Eat, Drink, & Be Merry in Support of Mount Pleasant Family Centre Society

Got plans for Thursday, March 9th? Join me at Mount Pleasant's historic Heritage Hall for Savour Our Neighbourhood, a celebration of local food & drink in support of the Mount Pleasant Family Centre Society. Enjoy a sleeve or two of beer from tasty local breweries Bomber, Parallel 49, & Main Street, or a glass of wine from BC Wine Studios, taste a wide array of appetizers & treats from local restaurants Fable, El Camino's, Batard Bakery, Earnest Ice Cream, Eight & a Half, The French Table, Nuba, General Public, & Bob Likes Thai Food. Bid on a few choice items in our silent auction, try your luck in the basket raffles or draws for prizes like two flights to anywhere Westjet flies, or a weekend at the Tinhorn Creek Guest House. All accompanied by the musical stylings of Juno Award winning pianist John Hall.

Don't take my word for it--check out the photos of the past three years of the event here. It's always a fun evening.

Some tickets are still available--get yours soon to avoid disappointment! Buy them online at Eventbrite here.

Savour Our Neighbourhood
Thursday, March 9
5:30pm-9:30pm
Heritage Hall
3102 Main St, Vancouver, BC

Tickets $50 (includes a drink & all food)
Westjet draw tickets $20 on Eventbrite, $30 at event (if still available)

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ABCs of Family Biking Workshop Recap

Whoops, forgot to take off my name tag!

Last Saturday we held the first of our sessions of the ABCs of Family Biking Workshop. Ten families joined us in the Mount Pleasant Family Centre to talk all about family biking, with a half dozen of their little ones playing upstairs with our childcare providers. The workshop went really well, with our main problem being trying to fit all that we wanted to talk about into the time we had.

There are quite a few topics that we could have expanded on more, but lacked the time. There's a lot to say about biking with babies, toddlers, & little kids in just ninety minutes! So I've decided to write a series of posts here on Spokesmama to delve into the details a little more. The first post will be all about route planning for family biking. Stay tuned for that in the next few days!

If you're interested in attending the (free!) workshops, there are still spaces available in the July 24th session, and we plan to add one more in late June too. More details about the ABCs of Family Biking plus registration links here.

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Have Your Say: Dude Chilling Park Playground

Guelph Park (known to many of us as Dude Chilling) is located at 2390 Brunswick St. in Vancouver. The Vancouver Park Board is removing its central wooden play structure in the spring of 2016, due its age, condition and safety concerns. The adjacent play structure offers a safe and enjoyable play experience. 

We want to know what you’d like to see on this site, once the aging structure is removed. Tell us what you think in this 2 minute questionnaire.

Click here to start the questionnaire.

The questionnaire will be open until April 1, 2016.

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WIN 2 Tickets to Savour Our Neighbourhood

Savour Our Neighbourhood 2016 – The Mount Pleasant Family Centre Society's 3rd annual fundraising event – is almost upon us! Thursday, March 10th, from 5:30pm to 9:30pm, we're creating a feast for the senses, filling Heritage Hall with local food, craft beer, BC wine, & music.

At Savour Our Neighbourhood you'll sample bites from a variety of local restaurants and eateries, sip beverages from local microbreweries and premium BC wineries. You won't be able to resist dancing to the infectious soul and funk of some of Vancouver’s finest musicians. You'll have the chance to win some incredible prizes in the raffles and silent auction. This is an adult only event (19+).

If this sounds like fun to you, enter the contest to WIN two tickets to Savour Our Neighbourhood!

There are several options for entry--please do as many as you like to improve your chances of winning. Contest closes at 11:59pm Monday, March 7. The winner will be contacted by email & must reply within 24 hours to claim their tickets. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Mount Pleasant Family Biking Festival Recap

After months of preparation, blood (okay bruises), sweat, & tears... July 19 arrived, sunny & hot. The Mount Pleasant Family Biking Festival went off without any major hitches. I think people actually enjoyed themselves & the event served the purpose of giving families a chance to network about biking & gear.

Many parents test rode bikes--the bakfietsen seemed especially popular. One lucky family won the Evo Toddler Deluxe seat (donated by Tandem Bike Cafe) & will now have the gear to start riding with both their kids.

I was buzzing around dealing with photo releases, finding lost stuff, answering questions, & handing out drinks from the cooler, so the festival flew by in a flash for me. I think there were over a hundred people over the course of the event.

Our official photographer, Tom Wiebe, managed to get some great photos despite the high noon glare. Here are a few that give a sense of the event:

Chatting about the Babboe City bakfiets, one of over 20 family bikes on display
Photo Credit: Tom Wiebe

Our face painter, Lesia decorated many a cheek
Photo Credit: Tom Wiebe

The bike decorating station was hopping
Photo Credit: Tom Wiebe

The spoke decorations disappeared quick & the streamers were tied to everything
Photo Credit: Tom Wiebe

Chatting about the Surly Big Dummy & a Yepp Maxi on a 'regular' bike  
Photo Credit: Tom Wiebe

Bike Doctor pinwheel on a Wike bakfiets
Photo Credit: Tom Wiebe

There was a lot of traffic in the little bike circuit
Photo Credit: Tom Wiebe

So many tips  & reasons for loving family biking posted
Photo Credit: Tom Wiebe

Tandem Cafe co owner & prize donor Clint, talking about his Cetma bakfiets
Photo Credit: Tom Wiebe

Our youngest volunteer (left) explaining the draw prizes
Photo Credit: Tom Wiebe

Rearranging the cones on the bike circuit was extremely popular
Photo Credit: Tom Wiebe

Chatting about my Yuba with another bike-curious parent
Photo Credit: Tom Wiebe

We did it! Tonya & I near the end of the event
Photo Credit: Tom Wiebe

This festival was 'my baby' for many months, but I couldn't have done it without the generous help of many people. I'd like to extend a huge thank you to:

• Tonya for helping to hatch the plot & so many other things along the way.
• Lisa M, Dan, Joe, Melissa B, Chris, Brigitte, Lola, Gabe, Nicole, Melissa R, Clint, Neil, Matthew, Jens, Gwen, Anthony & a few others I know I'm forgetting for being in the Show & Shine
• Rob, Tonya, Gwen, Anthony, Nicole, Lisa M, Dan for helping set up
• The Floyd family in particular for sticking around the entire day & helping with pretty much everything at the event from transporting heavy stuff, to set up, to station staffing, to tear down
• Jens, Chris, Melissa B, for bringing the tables & chairs in your bakfietsen back to the family centre
• Our photographer Tom & face painter Lesia for providing their creative skills
• The Vancouver Foundation for providing us with a Greenest City Neighbourhood Small Grant & all the staff & grant coordinators who helped us along the way
• The Parks Board staff & Councillor Deal for helping us sort our our permit for an event that didn't really fit in any of the tick boxes on the forms
• Our bike shop sponsors Mighty Riders, The Bike Doctor, & Tandem Bike Cafe for loaning tents, providing funding & prizes
• The Mount Pleasant Family Centre for loaning us tables & chairs
• Last but definitely not least, my husband & children for putting up with the stress of me going into full festival-planning mode for quite a while before the event.

One last thing:

If you attended the event, I'd love to know what you thought of it. I want this to be an annual event & your feedback will help make it better next year! Please visit the Mount Pleasant Family Biking Festival Feedback survey--it will only take you five minutes. Thank you!

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