Whistler’s favourite family festival returns for its 25
th
year, and the Whistler Children’s Art Festival promises to be better than ever,
offering a fully stocked lineup of workshops, activities and entertainment to
impress kids and parents alike.
This year’s event boasts favourite past workshops, like the
bear paw print T-shirts, fairy and gnome houses, and patio stones, alongside
some new, environmentally-friendly activities, like solar power sail cars.
Entertainers range from the musical to simply magical. Bobs
& Lolo, regular entertainers at the Vancouver Aquarium, bilingual
children’s singer and songwriter, Will Stroet, Chris Hamilton and the Sticky
Jam Band and Vancouver’s The Inner Ring Circus are just a few of the talented
acts taking the stage over the course of the weekend.
The festival takes place on Saturday, July 12 and Sunday, July
13 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. in Creekside. Entry is $5 per child and by
donation for adults, with an additional fee of $4 to $8 for some of the
workshops. Visit
www.whistlerartscouncil.com
to register ahead of
time, or to see a detailed schedule of the workshops and events.
Big screen in the great outdoors
Load up the car with snacks and blankets, pile in and head up
to Base II next week for an old-school style cinematic experience.
Whistler’s Late & Unique Nighttime Alternatives (LUNA),
Sharp’s Audio Visual and Whistler-Blackcomb’s Club Shred are setting up a
drive-in theatre on Blackcomb mountain, showing an Aussie favourite, “The
Castle,” a PG-rated film riddled with stereotypical Australian slang and
humour. It won the Australian Film Industry’s Best Original Screenplay Award in
1997 and was the audience favourite at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival.
Popcorn girls and a sausage sizzle will lend an authentic air
to the event, which takes place on Wednesday, July 9. The gates open at 8 p.m.
and the film will start at 9 p.m. Entry is $8 per person or $20 per car. There
will also be limited seating available for pedestrian viewers. Seating and
parking will be on a first come, first served basis, and advance tickets can be
purchased at the Whistler Employment Resource Centre. If it rains, the event
will be rescheduled for Friday, Sept. 5.
New addition to Gallery Row
Local artists and art lovers have a new place to call home
— the Geniele Gallery.
Owned and operated by Monica Geniele, a local artist who
specializes in contemporary original paintings, the new space will also include
the works of other established and emerging artists from Whistler and
Vancouver. The gallery is a working studio, as well, so residents and visitors
can drop in to view the exhibited works alongside artists who are in the
process of creating new pieces.
The gallery opening is being held on Friday, July 4, from 6:30
until 9:30 p.m. to coincide with the beginning of ArtWalk 2008. Featured
artists include Geniele, Theresa Mura, Jean Lee, Charisse Baker, Leef Evans,
Anne Pearce, and Natalia Vetrova.
Taking to the stage
An international stage school is setting up shop in Squamish,
catering to kids with a flair for the dramatic.
StageCoach Theatre Arts School is an award-winning part time
theatre school with almost 500 locations, including Australia, the UK, Germany,
Greece, the U.S. and Canada. The school began in the UK in 1998, with the first
Canadian location opening in Vancouver in 2006.
Hilary Wight, principal of the Vancouver school, lives in
Squamish, and recently realized the potential for the program within the Sea to
Sky region.
“Squamish is changing so rapidly. (Two) years ago, when I first
started the program in Vancouver I don’t think enough people would have been
interested in StageCoach, but now there is a demand and I’m so excited to be
bringing the program to Squamish,” Wight said in a recent press release.
They will only be offering “Early Stages” classes for children
aged four to six, teaching them the basics of singing, dancing, and acting.
For more information, visit
www.stagecoachschools.ca
.
Recognizing restoration
After an almost $5 million overhaul, the group responsible for
the renovation of the B.C. Museum of Mining was recognized for their efforts in
heritage conservation.
The 20-storey concentrator at the B.C. Museum of Mining in
Britannia Beach had deteriorated drastically in recent years, and was facing
demolition, despite its status as a national historic site. It was considered
to be an eyesore by many within the community, and there were many obstacles to
rehabilitating the structure. But a small, determined group managed to secure
$1 million in funding from both the provincial and federal governments, and $3
million from industry and private donors, including the Hallbauer Family Foundation,
Hunter Dickson Inc., TeckCominco, Gold Corp and Ross Beaty.
At their annual conference held in Langley on June 6, Heritage
B.C. presented several awards to recognize excellence in heritage conservation
by the individuals, organizations and businesses involved in the revitalization
of the B.C. Museum of Mining.
Reaching new heights
A pioneer of climbing in Squamish will receive a special honour
at the Squamish Mountain Festival on Thursday, July 17.
The Jim Baldwin Memorial award has been established to
recognize a climber or team of climbers that demonstrate a level of excellence,
innovation or boldness in climbing a new route in the area. Each year, the
award will be presented to a past and present-day climber.
Sponsored by Mountain Equipment Co-op, the award is named for
Jim Baldwin, a climber involved in many of the first ascents in Squamish,
including
the first technical climb, the Peasant’s Route, in 1958. Baldwin
also wrote the first local climbing guide, and made the first ascent of the
Grand Wall of the Squamish Chief with Ed Cooper in 1961.
“The idea was to commemorate the ground-breaking climbs of past
generations while at the same time acknowledging the great climbs that are
still happening out there today,” Ivan Hughes, festival producer, said in a
recent press release.
A large steel and granite trophy has been commissioned for the
award. It will stand almost three feet high, and be inscribed with the winners’
names and routes they completed, and will be put on display at the Squamish
Adventure Centre.
Tickets to the Squamish Mountain Festival are available online
at
www.squamishmountainfestival.com
.
