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In New West, hanging baskets are a traditional Mother’s Day present. After all, why buy a bouquet when you can give flowers that will last all season long? Once again, the Kiwanis Club of New Westminster will be holding their annual hanging basket sale on the day before Mother’s Day (Saturday, May 11) from 10am – 3pm in the parking lot of the Terminal Pub. This year, there will also be cherry tomatoes for sale – and a contest to see who can get the best yield from their cherry tomato plant.

Amid rainshowers and spring flowers, I’m starting to see orange election signs sprouting in my neighbourhood, with shades of red, blue, green (and more) soon to follow I’m sure. Yes, it’s election time again in B.C. and New Westminster candidates will soon be stepping up their door-knocking, robocalling and energetic presence at local events. For our part, we are collaborating with New Westminster Environmental Partners and NEXT New West to organize a unique event for voters: an All-Candidates Jane’s Walk starting at 5:30pm on May 4.

One week from now, I am expecting to welcome my third little baby into this world. It could happen sooner, of course, or later, but either way, this is the home stretch. After having had two already, I’m fully aware that my life is about to change (again) in ways I can’t predict. I’m writing this note so you’re not left wondering if I go quiet for a while.

This Saturday, April 13, River Market is hosting “Spring Cleaning for the Mind, Body & Soul,” a health & wellness fair featuring New Westminster businesses and organizations.

New West has a thriving culture of entrepreneurship, but I haven’t seen it celebrated and encouraged as much as I’d like. Hopefully that’s about to change. On Tuesday, March 26, Jen and I are hosting LAUNCH! New Westminster, a free, informal mixer for local business owners and ‘someday’ entrepreneurs to network with each other, learn more about City and Provincial initiatives to support small businesses, and share their thoughts and ideas on the subject.

When my husband and I first moved to New Westminster, in September 2011, all the talk was about how New Westminster needed some new business that weren’t Dollar Stores, Car Repair shops and Bridal Boutiques. Since then, a lot of great new businesses have come to New West- bringing more quality products and services.
Often the talk about the quality of the businesses revolves around restaurants and retail establishments. But New Westminster needs more then great restaurants. Susan, owner of Limina Spa, believes it’s time for New Westminster residents to have …

The City of New Westminster is creating its first sustainability plan, dubbed Envision 2032. The year 2032 is one generation from now – a length of time that is easy for people to imagine when making decisions that affect the future. You can provide feedback via an online survey (which closes on March 15).

I like to support businesses in my neighbourhood of Downtown New Westminster. Many places make this easy for me to do: River Market, Zoom Hair Salon and Columbia Integrated Health Centre, for example, are active on social media and in the community and have curb appeal to spare. They are all fabulous and I can’t recommend any of them enough. But then there are businesses that I walk past every day and never enter. They aren’t out there promoting themselves and they just don’t look like they have a lot to offer. But then, one day, I go in and realize how badly I’ve misjudged them.

You don’t know how bad French fries can be until you have amazing French fries. When a number of locals were all atwitter and agog to learn that the Spud Shack Fry Co. was opening up at the Shops at New West Station, I kind of shrugged my shoulders. I mean, I didn’t get why this was a big deal. They’re just fries, right? Wrong.

Yesterday I spent the day chopping and cooking enormous quantities of fresh vegetables and fruit for Can-O-Rama, a full-day canning work bee with friends. Until last summer I had never really given much thought to canning, but now I’ve caught the bug. My cupboards are starting to fill up with home-canned jams, condiments and other preserves, and canning has become a semi-regular social hobby for me and my friends.

Although many think of it as a suburb of Vancouver, New West was born a city – one of the first on this part of the coast. Like many an old house, New West may have its problems, but it is blessed with good bones.

Sapperton now boasts a much needed supplier to the increasingly popular home brewing world – Barley’s Homebrewing.

A pilot project by Royal City Writers pairs volunteer writers with residents of Cliff Block’s transitional housing. Over the course of eight weeks, volunteers are conversing with residents, recording their words, and putting their stories into print. The project was built on the idea that storytelling forges powerful connections within communities, and our intention is to give voice to those stories that might otherwise go untold.

There is deep love and long standing commitment for community theatre in New Westminster. The Vagabond Players, formed in 1937 and the longest-running community theatre group in BC, have continued to present engaging productions over years in the Bernie Legge Theatre, a cozy playhouse nestled in Queens Park. Operated completely by volunteers, the Vagabond Players present four or five productions each season and you are just in time to catch their next show, Dear Santa, by Norm Foster.