Friday, July 21, 2023 edition - Music, parks, and the past

Friday, July 21, 2023 | 🌤 High 27C

Good morning!

The month of July is nearing its end but there is still plenty of summer left to enjoy. We’re starting to put together next month’s list of happenings. If you know of an event we should consider highlighting, fill out this form. I’m personally looking forward to Langley Rib Fest and the Abbotsford Airshow.

In Saturday’s Insider’s email, Tyler writes about a favourite topic of discussion among journalists: how we preserve and record our conversations with interview subjects.

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WORTH KNOWING

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

⚠️ Here’s the current smoke forecast / Check the BC Wildfire Dashboard here

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

NEWS

Using a park with a serious past

For three decades now, hundreds of people have gathered every July at Fraser River Heritage Park for the Mission Folk Music Festival.

The event, which kicks off Friday, provides a huge array of music from around the world in a famously beautiful setting.

But Fraser River Heritage Park—Mission’s most popular central park—has its own complex past, and was once home to a residential school. In recent years, the City of Mission, local organizations, and residents have been increasingly wrestling with the property’s past. That has included the replacement of old interpretive signage, along with research and work and collaboration with First Nations to better acknowledge and understand the past. The park itself, though, remains and is actually slated to grow. Adjacent Crown land was recently returned to local First Nations, and they are leasing 50 hectares back to Mission to expand the park area.

That’s a lot of baggage for a single park and a lot of history for visitors to process. For Patrick Anthony, though, that doesn’t mean joy and music shouldn’t also ring out across the site.

• Anthony, a member of Leq’á:mel First Nation, will be one of the dozens of musicians performing over the three-day festival. We asked him about his music, and about how he believes people should use a park with a serious past.

Need to know

🔥 A fire south of Hope has grown to 36 hectares [BC Wildfire]; The Davis Lake fire north of Mission continues to burn and grow in an eastwardly direction (away from homes) [NASA]

🚁 An air ambulance landed on Highway 1 in Aldergrove on Wednesday after a crash involving a motorcycle and truck [Aldergrove Star]

🔥 Air support was called in to quell a wildfire in the Chilliwack River Valley [Chilliwack Progress]

🚫 A Chilliwack couple is vowing to stage a hunger strike to protest pickleball noise [Chilliwack Progress]

🚔 Search efforts resumed for a 21-year-old man who is believed to have drowned in Cultus Lake [Fraser Valley Today]

🏍 Hundreds of Hells Angels members are expected to celebrate the club’s anniversary in Langley this weekend [Langley Advance Times]

⚽️ Canada tied Nigeria 0-0 in its first Women's World Cup game last night; [Guardian]; The roster includes Abbotsford's Sophie Schmidt and Chilliwack's Jordyn Huitema [CBC]

👮🏻 Three men have been charged in connection to an Abbotsford home invasion in June [Abbotsford News]

🚓 Police released new images of a mother accused of abducting her two kids [CBC]

⚖️ A Mission man is being sued for allegedly defrauding a school district [Mission Record]

🌊 Harrison Lake is the second-deadliest lake in the province, a BC Coroners report found [Agassiz Harrison Observer]

🚨 Langley RCMP are searching for a missing 32-year-old woman [RCMP]

The Agenda

End in sight for transit strike

The last stop is approaching for the Fraser Valley transit strike.

First Transit, the company that employs BC Transit bus drivers throughout the Fraser Valley, has agreed to accept recommendations set out by the province’s appointed mediator.

“We are eager for the strike to end and for service to be promptly restored for our customers in the Fraser Valley,” a company spokesperson said.

Earlier this week, the union representing striking bus drivers said it would recommend its members accept the new contract. The contract must now be ratified by a vote of union members.

Narrow apartment given go-ahead

A uniquely narrow proposed apartment building in Abbotsford received approval from council Monday.

Phulka properties had applied to build a five-storey apartment building with just 12 units on a George Ferguson Way property formerly home to a lone single-family house. Apartment buildings on such small lots are still mostly unheard of in the Fraser Valley and the project could point to ways communities can increase density without requiring builders assemble multiple properties.

The property is located near Abbotsford city hall. Four of the units will have three bedrooms. The developer has also promised to keep the building rental-only in exchange for permission to have two fewer parking spaces on site.

A public hearing on the matter elicited little opposition and council unanimously endorsed the proposal.

SPONSORED BY FRASER HEALTH

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Things to do

👟 Walking tour: The Mission Museum is offering historic walking tours of Downtown Mission on July 22 and 29. Tickets are $10.

🛶 Canoe and Kayak: Fort Canoe & Kayak Club is holding a free open house Sunday from 11am to 4pm on the Bedford Channel in Fort Langley. Try out a recreational or sprint canoe-kayak, experience surfski and learn about club programs.

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