Royal City dogs are invited to take part in the third annual Petrifying Pooch Parade.
The free community event, hosted by Calli Co. Pet Services, includes a pet parade. Pet owners will parade their four-legged friends in front of judges and try to win prizes for Most Original Costume, Scariest Costume and Funniest Costume.
The event is taking place at the Queen's Park off-leash dog park on Saturday, Oct. 27 from noon to 2 p.m. Judging will take place at 1 p.m.
"This is such a wonderful event, one that the local dog community really rallies around," Calli Co Pet Services' owner Brigette Mayer said in a press release. "It's so great to see the creative custom ideas and participants, both doggy and human, always seem to have a lot of fun. We welcome well-socialized dogs of all shapes and sizes."
Mayer has also rounded up prizes, treats and refreshments from New Westminster companies. In addition to the pet parade, the event includes Halloween doggy bags for all pet participants and hot chocolate and treats for their human companions.
For more information about the Petrifying Pooch Parade, visit www.calico. ca/specials.html.
CONSERVATIVES PICK THEIR EXEC
Brian Laeser has once again been elected president of the New Westminster constituency association of the British Columbia Conservative Party.
At it Oct. 16 annual general meeting, the constituency association elected its executive. Joining Laeser are fellow Royal City residents Ron Marriott (vice-president), Mike Hodges (treasurer), and former MP Paul Forseth (secretary). In addition to electing its executive, the membership passed a motion stating that the New Westminster Constituency Association, in view of recent events, supports the work of the party leader and the provincial board of directors, in serving the B.C. Conservative Party.
All of the men have been on the New Westminster board in the past.
SPEAKERS SET
The City of New Westminster has rounded up a range of speakers to take part in its Envision 2032 Sustainability Fair.
The forum, which is being held on Friday, Nov. 2 from 6: 30 to 9: 30 p.m. at the Inn at the Quay, aims to provide attendees with information and inspiration about planning for a sustainable future. The event is the community launch of the city's Envision 2032 process, which will lead to New Westminster's first Integrated Community Sustainability Plan.
The lineup of speakers includes: Lori Baxter (former manager of the 2010 Legacies Now arts program for the 2010 Winter Olympics and executive director of the Greater Vancouver Alliance for Arts and Culture), who will address the importance of arts, culture and heritage in creating vibrant communities; Judith Cullington (a councillor in the City of Colwood and a driving force behind the Solar Colwood initiative), who will speak on how the initiative was implemented in Colwood using a community outreach and engagement process involving multiple community partners; Darlene Gering (president of the 2012 B.C. Seniors Games, chair of the Burnaby Art Gallery and former president and CEO of the Burnaby Board of Trade), who will focus on how to apply triple bottom-line thinking into decision-making, including social innovation; and Virginia Weiler (chair of VanCity), who will address the role of business and the financial industry in creating a sustainable community with examples of how VanCity incorporates sustainability in its everyday practices.
New Westminster resident Jerry Dobrovolny will discuss the integration of land use and transportation and Vancouver's success with achieving transformational change through transportation targets. In addition to being a former New Westminster city councillor, he's the director of transportation for the City of Vancouver.
Patrick Johnstone, a municipal environmental coordinator and past-president of the New Westminster Environmental Partners, will speak on how environmental sustainability can be applied in urban settings like New Westminster.
Building on the information shared at the Let's Talk Sustainability event, a visioning workshop will be held the following day, on Saturday, Nov. 3 from 9 a.m. to 1: 30 p.m. The vision statements created at the workshop will inform the development of Envision 2032.
Attendance for both the forum and the visioning workshop is free, but registration is required because of limited space. Participants can register online at www.envision2032.ca, by email to envision2032@newwestc ity.ca or by calling 604-5153767.
Envision 2032 is intended to provide a sustainability-based decision-making framework for evaluating future community plans, policies, practices and projects.
