What’s happening?
The City of New Westminster is holding the official grand opening of the new Front Street mews, in connection with the Downtown New Westminster Business Improvement Association’s first Fridays on Front event.
Tell me more:
At the official opening of the mews you’ll be able to check out some public art and the new parklet at Mackenzie and Front streets. You’ll also be able to take a walking tour to learn about the newly acquired public art, as well as the historic canneries, manufacturing plants, restaurants, hotels and banks once located in the area.
Anything else?
Birds on a Branch, a new public art installation by Jacqueline Metz and Nancy Chew on the Front Street parkade, is being formally unveiled. One of the largest public art installations in the region, it depicts songbirds resting on branches and is woven into the chain-link façade of the parkade.
What’s the Front Street mews?
After demolishing the portion of the Front Street parkade west of Sixth Street, the city redesigned that part of Frontage Road (the roadway immediately in front of Front Street businesses) as a mews. The idea is to improve connections between the downtown and the waterfront and to create a pedestrian-friendly areaspace featuring widened sidewalks, traffic calming, new street furniture, lighting and planters. It also features angled parking for local businesses.
Is it done?
While most of the mews is complete, some lighting won’t be installed by the grand opening. The area will have catenary lighting, which features globe-style lights suspected over the street to create a light canopy extending from Begbie to Sixth Street.
Details, please:
The grand opening of the Front Street mews and the first Fridays on Front take place on Friday, July 7 from 5 to 8 p.m. on Front Street, between Begbie and Sixth streets.
