May 17, 2012

McBride Annex Spring Fair - June 2nd

The McBride Annex Spring Fair is back!

The annual McBride Annex School Spring Fair is a fun and exciting carnival with games for kids of all ages, delicious Food, Bouncy Castle, Giant slingshot, silent auction, Flea Market, facepainting, music and fun! Flea market tables are still available to rent.

Date/Time: Saturday, June 2nd from 11am to 3pm

Located at McBride Annex
4750 St. Catherines Street
Vancouver
(29th and St Catherines)

Come celebrate the day at this family-friendly fun event. Funds raised will go towards purchasing a new playground for the school and extracurricular activities. Admission is Free.

Posted by Mike Klassen at 9:23 AM | Permalink

May 12, 2012

Mark your calendar - KVS Saturday morning May 26th!

It's that time of year again. On Saturday morning neighbours come out for a chance to give back to our community. Keep Vancouver Spectacular is a tradition here in Mountain View that has made a big difference. Folks assemble about 9am at the corner of 27th Avenue and Prince Albert (outside Ruth Morton Church), and disperse around nearby blocks to clean up litter on the streets and boulevards.

If you can come for the full two hours, or only give 30 minutes of your time, it all makes a huge difference. Children are also encouraged to come along with their parents – it's great when families work together to take care of our community!

DETAILS

Saturday May 26 2012 9:00-11:30 a.m.

Join your neighbours in our annual, local clean-up day.
Help pick up litter and debris in our streets and lanes.

Drop by at the corner of 27th + Prince Albert Street (by Ruth Morton Church)

Plastic gloves, tongs and bags will be provided.

Groups of two or more will be given a map and assigned an area in the local neighbourhood.

If you can’t help on May 26, then consider going out another day and time and collect any remaining debris around your own block or lane. Any clean up will make a difference to our community.

For more information, contact Jackie, KVS Coordinator at 604.879.5485

See event on our Mountain View Facebook Group. You can also re-tweet us.

Click for PRINTABLE POSTER.

Posted by Mike Klassen at 8:10 AM | Permalink

May 11, 2012

Bike found! Thanks, everyone

UPDATE

The missing bike was returned on Friday. Thanks to our community for looking out for a neighbour!

+++

A message from our neighbour Kiki:

"Our daughter's bike was stolen from the bike rack at McBride Elementary today, probably around lunch time. The slick little thieves managed to break the combination on the lock, leaving it dangling there on the rack. It's an 18-speed, red Norco "Ignitor" with 24" wheels. If you know anything, please message me or contact the school Principal. Reward offered for recovery."

Posted by Mike Klassen at 5:54 AM | Permalink

May 10, 2012

Fraser street gets high-tech nod to history

BY MANORI RAVINDRAN, VANCOUVER SUN

What more can you add to a community that already has its fair share of murals, sidewalk mosaics and street banners?

That’s what Mike Klassen and Lilli Wong asked themselves last year when brainstorming ways to further engage residents in their Mountain View neighbourhood. The two neighbours designed a new project that marries Fraser Street’s rich past with social media technology using interactive, smartphone-friendly historical plaques.

The plaques cover everything from the old streetcar lines of Fraser Street to the lost streams and creeks of Vancouver.

There’s even a plaque about the century-old legend of Simon Hirschberg, an overweight Vancouverite who had the misfortune of dying during a blizzard. The hefty corpse was too heavy to carry all the way to the Mountain View cemetery and is said to have been buried on the corner of East 33rd Avenue and Fraser Street.

“We have people here who are proud members of the neighbourhood, but it was a case of how do we get people to share and connect? And what are the applications that people use to connect to each other?” said Klassen of the initiative. “And, of course, it’s things like websites, Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare.”

Klassen, a communications consultant, and Wong, a graphic designer, went to work on Fraser Street Stories, a series of 10 plaques along Fraser Street.

Like the Vancouver Stories plaques around the city’s commercial district, they offer stories about the area’s important historical events.

What sets the Fraser Street plaques apart, however, are the Quick Response, or QR codes. The black and white squares, when scanned or photographed with a smartphone, instantly link to more information about the area as well as a web feedback form where users can leave comments.

Smartphone users who use the popular geolocation tool Foursquare are also able to “check in” at each plaque, and interact with others at the location.

For the Mountain View neighbourhood, located along Fraser between King Edward and East 33rd Avenue, the planning and coordination of the plaques further reinforces strong ties among the community, said Wong.

The Mountain View Neighbourhood Group has been active since the 1990s, winning a BEST BC environmental award in 2002 for a street reclaiming project that worked to bring community members together.

Last September, a new housing and commercial development at Fraser Street and East 29th Avenue opened its doors. The Century development by Ledingham McAllister provides street-level shopping and amenities. Wong points out that a lamppost beside the building bears a historical plaque about one of the developers, George W. Ledingham — one of Vancouver’s founding architects.

“They’ve got this housing complex that’s taking its roots from old, architectural elements of Fraser Street,” says Wong. “And playing off that, we’re bringing Vancouver’s past into the 20th century with some of these really interesting ways of talking to neighbours with our plaques and bringing the history to the people who don’t know about it. The history of Fraser, and now, the future of Fraser.”

The project, whose slogan asks community members to “find the plaques that make history,” was partly funded by a Vancouver125 grant, a 2011 grants program marking the city’s 125th anniversary, as well as a neighbourhood matching fund, a Vancouver park board initiative that matches the contributions made by the community. Wong, who designed the plaques and applied for the grants, says it cost $2,200 to get the plaques fitted and installed along Fraser Street.

The plaques will be officially unveiled to the public on Sunday, May 6, at 11:30 a.m. in front of the Century housing development at 4588 Fraser Street.

Mountain View launches Fraser Street Stories: photo slideshow

Thanks to Lilli for all of her images!

Posted by Mike Klassen at 8:23 AM | Permalink

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