Farmland in the city. A blog post on the Vancouver Sun provides a good overview of many of the challenges of farming in Richmond, where often farmland and residential or parkland are situated next to each other and where there is intense pressure to develop. One of the farmers featured is Harold Steves, whose farm is also featured in our Home Grown exhibit. >>Read more

Opening night of Home Grown was a huge success. Over 500 people came to view the exhibit and sample local organic foods. Thanks to everyone who came! >>Read more

It’s a very busy week at MOV!

On Monday we presented a free screening of Eat Drink Man Woman on the lawn in Vanier Park. The weather cooperated and more than 300 people joined us to watch. >>Read more

So much fuss about the Hornby bike lane! This week the City of Vancouver announced its’ plans to create a new separated bike lane on Hornby Street by November. The proposed lane is part of a plan to increase cycling infrastructure downtown and improve safety for newer and less-experienced cyclists.

But businesses along the street are concerned that they will be negatively impacted by its’ construction and the resulting loss of parking. The City is currently engaged in consultation with the public and businesses along the proposed route but it seems likely to go ahead regardless of business owners’ concerns. >>Read more

For our Home Grown exhibit we’re building a shelf to hold dozens of jars of preserves. Think of it; glass vessels full of your raspberry jam, spicy green beans, dilly pickles all lit up. If you’re into canning and food preservation or know someone who is, this is an opportunity to have your work on display at the Museum of Vancouver as a part of a visual feast (opening August 26^th) of local food production.

Jars should be labeled with the contents, where the food was grown, your name, and the date of canning.

You can drop off your donations (maximum size 11” or 28 cm high) at our front desk with attention to Joan Seidl (jseidl@museumofvancouver.ca)

Image credit: photogramma1, via flickr.

The other day my colleague Kaylin Pearce and I were discussing the difference between the car free experiment on Granville Street and other car-free events around Vancouver. We have both been to a couple of Car-Free Vancouver events around the city and are familiar with the vibrancy that a car-free event can bring to the street.

What we’ve seen over the past few weeks is that free activities such as yoga and dance classes do get a good turnout of people visiting Granville Street, but on days where there is no public programming, the number of people on the street can vary widely. Often the centre of the street is mostly empty. >>Read more

We’ve counted and re-counted and the results are finally here.

More than half our voters last week chose to see Ang Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman .

Thanks to Potluck Cafe and Catering and Horizon Distributors, we will be presenting a free evening of big screen entertainment and a great way to spend a summer evening in Vancouver. So, on August 23rd, join us in the park as we gear up for the launch of our new exhibit with FarmFolkCityFolk.

Stay tuned for more details!

Fresh Choice Kitchens reports that the demand for home canning workshops has surpassed their capacity to deliver them. There has been a resurgence in interest in home canning and preserving in Vancouver due to people’s renewed interest in local food. The skills the workshops teach were once very commonly known but in many families has been lost due to the increased availability of imported and convenience foods. Fresh Choice is currently training new trainers to help meet the demand. >>Read more

I love this picture.

I guess that’s an obvious statement to make but I strongly feel that it exemplifies the key themes that we want to emphasize with the Bhangra Project.

At the top of the picture is the skyline of Downtown Vancouver and this situates the “place” of our historical endeavour.  What is it about Vancouver (or the idea of Vancouver?) that has influenced Bhangra and made its performance and music different from other parts of the world? How has the city affected and been affected by the story of Bhangra?  What makes Bhangra in Vancouver unique? >>Read more

Another round-up of the things we’ve been following this week:

Zoning vs. indie performance venues. This week City bylaw inspectors discovered that Little Mountain Gallery near Main Street is operating as a performance venue without a proper permit. The gallery provides performance space for a variety of different kinds of small acts but was apparently not zoned to do so. At the moment, the future of the gallery is uncertain and hopefully this issue can be resolved. It’s a great little all-ages venue for people you’ve never heard of to perform. Vancouver needs more of these kinds of spaces, not less. >>Read more