simply Stunning New 3 bedroom and den Lynn Valley Home ~ with a 2 bedroom legal suite down plus a 4th bedroom and a full bathroom downstairs. Quality local builder with smart home automation with Lutron…
Simply Stunning New 3 bedroom and den Lynn Valley Home ~ with a 2 bedroom legal suite down plus a 4th bedroom and a full bathroom downstairs. Quality local builder with smart home automation with Lutron…
We have picked four posts from years gone by worth reading to learn a little more about Lynn Valley’s history and some of the people that make this such a great place to live.
1503 CROWN STREET – Very exciting opportunity to own a south-west facing 2 bed, 2 bath with 2 sundecks in the Lynn Creek area of North Vancouver. This West Coast Contemporary building was sold out immediately upon release.
3683 McEwen Ave – With abundant bedrooms (4 up) and thoughtful spaces, this mountainside house will be a home for generations. Five bedrooms, four bathrooms, on a quiet street steps from Lynn Valley’s most famous forest.
The ninth annual Culture Days Festival comes to Lynn Valley Sept. 28-30th. We’ve picked out two great events – covering hiking and local history – worth checking out, plus many other events.
Lynn Valley is a neighbourhood rich with history; the tales of our long-age neighbours are interwoven through our very forests, steams and streets. For a primer on our past, visit the LynnValleyLife History page … or, even better, pop into the Community History Centre, located in the former Lynn Valley elementary school heritage building at 3203 Institute Rd.
This is a great post from our archives by Bob Rasmus.
In 1912 the residents of Lynn Valley worked hard. There were trees to fall, buck up and transport to the mills. And once they reached the mills, there was still a lot of hard work remaining in order to turn the raw logs into lumber for transport to market or to build local houses.
By today’s standards, every task that was carried out was accomplished through hard physical labour. It only made sense that a few community-minded individuals took it upon themselves to create an event that gave the local residents an opportunity to play.
The first Lynn Valley Day was held 100 years ago, in September 1912. Featured events include Pin the Tail on the Donkey, a Tug-of-War, a ‘Fat Men’s’ race and a Men’s Handicap Competition for Merchants Trust and Trading Co. Cup. For a look at the actual 1912 program of events, click here!
Lynn Valley Day 1915
Also included in the day’s activities was the official opening of Lynn Canyon Park by Reeve William May, with assistance from the Mayor and Council. (For a story about the park’s early history, click here.) Following the opening of the park was the inaugural opening of the Suspension Bridge. Later in the evening, there was a dance that was led off by the Reeve and distinguished guests. The president of the organizing committee was John M. Duval, and the Vice-President was J.M. Fromme.
Track and Field events for all ages got underway at 9 a.m. with one of the features being a community tug-of-war, in which winners were awarded with a special trophy. The afternoon featured the crowning of May Queen Norma Damgaard, in addition to folk dancing, Maypole dancing, a children’s fancy dress parade, a band concert by the North Vancouver School’s Band, boxing matches and whist drives and concert.
These were all topped off with the annual Lynn Valley Day Dance. Officials in 1949 included M.E. Sowden, James Sinclair, Johnny Cates and MLA W.M. Draycott – the latter, of course, still well-known to us as the community builder who is commemorated with a bronze statue sitting on a bench in Pioneer Park.
In 1962, the 50th Anniversary was a special event held on Saturday, June 2. The day began with field sports, including races, jumping competitions for children of all ages, some pole vaulting and some discus throwing for older children.
The afternoon was reserved for adult races which culminated in a “married couple’s pie-eating contest” with a $2.00 prize. While the afternoon races were going on, there was also a full slate of concessions to take part in and a parade to watch, as well as the coronation ceremonies for the Lynn Valley Day Queen of the year.
The evening began with a ladies softball game at 6 p.m., followed by a square dance at 7:30 and a dance at the community hall at 9:00. It was a full day of activities – just check out this schedule of events!
Lynn Valley Day historical images courtesy of North Vancouver Museum and Archives.
More than 100 years later, this annual community event is still very much alive and entertains up to 10,000 people. In latter years, it has grew to the point that now both the Lynn Valley Lions Club and the Lynn Valley Community Association were required to manage it.
This year’s event kicks off with a gala dinner and dance under a huge tent on Friday night. Saturday morning begins the community parade. There will be the fantastic Lions’ Cook Shack, balloon artists, face painters, music, along with rides, public displays and a collector car show, will be entertaining crowds all day long.
The residents of Lynn Valley still work hard, and deserve a chance to relax and enjoy time with their family and friends. Lynn Valley Days still provides that opportunity.
North Vancouver RCMP Staff Sergeant Philip Yong is fulfilling a dream nearly two decades in the making. The father of four has decided that this is his year to take part in the annual Cops for Cancer fundraiser – and as the only North Vancouver RCMP Member to be saddling up for the full 2018 tour, he wants to put his best foot forward when he and approximately 40 other cyclists push off on September 19.
Over the week that follows, the 2018 Cops for Cancer Tour de Coast will traverse more than 800 hilly kilometres through Greater Vancouver and beyond, from Maple Ridge to Richmond, the North Shore, the Sunshine Coast and the Sea to Sky Corridor and back. Says Philip: “As a first-time rider, I am excited to be representing the North Vancouver RCMP Detachment. As part of the ride, I have committed to raising over $6,000 in support pediatric cancer research and Camp Goodtimes in Maple Ridge.”
Camp Goodtimes is a medically-supervised summer camp that allows kids and their families living with cancer to enjoy the great outdoors as kids – not as patients. Each year almost 600 young people and family members are able to have a holiday getaway together thanks to the hard work of camp and medical volunteers and the generous support of donors.
Philip expects to find cycling up some of the long hills tough – but everyone involved in the Cops for Cancer event is well aware of the far more daunting hardships faced by young cancer patients and their families. Its goal this year is to raise over $500,000; currently the total stands at about $150,000. Philip is asking LynnValleyLife readers to please consider donating toward his goal at this link, or to take part in one of the event’s upcoming general fundraisers.
All four North Vancouver Save-on-Foods stores will be hosting a Cops for Cancer BBQ on Saturday, June 2, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Philip will be at the Park and Tilford event with his enthusiastic family supporters, and states that all proceeds will go directly to Cops for Cancer. “I am hoping we get a lot of community support from this event,” he says. “See you there!”
Cops for Cancer is a fundraiser of the Canadian Cancer Society.
The deadline for the Vancouver Foundation’s Neighbourhood Small Grants is fast approaching. You have until April 9 to take advantage of this growing program. Each year many locals take advantage of the $50 – $500 grants given to fund community initiatives.
“The goal is about connecting and engaging the community,” said Tricia Alsop, of the North Shore Neighbourhood House which oversees the program in North Vancouver. “Community doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. It doesn’t need to be a project with your neighbours. Last year we gave out about 80 grants.”
Since 2011 the North Shore has been apart of the Vancouver Foundation’s Neighbourhood Small Grants program. The grants are given to projects that bring people together, share skills and knowledge, build a sense of belonging, responsibility, and respect and celebrate diversity, according to the Foundation.
“We had hosted a block party – a potluck kind of party the first year we moved here,” said Lynn Valley’s Shannon Samler, a recipient of a 2017 grant. “Someone told us about these grants so we thought – why not [apply]? It was very easy to do.”
Easy access
“The goal is to make it available to everyone,” said Tricia Alsop. “The application is online but we also have paper applications. If people need help, we can help them work through it. It is supposed to be easy.”
For most projects the most labour-intensive piece is creating a budget.
“It’s a simple process,” said Samler. “Putting together the budget help me think about what I wanted to do. We wanted to take on the responsibility of the main course part of the food and provide a few extras – like face painting.”
The Samlers’ block party was one of a handful in Lynn Valley last year funded by the grants and is a typical project that the Foundation funds.
Other projects on the North Shore included gardening, food, beekeeping, emergency preparedness and craft workshops, invasive weed pulls, intergenerational programs, Little Free Libraries and others.
“It was a great way to meet people,” said Samler. “We learned the names of people we see – not just families with kids that same age as ours. We were able to set up a neighbourhood email list to connect and share concerns.”
Lasting impacts
Samler says the – now annual – event has fostered a more open neighbourhood. Sometimes the grants are what give legs to an idea, said Alsop.
“The grants can help give people the initiative to get started on an idea they have always had,” she said. “We see lasting relationships grow out of the projects – sometimes they can be a help with conflict resolution by bringing people together.”
Organizers welcome more applicants
“We would like to see some new people with new ideas,” said Alsop. “If it fits, there is a good chance they will get the grant.”
The deadline for applications is April 9th. For more information or help with applications contact the North Shore Neighbourhood House at 604-987-8138.
For decades elementary students have been visiting the Cheakamus Centre. As Aboriginal culture and history becomes a more profound part of B.C.’s curriculum, we take a look at this unique North Shore program.