Hi Neighbour,
Do you know about the Halloween event that the City of North Vancouver (CNV) is planning to have on October 30th? The Community and Partner Engagement Department chose Grand Boulevard as the venue for a first-time Halloween event called The Great Grand Boulevard Pumpkin Walk. It’s happening from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 30th.
As mentioned, it’s the first time that CNV has had a Pumpkin Walk. It’s going to take place between 13th and 15th Street along the central path of the Boulevard. The Sutherland Family of Schools, which includes Sutherland Secondary and Queensbury, Brooksbank and Ridgeway Elementary Schools, and Grand Boulevard Residents Association (GBRA), among others, were given some pumpkins to carve. So, if you want one, contact admin@gbrra.org and ask for a free pumpkin to be carved next Thursday or Friday and delivered to Grand Blvd between 12:00 and 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. The City staff will put a battery powered tea light inside it, and you can place your jack-o’-lantern beside the central path. At 7:00, you can take your pumpkin home with you.
There are quite a few partners in this event, including the RCMP, the Fire Department, United Way, North Shore Neigbourhood House and GBRA. Come for free hot chocolate and a free photo of your pumpkin and/or your Halloween munchkin(s), courtesy of GBRA’s professional photographer.
To find out about more CNV community engagement, go to the CNV website: https://www.cnv.org > Parks, Recreation and Culture > Public Spaces and Venues > Embrace the Space.
You’ll discover a host of CNV examples of ‘placemaking’. That’s a new term, a buzz word from the mid-1990s, which evolved from the 1960s when cities began to design public spaces for people (instead of cars and shopping centres).
I remember when New York City repurposed a rail line, abandoned in 1980, into the High Line-Elevated NYC Park-Rail Trail. The 2.33 km urban park project, which included landscape architecture, urban design and ecology, began in 2006 and opened in phases during 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2019. It became a tourist attraction; by 2019 it had 8 million visitors per year. It was inspired by Paris’ 4.7 km Promenade plantée, a tree-lined walkway, completed in 1993. About 40 years ago a group called Project for Public Spaces (New York City) started placemaking in small American communities. On their website they list Eleven Principles for Creating Great Community Places, including:
- The community is the expert.
- Create a place, not a design.
- Look for partners
- Start with the petunias: lighter, quicker, cheaper.
- Money is not the issue.
In CNV, placemaking includes parklets and patios, on Lonsdale and streets off-Lonsdale, that occupy parking spaces and enable people to meet and eat; enhancements at Jack Loucks Court and Rogers Plaza, on West 1st St.; and pop-up events, a piano and comfy chairs under umbrellas at the Civic Plaza, between the City Hall and the Library. It’s all about community revitalization.
See you at the Pumpkin Walk. Dress up and bring a flash light.
Fiona