THE TALK OF THE TOWN
/What Do We Have For You This Month?
Welcome to “The Talk of The Town” for December, 2025. Click on the following links to find:
West End News & Notes: No more summer fireworks at English Bay, a violent assault on a homeless man, and staff changes at the community centre.
West End Moments: Our community has many talented photographers, and we share their images that capture our lives and time.
Hidden Treasure Hunt: Be the first to email us identifying the location of this West End “Hidden Treasure” and win your choice of a $50 coffee shop gift card.
West End Street & Lane Names: Vancouver’s streets and lanes each has their own history. Here’s the story of Rosemary Brown Lane.
West End News & Notes
LIGHTS OUT FOR CELEBRATION OF LIGHT
Annual Fireworks Permanently Cancelled
Late last month organizers of the annual Celebration of Light fireworks festival at English Bay announced that, due to escalating costs and declining government support and private funding is being cancelled and there are no plans to revive it at a future date.
No more will fireworks explode over english bay every summer.
With federal funding slashed from $450,000 in 2023 to $250,000 in 2024 and provincial funding to be cut from $250,000 to $100,000 next year, and the loss last year of sponsors Seaspan and Scotia Bank, the $3-million event had become, in the words of executive producer Paul Runnals, “unstainable”.
The event was founded in 1992 as the Benson & Hedges Symphony of Fire, and renamed the HSBC Symphony of Fire after federal law prohibited tobacco company sponsorships, and more recently known as the Honda Celebration of Light. Guided through the decades and the title sponsorship changes by founding executive producer Ray Greenwood, known in Vancouver as “Mr. Fireworks” until his retirement, the fireworks have annually attracted tens of thousands of viewers to parks and beaches on both sides of English Bay.
In an interview with Post Media Lisa Arthurs, the owner of the West End’s Quick Nickel clothing store, expressed the dismay of local businesses over the decision, saying that the annual event was about more than just fireworks, but a make-or-break week for small businesses.
“Those two Saturdays are the busiest of the year” she said. “How many more years can our small businesses survive without these summer draws?”
On a historical note, Vancouver impresario Hugh Pickett, The West End Journal’s columnist Joy Metcalfe, and TV anchor Tony Parsons were among the judges at the inaugural event.
ATTACK ON WEST END HOMELESS MAN
If You Know Something ….
A sign placed in tunnel. (Mike pearson photos)
On November 21, at approximately 9 p.m., Vancouver Police responded to a call reporting an assault in the West End. Officers attended at Chilco and Alberni Streets where they found the victim laying on the ground. The victim, a male in his 50s, was taken to hospital with serious injuries and is recovering in hospital. According to police no arrests had been made at press time, November 27.
possessions of the homeless victim of a recent assault remain in the tunnel where he sheltered.
The victim was a homeless man who for the past several years had regularly sheltered in the tunnel under Georgia Street from Chilco to Stanley Park. The Asian man was well-known to local residents as being friendly, and many neighbours would engage him in conversation and bring him food and provide other necessities.
Neighbours spotted his belongings unattended shortly after the attack and have placed signage asking passers-by to contact police if they have any information.
Anyone with information is asked to contact VPD’s Major Crime Section at 604-717-2541, rather than the non-emergency number noted on the sign.
CHANGES AT THE COMMUNITY CENTRE
Programming Supervisor Retiring.
Deb Barber, the supervisor of recreation services for the West End and Coal Harbour Community Centres and Barclay Manor will be retiring after six years in the West End and nearly forty with the Vancouver Park Board. During a particularly stressful period of her tenure Barber guided WECCA through the Covid crisis.
The West End Community Centre Association (WECCA) runs the three venues, and programming supervisors and some other staff are employed by the Park Board.
The Park Board will be posting the position and we’ll keep you posted when a new supervisor is appointed.
Barber came to the West End centres from Killarney Community Centre, and began her career as a aerobics instructor.
Barber is an avid marathon runner and, in her retirement, we wish her many great wins on the course. Thanks for everything Deb!
West End Moments
Our community is blessed with many avid photographers, documenting moments that alarm, amuse, and inform. Click on each photo to see the story. Send your latest photos to editor@thewestendjournal.ca.
West End Street & Lane Names
West End street names were established when Lauchlan Hamilton laid out the street grid in the late 1800s, and — while some are contemporarily contentious — they have remained. In 2017 the City started naming eight of the lane ways that run east and west through the West End in honour of notable Vancouver citizens, recognizing their achievements and contributions to our community.
ROSEMARY BROWN LANE
BC’s First Black Woman MLA
Rosemary Brown Lane runs between Robson and Haro Streets, from Burrard Street to Lost Lagoon.
Rosemary brown.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1930, Rosemary Brown moved to Canada in 1951 to earn a Master of Social Work at the University of British Columbia.
In 1972, urged by other members of the Vancouver Status of Women Council, of which she was a founding member, Brown entered provincial politics as a New Democratic Party candidate. When she won her seat in the riding of Vancouver-Burrard, (which included the West End) Brown became the first Black woman to sit in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. During her 14 years as MLA, Brown created a committee to remove sexism in British Columbia's educational material and was instrumental in the formation of the Berger Commission on the Family, among her many other accomplishments.
She ran for leadership of the federal NDP in 1975. With the slogan "Brown is Beautiful," she broke colour barriers in the federal arena when she ran a close second to Ed Broadbent, ahead of three other candidates.
After departing politics, Brown became a professor of women's studies at Simon Fraser University. In 1993, she was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and served until 1996. In 1995, she was awarded the Order of British Columbia and in 1996 was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. She died on April 26, 2003.
Canada Post featured Rosemary Brown on a Canadian postage stamp released on February 2, 2009.
Hidden Treasure Hunt
IDENTIFY THIS PHOTO …
And Win A $50 Coffee Shop Gift Card
If you know where this is, email editor@thewestendjournal.ca.
The first reader to contact editor@thewestendjournal.ca and correctly identify the location of this image will win a $50 gift card to their choice of Blenz, Delaney’s, Melriche’s, Waves, J.J. Bean, or Greenhorn Cafe.
So if you recognize this unique piece of art write in now! Only the winning response will be notified.
The answer, and the clue to the next contest, will appear in our December issue.
The photos and the information in the answers were originally published in TWEJ several years ago as part of our “Hidden Treasures” series by Vancouver author Dianne Maguire.
Do you recognize this hidden treasure? (Dianne Maguire Photo)
LAST MONTH’S WINNER IS …
Congratulations Jean Smith!
There was quite an outpouring of emails identifying this Hidden Treasure, many of them correct. The first one to arrive was Jean Smith. We thank everyone who participated.
The image shown is titled “Water Boy #1” and the statue stands at the top of a feature titled “Sliding Edge”. As Dianne Maguire wrote in her original article, Walk along Bayshore Drive toward Denman and down to the Coal Harbour Walkway to the unusual pair of water features sometimes referred to as the Coal Harbour Water Boy 1 and Water Boy 2. A tall male figure set at the top of a storey-high wet wall, Water Boy 1 faces the Harbour between #150 and #180 retail stores on the walkway. Although it is quite large, the installation is so integrated into the buildings either side of it, you could easily miss it.
The water from the unseen pool behind the statue slips down a tiled surface into a trough. There is a slate panel in the middle of the wall with an inscription: “in the last warmth and the fading of brightness on the sliding edge of the beating sea”. It’s a quote from a poem, "November Walk Near False Creek Mouth" by Earle Birney. The sculpture, by Jacqueline Metz and Nancy Chew, is called "Sliding Edge".
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Thank you!
Kevin Dale McKeown
Editor & Publisher
editor@thewestendjournal.ca
