Goodbye 2017...
Once again, we had the pleasure of writing about all the strange, wonderful and incredible stories that came out of B.C. in this past year. There were plenty of highlights along the way, including the beginning of our own next chapter. Thanks for another awesome year, we couldn't be more excited about what's to come in 2018.
For now, let's revisit our most popular stories of the year.
25. This series of photos of people running for the Seabus is everything
We’ve all made that panicked jog… Launched in 2012 by our friend David Walker of St Bernadine agency in Chinatown, #runningfortheseabus is an Instagram hashtag that is just waiting to go viral.
24. This New Bus Service Will Take You to BC’s Most Stunning Locations
With a central pickup location at Burrard Station, the Parkbus offers transportation (round-trip or one-way), to seven beautiful provincial parks and destinations.
23. 9 of Vancouver’s Must-Try Donut Shops
Doughy, deep fried and highly likely to be adorned with sugary treats (sprinkles, cookie crumbles, etc). Doughnuts are kind of the ultimate sweet indulgence and Vancouver is full of them, just ask Kate Winslet.
22. Actor who plays Archie says Vancouver is boring, real Archie disagrees
We’re here to assure you that the real Archive would never say such things, and that in fact when he visited in 1986 he said nothing but happy fuzzy stuff about the city we all love.
21. Credit union sues Real Housewife of Vancouver for nonpayment
File photo supplied
A West Vancouver woman who had two seasons of fame on a reality TV show that focused on lifestyles of Vancouver’s wealthy “housewives” is being sued by her credit union for not paying her overdraft loans.
20. These $55,000 pre-fab cabins could be Vancouver’s cheapest houses
Think of it like tiny houses meets your favourite Swedish DIY furniture store: A B.C. company that makes pre-fab cabins that are delivered by helicopter and you assemble yourself.
19. Watch kittens play on this 24/7 livestream from a Vancouver rescue group (VIDEO)
Tinykittens/Facebook
Need a break from whatever it is you’re doing? The 24/7 livestream from a Vancouver-area cat rescue group could be just the distraction you’re looking for.
18. 1937 Vancouver UFO photo looks exactly like the recent SpaceX launch
Left photo: archives. Right: Karen Hilburg via Twitter
There’s been a lot of TALK about UFOs in the media lately, as the U.S. Defense Department confirmed it had been spending millions of dollars investigating “anomalous aerial vehicles”.
17. Vancouver father to launch legal challenge against ‘helicopter parenting’
Adrian Crook wanted his children to learn how to be independent, and live a car-free urban life. He spent weeks teaching them the skills to ride the bus alone. Now the province has said they have to always be accompanied. Photograph By 5 Kids, 1 Condo
A Vancouver father’s fight to give his children the freedom to travel on a bus alone has gained widespread support. Adrian Crook’s crowdfunding campaign to “Let Responsible Kids Take Transit” surpassed its $15,000 goal in just a week.
16. Meowfest: Ultimate cat lovers festival comes to Vancouver in 2018
Cat/Shutterstock
Cat lovers, this event next year is just purrrrrrfect. Meowfest is hailing itself as “the ultimate festival for cat lovers,” and it happens this July in Vancouver.
15. Reflections Winter Pop-Up patio returns for 2017 holiday season
Photo: Lindsay William-Ross
Considered one of the harbingers of warmer weather in damp springtime Vancouver, Reflections is a favourite downtown hang–with all the trimmings and more mid-November to the last day of the year.
14. Meet the people who choose to live inside their vehicles in Vancouver
Quebec natives Laurence Ricard-Lacombe and Yanael Prat-Samuel spent $8,000 converting a school bus into a home. – photo Cindy Goodman, North Shore News
These are the stories of people on the North Shore who found themselves living on four wheels, and have no plans to stop rolling any time soon.
13. Vancouver condo owners win battle against building sale
Christine Raverty and husband Steve Handy were part of a successful bid to block the sale of their Vancouver condo building. Photograph By ROB KRUYT
They won a B.C. Supreme Court ruling that dismissed their neighbours’ attempts to sell their building.
12. This Vancouver spot named one of Canada’s Best New Restaurants
Mak N Ming (Facebook)
Mak N Ming took fourth place in the popular annual ranking issued by Air Canada’s enRoute Magazine.
11. How to register to get $25 Loblaw card after bread price-fixing admission
Various brands of bread sit on shelves in a grocery store in Toronto on Wednesday Nov. 1, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Doug Ives
Loblaw and George Weston Ltd. revealed that they participated in an industry-wide bread price-fixing arrangement from late 2001 to March 2015.
Here we go, the top 10 posts of the year...
10. 1 in 5 West Vancouver households ‘low income’
A chart created by Andy Yan shows the relative percentage of low-income households by age group, comparing West Vancouver to neighbouring communities. The analysis uses after-tax low-income thresholds from Statistics Canada. graphic supplied Andy Yan
The affluent community of West Vancouver, where average home prices hover at $3 million, has one of the highest rates of people with “low income” in Metro Vancouver. At least on paper.
9. Why I love Yaletown: On being fancy/poor and other important things
Not Yaletown. Photo @brookecagle/Unsplash
A divisive post from our new series about neighbourhoods that people love. Not everyone agreed about this writer’s take on Yaletown, but that didn’t stop them from reading… or commenting... or tweeting.
8. Watch Deceased Filmmaker Twyla Roscovich’s Last Film Right now
Sad news in both the worlds of conservation and filmmaking in B.C. Twyla Roscovich’s body was found after days of her being missing on Quadra Island. Best known for her 2013 documentary, Salmon Confidential, she blew the lid off of the issue of salmon farms.
7. Woman who jumped from ferry savours new lease on life
Ladysmith artist Mya DeRyan, 52, was saved after she jumped off a B.C. Ferries vessel on Oct. 30. Photograph By ADRIAN LAM, Times Colonist
The 52-year-old from Ladysmith is the woman who, on Oct. 30 at 5:45 p.m., removed her clothes and calmly jumped from the Queen of Cowichan ferry, halfway into its journey from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo’s Departure Bay.
6. Uniqlo’s first Vancouver store opens with crazy line ups (PHOTOS)
Opening day lines at Uniqlo Vancouver (Vancouver Is Awesome)
The day so many Vancouver shoppers had been waiting for was a bit… crowded.
5. 25 photos of Vancouver in the early 1980s
Park Theatre, Cambie Street, Vancouver, 1986
Photographer Raymond Parker has been shooting in BC for decades. In the 1980s he ran a commercial studio in the city and he sensed that “With Expo 86 looming, great changes were in store. Indeed, they had already begun.”.
4. There’s a new $2,000 fine coming for distracted driving
Distracted driving is becoming more costly
B.C. drivers caught talking on cellphones or texting behind the wheel will now pay $740 in higher penalties for repeat offences.
Almost there...
3. Olympic figure skater Patrick Chan kicked out of the Liquor Barn on Cambie
Photo @PChiddy on Twitter
A funny one regarding Canadian hero/figure skater Patrick Chan forgetting his ID.
2. Never-before-seen video of driving through Vancouver 50 years ago
The Ministry of Transportation released a wonderful archival video from 1966! In it they drive from Horseshoe Bay, through downtown Vancouver, up Main street then onto Kingsway to Burnaby. It was part of their ‘photologs’ where they would mount a camera on a car and produce a film on 16mm.
Our most popular post of the year...
1. THE MOST INSANE Salmon was caught in B.C.
Ted Walkus, hereditary chief of the Wuikinuxv Nation in Rivers Inlet, B.C. This Chinook was captured for brood stock to raise the next generation of Wannock Chinook at the Percy Walkus Hatchery.
“Caught” is a bit of a stretch as it wasn’t caught on a fishing line, but it was captured in a net as it was heading up the river to spawn. It sounds like a bad thing but it’s quite the opposite; it was one of 94 fish that were captured as part of a conservation project by the nearby Percy Walkus Hatchery.
