THE TALK OF THE TOWN

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What Do We Have For You This Month?

Welcome to “The Talk of The Town” for November, 2022. Scroll through the following features to find (and click on images to enlarge):

Our Lead Story

Krystle Dos Santos will be one of the artists illuminating and enlivening this year’s Lumière Festival.
(click images to enlarge)

LUMIÈRE FESTIVAL RETURNS
A New Vision Lights Up The Nights

by Lucas Pilleri

Now in its ninth year, the beloved light-based festival Lumière is coming back November 17 to 27 in a re-envisioned format. The previous animal-shaped illuminated structures have been retired, due to maintenance issues and cost of storage and installation. Luna the orca, and the beaver, heron, and other figures will be replaced by livelier, performance-based event.

Instead, we will enjoy pop-up performances, workshops and demonstrations every night in various locations in the Downtown, the West End, Yaletown, and Gastown.

Plus, neighborhood parades will make their debut in this year’s edition. “No two nights will be the same during this free family-friendly celebration,” the festival promises.

A Time to Gather … “In a post-pandemic context, we really feel that it’s important to gather people, and we’re choosing to readdress our budget to engage local artists and performers part of the West End community,” Saroyan explains.

Both the opening and closing nights will offer open-air spectacles showcasing artists, lights, and performances. In particular, the closing night on the 26th will take place in Morton Park, near English Bay.

Featured artists across the festival include two-time Western Canadian Music Award winning soul, jazz and R&B singer Krystle Dos Santos, the electric dance band Queer As Funk, and Vancouver event band Trilojay.

On the visual side, Lumière will host Westender Zachery Cameron Longboy, Lee Rosenbaum, and Jed Mangahis. Dancers from Harbour Dance, Mozaico Flamenco and other groups will also be joining the party.

Luna the orca and companion animal figures are retiring this year to make way for more animated and engaging features.

A Big Shift … With its new focus Lumière 2022 is hoping to achieve the event’s overall goal of boosting community engagement, encouraging social connection, promoting accessibility, and supporting cultural diversity.

“As the longest-standing supporter and funder of the Lumière Festival, we are excited by the new direction to illuminate the city, and to inspire and connect people and community,” says Teri Smith, executive director of the West End Business Improvement Association.

This year, festival goers can expect light-based projections, dynamic performances, and interactive workshops.

“In the past two years, Lumière has been a more passive festival,” Saroyan recognizes. “Lit-up sculptures have been a focus for a little while.”

Genevieve MacKay and other local artists, dancers, and creators will Dream the Future of the Lumière Festival and our communities.
(photos courtesy of The Lumière Festival)

That said, lights will still be a big part of the show. Twelve installations, called Dream Beacons, designed by artist and architect Jedrik Mangahis, will find their way around the downtown peninsula, of which four will be placed in the West End.

Towards the Future … With such a change, it’s no wonder that Dream the Future has been chosen as this year’s theme. And the selection of performers has been purposely made to reflect this direction.

“I wanted to find these wonderful dreamers we call artists,” says Saroyan. “We want to shine the light on amazing dreams that are transforming our future. It’s time to gather, to come together.”

In total, more than 50 local artists are expected to take part in the festival. The choice was Saroyan’s to make as she can rely on over 20 years experience in the production of live shows, events and festivals in Canada, the US, Australia, and Europe, including the Winter Dance series on Robson Street in recent years.

“Art should be enjoyed by all and it is our mission to engage and interact with the new generation of artists and those already in our midst. It’s been a passion of mine throughout my career to bring people together without barriers to enjoy performance and art in new ways and new spaces and I am thrilled to be able to re-envision this wonderful event,” says Saroyan.

Lumière Board Chair Shelley Hayashi, too, is heartened to see how the festival has evolved over the years, saying: “The 2022 edition is taking on a new direction with an imaginative and innovative artistic vision and inspiration. It is my hope that this renewed artistic energy will bring optimism, possibilities and beauty to our community.”

Programming plans were still underway at press time. For up-to-date details on Lumière 2022 and maps of locations and routes visit the website here.

West End News & Notes

An unexpected pumpkin vine on Davie. (Nick Roche Photo)

A CASCADE OF PUMPKINS

by Jacqui Birchall
The verdant pumpkin plant cascading from above the Davie Street Safeway store drew me to its beautiful yellow flowers and enormous, lush, size.

I first thought it was a zucchini plant but I was so wrong.

I sought out the owners and got to meet the very interesting Taya  Krohmali and Nick Roche. Their patio/balcony garden will cause enormous jealousy from those of us who spread out little pots on our meagre balconies. Laya and Nick are lucky enough to have the most enormous third floor garden that is enclosed like a huge planter box. It measures two by seven meters.

Nick grew up learning from his gardening mom. Taya is a genius with indoor plants.

In June, these newcomers to the West End travelled to Devan Greenhouses in Abbotsford and purchased many vegetable plants. Don’t despair if Abbotsford is too far! Laya shared that they also grew their flowers from bulbs purchased in Dollarama and Walmart.

Mint, eggplants, tomatoes, spinach, zucchini, pumpkins, basil, and other herbs, blueberries, raspberries, kale,  strawberries, carrots and beets. Our beautiful summer and their huge south facing garden brought amazing results. They are still harvesting everything including tomatoes as November approaches. My jealousy knows no bounds!

And the huge pumpkin plant? It was just a regular-sized seedling that they gave no more attention to than any of their other plants. Nick eventually cut it back to conserve the plant’s energy and we, street side, lost sight of the phenomenon. 

Calendar Highlights

The cast of “Seventeen” at PAL Studio Theatre.

SEVENTEEN
A North American Theatrical Premier

When: Nov. 3 to 20
Where: PAL Studio Theatre / 581 Cardero
Admission: $25, $30, $34. Order tickets here.
Details: Western Gold presents the North American premiere of Matthew Whittet’s ground-breaking play Seventeen in which veteran senior stage actors take on the roles of present-day teenagers—young and on the brink of life at a pivotal moment.

Picture a playground after the end of the very last day of school just before everyone moves on. As dawn approaches, through a fog of cheap beer, dreams are shared, insecurities aired, and secrets spilled. For each character it is a phoenix moment—everything is about to change! But tonight, they drink, they dance, they shout, and they love.

Seventeen provides a sense of déjà vu and brilliantly turns our notions of adulthood and adolescence on their head.

Carellin Brooks (Jamie Myers Photo)

A BDSM BOOK LAUNCH

When: Thurs. Nov. 10 / 6 to 8 p.m.
Where: The Junction Pub / 1180 Davie
Admission: Free
Details: Join West End author Carellin Brooks as she launches her new book, Learned. Set in the ‘90s, alternating between the storied quads of Oxford University and the dank recesses of London pubs given over to public displays of queer BDSM, Learned chronicles poet and Rhodes Scholar Brooks' extreme explorations of mind and body. In these poems, the speaker trembles on the verge of discovery, pushing her physical limits through practices of pain, permission, and pleasure. But her inability to negotiate the unspoken elite codes of Oxford begs the question: how to unlearn a legacy of family dissolution and abuse? Bold, nuanced, and ultimately triumphant Learned chronicles an intimate education in flesh, desire, and bodily memory.

Vancouver Christmas Market returns to Jack Poole Plaza.

VANCOUVER CHRISTMAS MARKET

When: Daily 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. through Dec. 23 / 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 24.
Where: Jack Poole Plaza at Coal Harbour.
Admission: Adults $17.99, Seniors $14.99 / Youth (7-17) $9.99, Children (0-6) Free. Tickets & information here.
Details: The Vancouver Christmas Market is a German-inspired Christmas market featuring food, drink, and holiday activities. It is the only European-style Christmas Market in the lower mainland. The market is mainly outdoors, but does have an indoor heated tented seating area. Be sure to dress for the weather. There’s entertainment from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. weekdays and 12 noon to 9:30 p.m. Sat. & Sun.

BINGO FOR LIFE

When: Every Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Where: The Junction Pub / 1180 Davie
Admission: Free
Details: Drag diva The Unstoppable Conni Smudge presides over a weekly fundraiser for The Vancouver Friends for Life Society. Get your cards, order your drinks, and let the fun and games begin!

West End Moments

West End Street Names

BARON THURLOW.

THURLOW STREET

As is the case with many West End street names, surveyor Hamilton borrowed a place name from the B.C. coast, in this case the Thurlow Islands, located off the north coast of Vancouver Island.

In turn, Captain Vancouver had named the islands in 1792 for Edward, first Baron Thurlow (1731 - 1806), a Lord Chancellor of England.

The street itself is somewhat infamous as the location of a riot in 1994 following that year’s loss by the Canucks’ in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The West End - Coal Harbour In The News

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Thank you!
Kevin Dale McKeown
Editor & Publisher
editor@thewestendjournal.ca