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- Monday, April 17 edition — All guts, little glory: life in community theatre
Monday, April 17 edition — All guts, little glory: life in community theatre
Meet an actress who loves her craft and the productions she helps bring to life locally.
Monday, April 17 2023 | Today: 🌥️ High 13C, Low 3C | 7-day forecast
Good morning!
Last week, Tyler wrote about how fashion is changing slower than it used to. And I thought, “That’s funny, because the jeans I bought a year ago are definitely not cool anymore.” I think the exact opposite is true: fashion is changing faster than ever.
The reason why something worn in 2013 looks cool and acceptable today is because it’s already gone out of and come back into style. The yoga pants I wore in middle school? Teenagers today just discovered them. They call them flared leggings. Men’s suits are probably a different ball game. But, I think, maybe not that different.
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NEWS
All guts, little glory: life in community theatre
Elizabeth Seaman as Lucy in The Secret Garden. 📷️ Gallery 7
Theatre is meant to be seen, heard, and felt by its audience. But it can be hard to find outside of professional productions if you don’t know where to look.
That’s one of the things that Elizabeth Seaman, a long-time actress on Abbotsford’s community theatre scene, knows is unique about local productions. They can be advertised but, often, news of a new production or audition spreads by word of mouth.
Seaman recently played an elderly aunt named Lucy in Gallery 7’s musical adaptation of The Secret Garden, which is based on the classic novel of the same name.
Galley 7 is based in Abbotsford and one of several community theatre companies across the Fraser Valley. The performers in each production are volunteers, but the performances are high quality. That can surprise people who don’t frequent local productions. It once surprised Seaman, too.
Today, Grace talks to Seaman about her love for a less-heralded form of local art.
Related story
Need to know
🔥 Last fall’s drought will impact the upcoming fire season, BC emergency officials said [Global News]
🚌 No end in sight as Fraser Valley transit strike hits fourth week [CTV]
🌧️ The potential for future flooding along the shores of Hatzic Lake is worrying [Abbotsford News]
➡️ A high-risk sex offender released last year was charged with breaching release conditions in Chilliwack last October [Chilliwack Progress]
🚲️ Another push to get a bike-share program rolling in Langley has begun [Langley Advance Times]
🚗 One person is dead after a single-vehicle crash on 200th street in Langley [Global News]
👮 A group of men used a firearm to rob a cannabis grow-op in Abbotsford [Abbotsford Police]
👚 Walnut Grove theatre students are presenting Legally Blonde starting May 4 [Langley Advance Times]
🚒 A car caught fire in a Chilliwack garage on Saturday afternoon [Chilliwack Progress]
🎨 A colourful and cartoony new mural was finished in downtown Langley [Langley Advance Times]
🦷 Ruth and Naomi’s Mission is fundraising to open a not-for-profit dental clinic in Chilliwack [Chilliwack Progress]
👉️ A suspect in a stolen white truck smashed through Griner Park in Mission to escape police [Global News]
🚜 EcoFarm Fest 2023 is a family-friendly farm and food market event including local food, music, and entertainment. Don’t miss this free community event!*
*Sponsored Listing
The Agenda
Lower Mainland farmland has always been expensive, but prices aren’t currently sprouting upwards. | 📷️ Farm Credit Canada
Farmland values rise slowly in Lower Mainland
The value of farmland in the Lower Mainland is rising slower than the rest of BC in 2022. But it’s still easily the most expensive cultivated land in the country.
Across the province, the value of farmland increased by 8%. But in the south coast region, which includes the Fraser Valley, the value of cultivated land only rose 3%. That was the result of fewer sales over the course of 2022, according to Farm Credit Canada’s annual report.
The highest increases in farmland values were in the Okanagan, which posted a 14% increase, and in the Kootenays, which saw 34% growth. In many parts of those regions, transactions were smaller parcels and earmarked by buyers for rural residential living.
Though value is rising slower in the region, farmland in the Fraser Valley remains some of the priciest in the country, with an acre selling for between $93,800 and $250,000. In the Okanagan, the average price is still $34,000 an acre; in the Kootenays, it’s $22,400.
Election sign restrictions, Horne Pit, and a new winery lounge: Langley Township council preview
Langley Township council should reject a proposal to restrict election signs to private property, a resident told council during a recent public hearing.
On Monday, council will discuss B. Gardner’s request to restrict campaign signs from all properties and that the township instead increase its budget to promote local elections. She argued that the new bylaw would favour private property owners.
After a committee meeting at noon, councillors will return at 1:30pm for a regular meeting to hear delegations about how development is impacting the Little Campbell River and the future of Horne Pit in the Fernridge Neighborhood Plan.
Council will also consider a request for a new winery lounge at Chapter Estates Winery and approving $2 million for new furniture and equipment for the salishan Place by the River cultural centre. View Monday’s entire agenda here.
Langley City council to consider drinking in parks and tax rate bylaws
Langley City council will consider whether its drinking-in-parks bylaw should continue for the 2023 season during its Monday meeting.
The city approved a pilot project in 2021 and 2022 to permit drinking in select parks and public facilities. Council will decide the future of the project at its 7pm meeting.
Council will also consider whether to hike taxes by nearly 12% and potential changes to its floodplain elevation bylaw, which aims to reduce the risk of flood damage to new developments.
View Monday’s agenda here.
COMMUNITY PROFILE
Meet Abbotsford’s Doug Holbrow
Doug cultivated his interest in cars after retiring in Abbotsford. 📷️ submitted
Meet Doug Holbrow. An Abbotsford resident for most of his life (if not all of it) he’s lived in the area for six and a half decades. Now retired, Doug restores cool, old cars for fun.
Favourite local restaurant: Ann Marie’s
Favourite hidden gem: My farm
How long you’ve been a local? 65 years
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Things to do
🎭 Theatre in the Country: Langley’s Theatre in the Country presents Steel Magnolias. The play, based on the 1989 American comedy-drama, is on now until April 29. Tickets online.
🛶 Spirit of the Coast: Chris Cooper will be at the Mission library from 6 to 7pm on Tuesday for a special presentation of Spirit of the Coast, a story of four different canoes traveling the Coast of BC, including visits with First Nations peoples.
🥅 BCHL hockey: The Chilliwack Chiefs will host the Nanaimo Clippers at 7pm Tuesday night. Tickets online.
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