Skip to content

International artists take a test drive in New West - on the Fraser River

What's happening Around Town

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a motorcycle on water.

After 25,000 kilometres of driving through Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan, Siberia and the Russian Far East, a group of five art graduates who call themselves “leavinghomefunktion” made it to Canada in time for winter. Along with Germans Anne Knoedler, Elisabeth Oertel and Johannes Foetsch, Kaupo Hlomberg from Estonia and Efy Zeniou from Cyprus – and their Russian Ural motorcycles – hit the road and embarked on an adventure to parts unknown in August 2014.

“There are so many ideas which move our project but one the main purposes of the leavinghomefunktion project was to leave behind our daily comforts and safety zones and expand our levels of adaptability by living on the road – exchanging information with the locals and learning how to deal with the challenges which come our way,” Zeniou said in an email to the Record.

While wintering in Canada, the group has been developing a prototype for an amphibious Ural – an old-time sidecar floating on pontoons. By fluke, they ended up in New Westminster after one of the artists who works in artificial rock work connected with a local resident in the same field, and he allowed them to pursue their “Ural madness” in his workshop.

If you happened to be on the water or walking along the Queensborough foreshore recently, you may have spotted leavinghomefunktion as they took their prototype for a test drive on the Fraser River.

“The next step for the amphibious Ural is completely surreal!” Zeniou said. “We are going back to Russia, to one of the most remote regions in the world: Sakha and Chukotka. In order to access these regions we need to travel via water. This will enable us once more to come closer to locals – especially those living in the settlements along the river. The water ‘path’ we will take is called the Kolyma River, and we plan to drive a 1,600-kilometre portion of it. Now this should be an interesting adventure on many new levels!”

Sapperton Day returns

Organizers of the Sapperton Day Street Festival are gearing up for this year’s event – and celebrating successes from last year’s festival.

With the support of community partners and sponsors, the Sapperton Business Association organizes the annual event that includes bouncy castles, clowns, jugglers, games, live entertainment, a rock climbing wall, vendors, food and more. Last year’s festival raised $13,000 for the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation.

Sapperton Days got its start in the early 1970s, before going on hiatus and returning more than a decade ago. The 14th consecutive event will take place on East Columbia Street on Sunday, June 12 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Looking at May Day

The New Westminster Historical Society will be taking a look back at May Day at its May 18 presentation.

The event, taking place on Wednesday, May 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the New Westminster Public Library auditorium, will take a lighthearted look at the Royal City’s May Day tradition.

“The history of May Day in New Westminster is a story that traces back to the early years of the city. Along with this regular story of the event are the many details that make up the cultural facets of the tradition – venues, people involved, added colour, anecdotes, curiosities, and even a mystery – and these are all parts of this presentation,” said a press release about the event. “May Day in New Westminster has been held at how many sites? Why was there no May Day in 1878? Which May Queen gave the first speech for her role? Who was Mr. May Day? The first local May Day in 1870 was held where?”
 The program is free and everyone is welcome.

Send community items for Around Town to Theresa at tmcmanus@newwestrecord.ca or find her on Twitter, @theresamcmanus.