The show must go on.
That may be the motto or performers around the world, but it’s apropos for the Royal City Farmers Market. While the Feb. 4 winter market fell on the day after a heavy snowfall, the group ploughed ahead and held its winter market.
Nadine Nakagawa, who took this shot, tells us that volunteers arrived at 6 a.m. to ensure the area was safe for vendors and customers, after the city plowed the night before. Great community spirit!
The next winter market on Belmont Street its today (Feb. 18) from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Kudos to the city
City of New Westminster employees are getting kudos on a number of fronts.
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr said the city had a great response from city crews in response to the recent snowfall, but he wanted to identify one of the “heroes” who helped out. As he was leaving a restaurant on 12th Street on Feb. 3, he spotted the city’s senior planning analyst.
“When I left, I heard this scraping of a shovel. I looked down 12th Street and there was one of our staff, Dave Guiney, and he was looking for the storm sewer and he was trying to clear the snow off it so water could run down 12th Street properly,” he said. “A shout-out to our planner Dave Guiney for going above the call of duty.”
Queen’s Park resident Larry Church expressed appreciation to Jim Lowrie, the city’s director of engineering, for tracking him down and following up on concerns he’d voiced about curb cuts.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” he told council on Feb. 6. “Thanks Jim.”
Brow of the Hill resident Brad Cavanagh also put in an appearance at the Feb. 6 council meeting to thank the city for its efforts updating the city’s official community plan. He noted that staff has given up many evenings and weekends to attend council meetings and community events since the process got underway in January 2014.
“We’d like to say thank you for putting the C in the OCP,” he said of the official community plan. “It truly is a community plan.”
While staff deserve accolades, Cavanagh also thanked mayor and council for making the OCP update a bottom-up process that’s involved residents.
“It could have been driven from the top down,” he said. “City staff could have just presented reports and come up with ideas and not engaged with the community.”
New West décor business gets a new owner
First a shopper, then an owner.
Last Sepetmber, Janice and Jeff Wright took over as the new owners of Champagne Taste, a home décor store on Royal Avenue featuring a blend of new and consignment home décor items and furniture. Janice had previously worked with Champagne Taste’s co-owner Peggy Bellerive and shopped at the store.
“I very much want to continue what’s been started here,” said Janice, who was grateful that Bellerive stayed on to help introduce her to the business and customers. “I am learning as I go. There is definitely an art to picking certain things, receiving certain things and not accepting certain things, and catering to both the consigner and the shopper at the same time. I definitely want to maintain the tradition and the style, but I do have plans to grow the business.”
So, what does the future hold for Champagne Taste?
“I’ve got some plans to resurrect the web page and bring it a little newer, a little edgier, to grow some clientele outside the arms of New Westminster and eventually maybe even make online shopping available,” Janice said.
In recent months, Champagne Taste has helped raise funds for the Honour House Society and the Caring Neighbours at Christmas program offered by Family Services of Greater Vancouver.
