Join the Massey Victory Heights Residents’ Association on Sunday September 9 at the Westburnco Reservoir Park on Churchill Avenue from 1-4 for a Annual Family Picnic. BYO-Blanket and picnic, or enjoy free hot dogs. Watch a show: The New Westminster Police Department’s K9 Unit will be putting on a demonstration, and there will be a martial arts demonstration too! For the kids, check out Bell E Buttons balloon clown, the bouncy castle, and races! Check out info from New Westminster Fire Deparment, the Arts COuncil, and the Hyack Festival Association.
Check …

13th Annual Doggy Fun Days coming up August 26 12-3pm

In response to my blog post about making new friends in New Westminster, local reader Brad Porcellato said via Twitter that I should differentiate between the born & raised New West folk and the “amicable newbies.” It made me wonder: are New West folk who move here really that different from those who were born here?

There is a science of friendship dating back to the ’50s and holding up through the new millennium. In New Westminster, we are lucky. We are very good at creating the conditions that help friendships to form and grow.

Nothing says summer like movies al fresco, plus the price (free!) can’t be beat. Lots of different groups will be hosting outdoor movie screenings in New Westminster this summer. Here’s a list!

It started like most scientific research: someone asked “why?” then sought the answer. Except that I asked “how much”, and I was hardly the first to ask. As any scientist will tell you, most science is just collecting more data to confirm results already collected by others, so we boldly followed the trend to where many had been before. In this case, the people we were following were the good people at the Campaign for Real Ale. The issue? Sizes of “pints,” and value for the money.

New at this year’s Key West Ford Show & Shine on Sunday, July 8: food truck favourites Japadog, Re-Up BBQ and Chronic Tacos, mini spa services from West Coast College of Massage Therapy, and a pet lounge for dogs.

Opinion polling in New Westminster is pretty clear: New Westminster does not want a six-lane replacement to the Pattullo Bridge. TransLink’s public consultation in our community, however, has assumed six lanes as a given. Clearly, New West and TransLink are not seeing eye to eye. New Westminsterites concerned about air quality, livability, pedestrian safety and environmental impacts of increasing traffic through our already congested city have organized a rally for the whole family in response to TransLink’s Pattullo Bridge Open House at Sapperton Pensioner’s Hall this Saturday, June 23.

Despite Junuary’s gloomy skies, summer is here, and festival season is underway. Over the next few months, it’s party time in New Westminster, with outdoor events in every neighbourhood in the city. One event that is very close to my heart is the West End’s big neighbourhood party, Summerfest In Grimston Park. The third annual Summerfest celebration will be held on Saturday, July 14 from 2pm-midnight.

River Market will step back in time to reinvent a Royal Columbian Hospital tradition: the Country Fair fundraiser. From 1943 to 1969 RCH volunteers invited residents to the “Come One, Come All to Country Fair” held at the City Market in New Westminster. During this year’s Canada Day long weekend, River Market will host an updated version of the Country Fair in a four-day fundraising extravaganza celebrating RCH’s history and contribution to New Westminster.

This Saturday, June 16, the new Westminster Pier Park will open with a celebration from 11 am to 3 pm. There will be lots of fun, family-friendly activities, food and live music. The upcoming event makes me marvel at how lucky we are in New Westminster when it comes to outdoor play areas. The new Pier Park will feature two playgrounds, a concession, washrooms and playing fields, all in a beautiful waterfront setting. But it’s just the latest addition to many fantastic playgrounds around the city.

Photo by Dennis Sylvester Hurd.
The long awaited Westminster Pier Park opens Saturday June 16 with festivities from 11-3.

Small grants now available to residents through the Neighbourhood Small Grants Program of the Vancouver Foundation.

Boardgame geeks are a special group of people. They’re incredibly diverse but they all share a passion for sitting around a table and trying out the latest releases a group member has brought back from a gaming expo. And once a year they get together in New Westminster to game, socialize, and raise money for Team Diabetes members who are fundraising for either a full or half marathon.

We’re set to have music in the streets of our city with Uptown Live, an event to take place on multiple stages in uptown New Westminster on May 26, from 12PM to 5PM.

One of the things I love about New Westminster is that there is a very strong sense of community here. At times, local events almost feel like church revival meetings as we all come together to reaffirm our friendship and faith in The Church of New Westminster. We have been saved from the anonymous hell of suburban living, and escaped the perilous prices of downtown. Our congregation is diverse and evangelical, and will enthusiastically preach the gospel of community.

Early music fans — no, scratch that — all music fans have a great chance to hear some beautiful ballads this weekend in New Westminster. Nancy Rahn, music director of the Lyric Singers, invites those with adventurous ears to join her all-female chamber choir for Madrigalia, a night of Italian, French and English ballads in the intimate confines of the Royal City’s Holy Trinity Church. Besides the accomplished vocals of the Lyric Singers, listeners will be treated to some rare musical accompaniment.
“We’ve got a recorder consort playing replicas of Renaissance …

Despite a host of great amenities contributing to a strong quality of life, a mixture of heritage and modern architecture and a beautiful location along the Fraser, New West doesn’t distinguish its own distinct identity, independent of being a suburb of Vancouver as well as it could. For many unaware of the new New West, the city is still synonymous with bridal shops, sketchy transit stations, a love affair with its own history and rough pubs. As a proud resident of New West, I often find myself explaining what life is actually like here, giving friends an idea of what brand Nouveau West stands for. Few are aware of the transformation that has been underway for some time and are astonished to hear about a waterfront park, busy market, improved culinary landscape and diverse population.

In my ignorant pre-gardening days, I extended my politically correct Canadian sensitivity training to the world of flora and fauna. I admired the spunk of dandelions growing in the crack between the sidewalk and the curb, the beauty of the morning glories twining in the hedge and the hardiness of blackberry bushes crowding parked cars in the back lane. I felt guilty pulling weeds. After all, didn’t they have just as much right to life as any other plant?

The McBride Elementary School PAC is putting on a fun night on May 11th called Mom’s Night Out. The event will celebrate Mother’s Day, but they’re also focused on raising funds to replace the aging and outdated computers in the lab at McBride.
The event will allow McBride mothers to enjoy a relaxing evening, enjoying other Mothers’ company. It is from 7-9:30pm at Richard McBride Elementary on Richmond Street in New Westminster.  During the event, they hope to offer a wide selection of products from some of their own parents’ home based …

TransLink has proposed replacing the 75-year-old Pattullo Bridge with one designed to last 100 years. Unfortunately, after attending their open house in New Westminster last Feb, I walked away feeling that they had missed a crucial opportunity.

I’ll be the first to admit I shouldn’t really be let loose near a secondhand store or garage sale. I tend to go a little overboard taking in all the amazing things people have cast off. So I’m already practically salivating in anticipation of the Royal City Gogos’ Grandma’s Attic New and Used Sale, which is coming up on Saturday, April 28 from 11 am– 4 pm at the CAW Hall, 326 Twelfth Street, New Westminster.

Nestled in amongst the trees in Queen’s Park is a preschool that has been educating the smallest citizens of New Westminster for decades. Almost 50 years ago, a group of New Westminster parents decided to come together and take an active part in their preschoolers’ education and thus began Queen’s Park Preschool (QPP). There is an Open House this coming Saturday, April 14, from 9:00am to 11:00am, come for a visit, meet the teachers and find out what PPP is all about!

The Naramata area is on my to-do list of getaway weekends. I’ve not been there as an adult, but the reviews my fellow wine-loving friends bring back tell me I’m totally missing out.
From Discover Naramata: “founded in 1907 as a prime agricultural area, Naramata was also known in its early years as a cultural centre. People from across the Okanagan would arrive by boat for concerts, plays, operas and regattas. Paddlewheelers regularly stopped at the local wharf carrying freight and passengers up and down Okanagan Lake. In 1914, Naramata received …

This exciting poetry event is part of Lit Fest New West, an event created to celebrate the literary arts in our community. There are a lot of parts to Lit Fest New West, including workshops, readings, and a mixed media exhibition of works inspired by words at the Arts Council Gallery in Queen’s Park. Check out the Arts Council website for a complete itinerary.
I think most of us remember the opening of the 2010 Olympics and Shane Koyczan’s We Are More:

Although this wasn’t my first experience with a poetry slam, this …