Artists Crawl into Vancouver's Hearts

This has been a busy fall season in the lives of many. We've watched Thanksgiving come and go, heard the howling laughter of Halloween fade into the night, saw record numbers Crawl the streets of Strathcona for a lot of Culture at this years Culture Crawl, and enjoyed the Downtown Eastsides Heart of the City Festival thanks to the folks at Vancouver Moving Theatre. And Christmas is just around the corner!!

Live In had the opportunity to speak with Valerie Arntzen, the Culture Crawl's event coordinator for the past nine years, about this years Crawl. Record crowds exceeding 10,000 strong crawled the Strathcona, East Vancouver area to visit 48 venues and almost 300 local resident artists of Strathcona. This is a vibrantly enriched arts community living and working in Strathcona which has elevated the attractiveness of the neighbourhood through the beauty of the art, crafts, and skills. We are truly blessed.

There is much more to say about this subject. Live In wishes to share more about the experiences of the Crawl from an insiders perspective. As well, the Strathcona community is changing, gentrification is spoken of in mixed ways, and the impact on the arts community seems an anomoly needing exploring. Such an incredible gift that enriches our lives and community is to be cherished and protected. At the same time, I suspect some residents might find reason to complain about having 10,000 outsiders roaming their neighbourhood for a local event. Ironically, the success of such events can be a major contributor to increasing popularity of a community as a place to live.

Whatever side of the fence you choose to stand on, remember that choosing sides means someone loses. Live In suggests examining more than one's own view, and seek balance and opportunity that will allow the fence to come down. The answers are in us and right here in our neighbourhood. For Mount Pleasant, this holds equally true as we seek ways to secure a diverse, vibrant, and rich community of mixed influences.

We'll chat more soon!

CirKids present Cirque de Spa

CirKids is about the circus of storytelling, imagination, and performance. We blend traditional circus arts with athletics, dance and theatre in a safe, collaborative, and very fun program.

This year, CirKids is pleased to present Cirque de Spa, the major fundraiser for the CirKids Annual Spring 2008 performance in Vancouver May 1, 2, 3, & 4.

Invited guests of Cirque de Spa will enjoy an afternoon treating themselves to a variety of spa treatments. Services available will include:

• Manicures
• Chair Massage
• Reflexology
• Indian Head Massage
• Make-up Lessons / Makeovers
• and much more!

Date: November 18th, 2007
Times: 12:00 noon - 6:00 pm (doors open 11:45am)
Location:Garden Auditorium, PNE grounds (home of CirKids - 2901 East Hastings St.)

The CirKids Annual Spring 2008 Performance will be possible through your participation in Cirque de Spa. The annual performance provide a place for our elite performance troupe to showcase their skills as circus artists. As a non-profit organization, we rely on the generosity of the people of the Lower Mainland to help grow performing arts culture.

Thank-you for supporting CirKids!

While attending Cirque de Spa, guests can enjoy refreshments between treatments while enjoying performances by our kids.

Stanley Park Seawall Opening Soon

Reading the local papers today, a little tidbit of news in Vancouver's 24 Hours reveals that Vancouver Parks Board chair, Ian Robertson, has indicated the Seawall could be open to the public in two to three weeks.

The extent of the damage is not widely known by the public, having had the section cordoned off from the public. What is known is that huge chunks of the cliff-face, trees, etc., collapsed and buried a large part of the Seawall. With the clean-up and repairs almost completed, we will have the opportunity to experience the combined effects of Mother Nature's landscaping during the wind-storms and the subsequent landscaping clean-up. What will it look like?

Apparently, it won't be fully complete until the spring when the Vancouver Parks Board will close the Seawall again for a few days to give the path a proper paving.

Mount Pleasant Salutes Commercial Drive

Mount Pleasant has Main Street, coining the pet acronym SoMa. Our residents enjoy many of the local offerings, and being so close to the centre of everything we enjoy many of the other Vancouver amenities. In celebration of our neighbours launch of Live on The Drive, we salute Commercial Drive and the wonderful commerce, trade, arts, and community that we so love to experience.

Commercial Drive | Live on The Drive | Community | Web Portal

Commercial Drive, affectionately referred to as The Drive, was originally referred to locally as “Little Italy.” Now it's home to a diverse multicultural collection of people, businesses, art galleries, performance venues, coffee shops, and more.

A favorite destination for both tourists and Vancouver-wide locals, Commercial Drive consists of close to 300 businesses that are most often single location, owner-operated, offering a product mix of dining experiences, produce, entertainment and services completely unique to the Drive. Commercial Drive has consistently bucked the trend towards homogeneous franchised malls and big box warehouses.

With a multicultural diversity and vibrant arts community, The Drive is the perfect fusion of community, art, and commerce. Continue reading...

Getting Information to You

Rick Stonehouse is a Vancouver Real Estate Agent that seems to have been born to the business. Myself, I'm a local writer dabbling in various ways that allow me to contribute to my communities.

Getting behind a vision is an easy thing when values line up.

Rick, a prominent Vancouver Realtor, has enjoyed serving thousands of Vancouver residents over the years. His success, in part due to his service excellence, has been made possible by all of these wonderful customers and friends trusting him with fulfilling their home purchase or sale. Seeing proud homeowners experiencing the joy of buying their dream home, and enthusiastic sellers grinning over the equity gained, makes his job very exciting and very rewarding. His values line up, and yes, he enjoys the fruits of his labours.

With an eye to the future and the trends of the public, Rick has taken a pioneer's leap through the development of community portal websites for the neighbourhoods he serves. While it serves a unique business purpose, helping potential home-buyers with their online research, it goes beyond and serves the entire community. The benefits are extraordinary!

Keep watch as the Live In Mount Pleasant site evolves.