🌤️ High 18C

Good morning,

This weekend, the weather is cooperating, and there's a good reason to get outside. Abbotsford is one of hundreds of cities taking part in the City Nature Challenge, a global four-day effort to document local wildlife. We have a primer below on what it's all about and why the Fraser Valley is a particularly good place to do it.

I’d also be remiss not to mention that our own William Johnson is emceeing the Fraser Valley Economic Summit on May 21! If you're a local business leader or just curious about where the region is headed, consider checking it out 🙂

– Emily

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🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

We’re skipping April showers in the Fraser Valley this weekend, and if you’re looking for something to get you outdoors, this is a pretty good one.

Every year in late April, millions of people around the world spend four days photographing every wild living thing they can find — birds, insects, fungi, wildflowers, animal tracks, you name it. They then upload it all to a global database that scientists actually use. It sounds niche, but the organizing group says it’s the “the largest annual biodiversity census in the world.”

The City Nature Challenge runs April 24 to 27, inviting people to document wild plants, animals, fungi, and other living things in their neighbourhoods using the free iNaturalist app. Now in its 11th year, the event has grown from a friendly competition between San Francisco and Los Angeles into a global effort spanning 669 cities and 62 countries. Abbotsford is the only Fraser Valley city participating this year.

The premise is simple: head outside, photograph whatever wild things you find, and upload them. That means anything not planted or cared for by people — a bird in your backyard, a mushroom on a trail, animal tracks in the mud, a bee on a flower. Observations are then identified by an online community of naturalists between April 28 and May 10, with results announced May 13.

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👶 An Abbotsford daycare owner pleaded not guilty to five counts of assault involving children aged two to six at her Smile 'N' Play Daycare locations. The trial of Indu Takhar, 60, is expected to continue until April 29. [CBC News]

🪖 Veterans, students, and dignitaries gathered at Langley's Derek Doubleday Arboretum on April 17 to mark 75 years since the Battle of Gapyeong, a pivotal Canadian engagement during the Korean War. [Langley Advance Times]

🐾 Aldergrove resident Allana Berger started a Facebook support group for owners of disabled and recovering dogs after her Boston terrier Lola was paralyzed by a sudden autoimmune condition. More than 80 people joined within a week. [Langley Advance Times]

⚖️ An Abbotsford man and a Kamloops woman have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a 22-year-old man whose body was found in West Kelowna in January 2016, more than a decade after the killing. [Fraser Valley Today]

✍️ Chilliwack author and poet Taryn Hubbard has been named as the city's inaugural poet laureate by the Chilliwack Arts Council and will compose four original poems reflecting on community and the wider world over the next year. [Chilliwack Progress]

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Vintage Barn Market: The Fraser Valley's largest vintage and pop-up market returns to Chilliwack Heritage Park April 24–26, with over 160 vendors expected.

Mushaira — South Asian Poetry Event: Local poets from diverse backgrounds come together for an afternoon of South Asian poetry at Clearbrook Library on April 25.

Country Car Show: The Central Fraser Valley Chapter of the Vintage Car Club of Canada hosts its 12th annual Country Car Show on April 26 at Aldergrove Community Secondary School, with free admission for spectators and trophies awarded at 2:30 PM.

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