CAR FREE DAY - SUNDAY 19th JUNE 2011!!!!!!

CAR FREE DAY - SUNDAY 19th JUNE 2011!!!!!!

Just to let you all know the dates of the orientation sessions that will be coming up for Car Free Day.

Both will be held at the Brittania Community Services Centre (1661 Napier Street) in the room under the Learning Resource Centre and it would be great if you could attend one of the sessions.  It will be a great chance to get to know some of the other volunteers and to ask any questions. I plan to only keep you for about one hour.

Sunday 12th June at 12 Noon

Wednesday 15th June at 5:30pm

If you have not yet done so already please fill out our online form with your preferences for volunteering on the day of the festival.  http://www.carfreevancouver.org/locations/commercial-drive/volunteers/

Also if you have any family or friends that may be able to lend a hand for a few hours, please also direct them to the online form or ask them to come along with you to one of the orientation sessions.

I thought everyone may like to know that the theme for the Fools Parade this year is Alice in Wonderland: Queen of Hearts Croquet Party. The parade will begin at 1st Avenue and proceed down the Drive at 12 Noon sharp on the 19th!

Many thanks all for your kind assistance in helping us stage one of Vancouvers favourite public events!

Have a great week! Any questions, fire away.
xJulie
--
Julie Faye Fuss & The Car Free Commercial Drive Crew

Street Party Shakedown!
www.carfreevancouver.org
Sunday, June 19th, 12-6pm

Please ride your bike, walk or take transit to the Car Free Day Festival!

Special Event: Car-Free Day Planning Session

Plans for the next Car-Free day ate under way and you are invited tO be a part of it. The first organizing meeting takes place on Monday, February 21 at 7 pm in the room below the library at Britannia community centre.

Special Event:Car Free Day Tomorrow!!

Hey DRIVE peeps (and friends! here’s the deets for the festival:

• Day and Time: Sunday June 20th!
• Streets open:  10 AM to 8 PM!  *Festival happens from Noon to 6 PM*
• Location: along the DRIVE- from First avenue to Venables?

want to help out? see contact information below!

http://www.carfreevancouver.org/locations/commercial-drive/

Vancouver car-free Sundays hit a red light

An experimental program to ban cars and open selected Vancouver streets to pedestrians-only on Sundays in the summer has ended prematurely in one of its prime locations.

The city-sponsored program dubbed Summer Spaces has been cancelled on trendy Commercial Drive, on Vancouver's east side, after complaints from area merchants.

One of the program's originators told CBC News that results of a survey of retailers by the local business improvement association effectively ended the local program.

Read the full story here>>>

Special Event: Summer Spaces Happening All Seeson

Summer Spaces is looking for performers, musicians, actors, jugglers, non-profits, clowns, visual artists, dancers, creative souls and community lovers to participate in East Vancouver’s first regular street closure (or opening if you want to look at it that way) !!!!

That’s right folks, every Sunday for July and August Commercial Drive will be closed to car traffic and open for the community to enjoy! All the way from Venables to 1st Ave.

The excitement starts at Noon and all activity must be clear of the street by 7pm.

Summer Spaces will be much smaller than the Car Free Festival. There will be little pre-programmed activity. Everyone is welcome to come down and enjoy this space responsibly. To make sure everyone is enjoying themselves we have thrown down a few guidelines; so please read, and ENJOY!

Guidelines:

-You are welcome to transform the street into anything you wish! Build a giant board game, start a hockey game, use it as a yoga studio, draw on the streets, roll out a living room, create a free store, write, play, sing, dance, perform street theatre, ride a crazy bike, juggle or build a street garden……the possibilities are endless!

-Performance for donations is permitted.

-Non-Profits are invited to come down and participate.

-Preference will be given to local artists and community based organizations.

-No equipment will be provided.

-Local merchants will be expanding their shops onto the street, however no 3rd party vendors will be permitted.

-Please remember this is public space for the whole community.

-If the activity you plan will be amplified (although non amplified performances are preferred) or will have a large impact please inform Amy our Community Liaison, of your plans prior to the event at openstreets@carfreevancouv

er.org


Thank you for participating in East Vancouver’s first regular street opening!
If you have any other questions email Amy, our Community Liaison at openstreets@carfreevancouver.org

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=96858481025&ref=mf

Car Free Day Pics

Had a great time on Commercial Drive this weekend for Commercial Drive, Car Free Days. Realtor and Commercial Drive - Live! sponsor Charlie Kiers, my good friend Carol Anne McMillan and I handed out free cherries (the first of the season), free cookies and free CD's.


Here are a few memories from the day.

If anyone has pics from the day, they'd like to share, please feel free to pass them on.

Special Event: Next Drive Fest All Organizers Meeting April 9th

Preparations for the fabulous Commercial Drive Car Free Festival are well under way.
If you want to be a part of it, then get to the next organizers' meeting, happening Wednesday, April 9th 7PM at 1707 Charles Street (enter through the garden gate east of the main entrance).Try and bring an interested friend if you have one.For the information of all organizers (and potential organizers), 7PM meetings at 1707 Charles Street have been set for the following dates leading up to the Drivefest:
- Tuesday, April 29th- Wednesday, May 14th
- Tuesday, May 27th
- Wednesday Jun 4th
- Tuesday, June 10th
Please reply to us at drivefest@carfreevancouver.org if you have any questions or can't make the meeting, but would like to get involved.

Public Awareness: Kill Bill 43 starring Kevin Falcon

KILL BILL 43!

A gang of ruthless global corporate yakuza fronted by the evil Falcon are out to DESTROY DEMOCRACY! Can the Deadly Viper Highway Assassination Squad, in league with hundreds of thousands of angry citizens and one raging granny, save the day?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpQOoa3eaQI

For more info:

http://www.keeptranslinkpublic.ca

http://www.gatewaysucks.org

The KILL BILL 43 Rally and SkyTrain Joyride

is Wed. Nov. 21, 4:30 pm, at Canada Place

Pass it on.

Drive Days Pics

Commercial Drive's second Car-Free Day was a big success despite the rain. (I danced in it!)
Here are some pics from the event.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/werdnagreb/sets/72157600956411151/


Found them on "The Livable Blog".

Special Event: Call Out From Carmen of Commercial Drive Day

This is just a reminder that the FINAL ORIENTATION MEETING for all Drive Fest Vols is Wednesday July 18, from 7-9pm. It's in the room below the Britannia Library, down the Napier Greenway.

The Festival is THUS SUNDAY (July 22) -- so if you haven't decided yet whether you can volunteer...this is the moment to commit! It's REALLY FUN, you get presents and great food all day, lotsa lovin and 10,000 frequent-flyer karma points. And you get to help set the course for our urban paradise. This is powerful stuff. You'll want to tell your grandkids you were in on the revolution.

We strongly encourage you to come to the orientation on Wednesday -- especially if you're a first-timer (or want a refresher, or to check out our funky crew, get your choice of stylin' t-shirts for $10, find out about the volunteer adoration party, or thrill to more barricade haiku).

If you don't have a confirmed barricade shift yet, or have not yet chosen a duty, you can sign up at that time.

If you can't make it to the orientation, fear not! Just let us know, and we will fill you in on the details.

Looking forward to making eye contact with all you superheroes shortly!

-The Drive Fest Crew
volunteers@commercialdrivefestival.org

604.253.2127

p.s. we are still looking for a loan of a PICKUP TRUCK from Sat. night through Monday morning...if anyone has a line on such a thing we would be utterly thrilled..

Special Event: Commercial Drive Car-Free Days is Coming Again

Editorial: The Sunday Muse

Today was a good day to live on the Drive. I woke up relatively early and went down to photocopy Commercial Drive – Live! flyers and posters and came home and hastily tacked up another 50 on the poles before going down to meet my friend Hinda, who was selling her delicious sauces and jams outside of Morning Glory Tea House.

I keep telling myself that one of these days I’ll do the smart thing and hire a street team to plaster the neighbourhood. I spent a good two hours last night walking along Commercial from Grant to Broadway and back again to Venables, then up again almost to Charles. As a matter of fact, my last poster ended up on the pole in front of the patio at Fets. A big thing I learned was it is important to poster late the night before or first thing the day of if you want your poster to remain up for Car-Free day. The poster racket is ruthless.

Next time I’ll be better prepared. No, really.

But my work did have some impact. By the time I came home I had an email from Karen Magill about her day on the Drive.

She wrote,

Dear Mr. Duncan,

I was at Britannia Centre and saw a flyer for thedriveisalive.blogspot. It was so great to see someone else blogging about Commercial Drive. I started my blog to promote my latest book but found that I got emails from people when I talked about walking through Hastings Park. People like to hear about my walking tours of Vancouver so that is what I blog about.

Thank you for your time.

Karen Magill

Read her Commercial Drive Day review here:

http://letusplaylovestory.blogspot.com/

We spent a lot of time last week talking about the sudden death of T. Paul Ste. Marie. His friends Frank and Claire opened up their beautiful home for us last weekend to celebrate his life. I wanted to steer you to the posting by Mom Poet about the lovely tribute. She does a fine job of summing up the event.

Check it out here...

By the way, fellow poet Susan Cormier took it upon herself to give T. Paul’s mom an anthology of stories and sentiments about T. Paul. She wants to give her a second edition. If you want to be included in this anthology please fire them her way at jaywalker@hotmail.com.

Finally, I just wanted to thank everyone who reads this blog, and tells their friends to do the same. As I was riding my bike last night, a young guy walking with a girl saw me passing and called out, “Hey, you’re the guy who rides that blog, The Drive is Alive, right?

Cool.

Drop me a line and say hi!

Special Event: Cardboard Car Pile Up on Car-Free Day

What:
Card Board Car, Traffic Jam/Multiple Car Crash pile up fenderbender,
Road Rage Water/Pillow Fight!!!!... Mob.

When:
Sunday June 17th, 2007 (During the Commercial Drive Festival) http://
www.commercialdrivefestival.org
4:20pm

Where:
On the Road in front of Turks Coffee house (across from Grandview Park)

Premise:
Make a Cardboard Car and "Drive it" up The Drive.
Then at 4:20 pm there will be a fender Bender.
People will get out of their "cars"
An Argument will begin.
After the insurance papers come out people will vent their pent up
Road Rage with Water Guns and/or Pillows.
At about 4:25 people will turn and vent their anger on their "Cars"
while laughing like relentless psychopaths. (Vent on your own car
please)
After a few minuted of this, when the Vehicles get obliterated.... We will group hug like a bunch of Stinky Hippies for about a minute.

*Optional: After the hug, hold hands and spread out in a circle and
om for 30sec. (Not mandatory)

PLEASE CLEAN UP YOUR MESS!!!!
We may do a second one for the next Festival Date in June.


So to sum it up...
Let's keep it Flash Mob Simple and say that you can show up early in
your car, do whatever you want (Honk your horn, yell at pedestrians
etc.) then at 4:20 pm there will be a multi-(Card Board) car pile up
Road Rage Water/Pillow Fight, until 4:25 when we'll destroy the Cars
and Hug like stinky hippies while we Laugh relentlessly!!!.

Only Two More Sleeps Until Car-Free Days!

Join Commercial Drive Donations Collection team

Special Event: Drive Fest Is Coming...

Commercial Drive Car-Free Days Are On The Way

Sunday June 17th

and

Sunday July 22nd

This year there will be 2 car-free events - and you have the opportunity to volunteer at either event!

Come out to Britannia (below the library) on Sat May 26th at 2pm to meet the organizers and brainstorm any ideas you may have around promoting or adding new elements to this very successful event.

This year our group, the Environmental Activist Network, will be working with recycling centres to have onsite drop off depots for e-waste and Styrofoam, and we’ll have a battery drop off at our booth. We also will have more information to answer any of your recycling questions. You can sign our petition on making all plastics a blue bin collectible and take part in community recycling. Event dates are Sunday June 17th and Sunday July 22nd. Start saving your stuff now! For more information go to http://www.commercialdrivefestival.org/ (where you also can send an email), or contact me at 604 251-5952.

Special Event: Car-Free Days Town Hall Meeting

Attn all neighbours, friends and businesses of Commercial Drive – you are invited to attend:

Car-Free Commercial Drive Days 2007

TOWN HALL MEETING

Saturday May 26, 2 to 4pm

Britannia Learning Resource Centre, under the Britannia Library (through the Napier Greenway)

Big news! Due to popular demand, this summer there will be TWO Car-Free Commercial Drive Days: Sunday June 17 (Fathers Day) and Sunday July 22.

As in previous Commercial Drive Festivals, the Drive will be closed to motorized traffic from 10 am to 8 pm, between Venables and 1st, so that we can party with our neighbours, celebrate the fantastic community we live in, and experience what a pedestrianized commercial district feels like.

This is your chance to:

-meet our crew and find out more

-check out volunteer opportunities

-let us know what you think about the Fests

-brainstorm about how to make Drive Days even better

Questions/comments: info@commercialdrivefestival.org

Thanks for all your support, hope to see you there!

*******************************************************

Car-Free Commercial Drive Days 2007

Sunday June 17 & Sunday July 22

www.commercialdrivefestival.org

• free of charge • free of boring corporate stuff • free of cars •

Special Notice: Car-Free Days Need You

Greetings Car-Free Commercial Drive people!

Big news: due to popular demand, the quirky and magnificent Commercial Drive Festival is now evolving into Car-Free Commercial Drive Days -- TWO of them! This represents a huge shift in civic consciousness...it will not be long before the 'hood, the City, the entire planet recognizes the massive potential for global salvation and FREE FUN that Car-Free streets represent.

So here's the lowdown: Sunday, June 17 (fathers day) and Sunday, July 22...Car-Free Commercial Drive Days invite everyone out to play in the street, East Van style.

This is your party. Your neighbourhood. It is run by the locals, giving their time in exchange for the fruits of creative collaboration.

This is a call out for folks to help get the show on the road -- PLEASE STEP UP NOW! Fun, friends, connections, snacks & coddling, karma, a stylish t-shirt, and a rockin' volunteer afterparty are among the sundry rewards for making it happen.

CAR-FREE DRIVE DAYS needs:

Pre-Fest:
• Help with Community Outreach (staff a table at Stone Soup May 9, or Farmers Market, or...?), or Business Liason (a great way to get to know the Drive businesses)
• Spend a couple of hours doing some postering or flyer distribution

• Do you have a car, van, truck or industrial bike trailer at your disposal? Get some carbon credits! Pickup/chore runners needed.

Festival Day:
• Barricade Superheros: Hold up the perimeters of the party! (2-hr shifts any time between 9am and 8pm.)
• Volunteer Support: Heart of the production – the gathering place and the waterhole. (Coordinator sought. 3 hour Green Room shifts between 9am and 8pm.)

• Info People: Staffing the Info Tent, hand out flyers, etc. – great for hardcore Drive residents who know the scene.

• Donation Fairies & Fools: Wow the crowds and help raise funds to keep the party rollin. Roving performers, donation fairies, face painters, clowns, etc.

• Set-Up, Tear-down and Greeners : The festival emerges, as if from thin air and then disappears without a trace…suitable for featherweights or bench-lifters...

• Photo/videographers: record the event

• Helpers At Large: "whatever you need me to do"...we will slot you in. If you have specific skills, resources or contacts to offer, please let us know.

Please email (or phone) with your name and contact info. We'll need to know where you'd like to contribute your time (if you have a preference), and any special interests, needs or physical abilities or limitations you might have.

Volunteer Orientations (you only need to attend one session) will take place:

Thursday, June 7 at 7pm in the Britannia Library basement
Sunday, June 10 at 2pm in the Britannia Library basement

You'll especially want to be at one of the orientations to order your very own Car-Free Commercial Drive Festival T-Shirt, at a very cheap volunteer price.

So there you go...the time is NOW...please step up and help co-create our urban paradise.

Looking forward to working/playing with you soon,

Viva! Viva!
Andrea Curtis,
Coordinating Volunteers
volunteers@commercialdrivefestival.org
cell :: 778.549.7874

www.commercialdrivefestival.org

State of the Arts

The Vancouver Courier has a few articles about and by Drivers, like the cover story by Kevin Potvin about the Vancouver art scene featuring Dr. Vigari's Bill Gotts.

Read the story here...