First Edition
VOL 01 ISSUE 01
WINTER 2015
South Delta
Home Ice
Michael Bublé enjoying the new outdoor rink at Tsawwassen Springs. See what else you can do in South Delta. p 5
Something Social p 6
A community of volunteers supporting the hospital SOMETHINGGOODMAGAZINE.CA
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Community events p 7
Fun things to do and see this holiday season in South Delta WINTER 2015
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What is Something Good? T
here is Something Good about this beautiful stretch of rural and beachfront land south of Vancouver exemplified daily in the spirit, culture and lifestyles of the residents. Something Good Magazine is designed, written and published by people who live and play here on the sunny side of the Lower Mainland.
Sarah Kelloway Publisher/Designer
Our goal is to share the unique stories of those who choose to call South Delta their home, who strive to do good things that make this community better each and every day.
We want to capture the best that the people and nature have to offer here with an elegantly designed, smartly written magazine that will either make you proud to live here or want to visit as soon as possible. Read on and you’ll see how much this community has to offer. For story ideas contact Adrian MacNair editor@somethinggoodmagazine.ca For advertising opportunities and all other enquires contact Sarah Kelloway publisher@somethinggoodmagazine.ca
Adrian MacNair Editor/Photographer
Vancouver Giants co-owner Michael Bublé plays some shinny on the new ice rink at Tsawwassen Springs.
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There’s always something interesting cropping up in South Delta. Check them out this holiday season.
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Billy Mitchell
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5 Things To Do
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Something Social
He’ll make you laugh into your cup of coffee. Actor and comedian talks about life as a business owner.
Here’s our list of five great activities for you and the family to try.
The volunteers of the Delta Hospital Auxiliary Society find a social way to give back.
ations “Trueway has helped us with many home renov They are them! mend recom y highl We . years the over and always very professional, easy to work with complete projects on budget!” - Marion
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Bathrooms Kitchens Additions
Basement Suites and more!
604.339.2277 TRUEWAYCONTRACTING.COM
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Something New MINT HEALTH
Tsawwassen nutritionist Keyrsten McEwan has launched a new company called Mint Health, specializing in thoughtfully curated gift baskets. The idea came from clients, who constantly asked for advice on McEwan’s favourite products. “After being asked over and over, we decided to put together a line of healthy gift baskets that included all of our favourite, nutritionist approved products,” says McEwan. Mint Health offers a number of themed baskets including The Snack Attack, The Gratitude, The Healthy Kitchen Starter Kit and The Man Basket, which is their best seller. They also customize baskets with locally sourced products such as Westham Island organic chocolate bars, locally made herbal teas, olive oils from Tsawwassen’s Coastal Olive Oils, and much more. Mint Health gift baskets are an ideal gift for any of your health conscious clients, co-workers, employees or friends. Contact: (604) 961-5887 or email minthealthconsulting@gmail.com.
SPA VILAMOURA
Partners Heli McPhie and Leslie Lee are excited to announce their new ownership of a day spa in the heart of Tsawwassen. The two women have been brainstorming this project for over five years and the opportunity to enhance the Spa Vilamoura, with its great history and reputation, was seen a perfect fit. “Spa Vilamoura will provide true relaxation experiences that
in South Delta! appeal to discerning clients that want great results. We are offering an extensive menu of advanced face and body treatments using products from unique and effective sources that are some of nature’s purest, botanical and marine elements.” Vilamoura utilizes Thalassotherapy (from the Greek word meaning “sea”), which makes medical use of seawater to produce beneficial effects on the pores of the skin. The spa’s products are carefully chosen to infuse wellness spa services with effective treatments to create a true sense of compete beauty. “Our belief is that true beauty is created from the inside out, starting with honest and honoured relaxation.” You can make Spa Vilamoura your mini day vacation by visiting their location at 56th Street and View Crescent right next to The Village Clinic and Starbucks.
CREATIVE EXPRESSIONS MUSIC AND MOVEMENT STUDIO
If you love dancing, singing or acting (maybe all three) then the Creative Expressions Music and Movement studio that recently opened in the Tsawwassen Town Centre Mall may be just perfect for you. Classes include a beginners ukulele camp, dance camps, and workshops. Their specialty is Kindermusik, an early childhood parent participation program. There’s something for everybody at Creative Expressions, including adult fitness and dance, preschool dance, jazz, ballet, hip hop, acting, musical theatre, intermediate and advanced acting, speechwork and more. The studio was opened by Lisa Loewen, a Masters of Education graduate who grew up and schooled in Tsawwassen. Call 604-369-0614 for more info or to register.
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Billy Mitchell
A good act to follow
W I’M THE GUY WHO GETS KILLED IN THE FIRST TWO MINUTES OF EVERY SHOW,” HE SAYS, SHRUGGING OFF THE SUGGESTION HE’S A FAMOUS GUY. “I’VE BEEN KILLED IN SPECTACULAR WAYS.”
Photographs and story by ADRIAN MACNAIR
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ith a perfect view of twelfth avenue through the floor-to-ceiling windows at Tsawwassen’s Wood N Frog Coffee Company, co-owner Billy Mitchell is able to start making a customer’s latte before they’ve even opened the door. When they do get inside, Billy calls them by first name and cracks a joke to get the laughs and the vibes feeling good. He’s pretty practiced at telling jokes. After all, he’s been making them for almost 30 years. His first stand-up comedy gig was at Punch Lines comedy club in Vancouver in 1987, an experience that launched a career in acting and telling jokes. “I did okay,” he says modestly, cracking a mischievous grin as his memory stretches back the years. You wouldn’t know it about Billy—although he looks oddly familiar—but he’s been around the block once or twice in Canadian and U.S. television. He’s appeared in Smallville, DaVinci’s Inquest and Highlander, to name but a few. “I’m the guy who gets killed in the first two minutes of every show,” he says, shrugging off the suggestion he’s a famous guy. “I’ve been killed in spectacular ways.” It doesn’t bother him, he says, as he doesn’t even have a TV to watch himself. He exaggerates, surely. Billy has played a superhero in television, not once, but twice! But like superman, all attempts to pry into his heroic deeds behind the camera are rebuffed like bullets bouncing off his costume. “Really, I’m just the guy that rattles around in the background,” he says, getting up to greet another customer with a joke. Comedy has been a real passion for Billy, and what he enjoys doing when he’s not busy being co-owner of a business. He once did a stand-up comedy set at Matsqui prison. “It’s something else when you get heckled by a murderer,” he says, although one can’t be sure if that’s also a joke. Born in Richmond, Billy had fond memories visiting Delta growing up, frequenting Centennial Beach in the summertime and going for walks in
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WOOD N FROG CO-OWNER BILLY MITCHELL ENJOYS AN ESPRESSO.
the picturesque countryside. He explains why he made the permanent move to South Delta 13 years ago. “I was looking out from the rains of Port Moody and seeing this blue hole in the sky and going, that’s where I’d like to be.” The location was ideal. Quiet and rural, the kind of landscape where only a few days ago he saw a white tailed deer outside his shop, yet only a half hour from the big city and the acting gigs. And nothing beats being able to bicycle to work. Billy became a business owner in March with his partner Yarka Somov, a Moravian-born woman whose chocolate chip cookie recipe is still used at a bistro in Paris. “She is the very backbone of the cafe, doing the accounting, baking, ordering, scheduling,” says Billy, who is suddenly loquacious when the spotlight isn’t on himself. “She is beautiful, creative, conscientious and puts her heart into the business. I’m just the dancing fool out front.” The two were very happy to find Wood N Frog, as it’s not just a coffee shop but a real part of the community. Fully licensed for alcoholic drinks and with a large food menu, they provide live music which wafts through the air during those warm summer nights when the doors can be left open. “This one came up in the neighbourhood and it was fancy and cool and we thought we could put our stick in the ground,” explains Billy. Wood N Frog is located at 5694 12th Avenue in Delta and opens every day at 7 a.m.
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BIRD WATCHING
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things to do
Residents of South Delta are already fully aware of how lucky we are to live on the Pacific Flyway, one of the world’s greatest locations for migratory birds. Bird lovers travel the world over to come here and see great blue herons, bald eagles, sandhill cranes, snowy owls and thousands of other bird species. You can either visit the Boundary Bay dike trail yourself, or join a group of likeminded birders who go out to a new location every week. The Delta Nature Casual Birders meet next at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 9 at Cammidge House in Boundary Bay Regional Park. Check dncb.wordpress.com for more upcoming birding events.
POLAR BEAR SWIM Wash away 2015 with a frigid dip into the Pacific Ocean, polar bear style. The 26th annual Polar Bear Madness is held down at Centennial Beach in Boundary Bay Regional Park and hosted by the Corporation of Delta’s parks, recreation and culture department. Join hundreds of others as they make the mad rush into the water on Jan. 1, 2016. Registration starts at noon and the swim takes place promptly at 1 p.m.
OUTDOOR ICE RINK We may not be having a white Christmas in Delta this year but you can still enjoy the magic of a winter wonderland down at Tsawwassen Springs. Beginning a new tradition called Skating on the Fairways, and running until Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016, the skating rink is open to the public at $10 per adult and $5 per child, with $1 per skater donated to the CKNW Orphans’ Fund, supporting children with special needs in B.C. The 4,500 square-foot ice rink is located on the 11th green directly in front of Pat Quinn’s Restaurant and Bar. Please bring your own skates as there are no rentals.
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in South Delta!
EXPLORE OUR HERITAGE Delta has a rich history of farming and fishing with several heritage buildings dating back to the early twentieth century. To get the full experience of our history you can begin by visiting the Delta Museum in Ladner where archival photographs and newspapers offer a glimpse of what life was like for the earliest European families in this region. Then a trip down the beautiful country road of Arthur Drive will bring you to the Kirkland House, a restored 1911 heritage home popular for weddings and special events. Adjacent to Kirkland House is the Harris Barn, a local barn that was saved from demolition and converted to a multi-use community facility. Travelling down Arthur Drive to 56th Avenue and turning left on 12th Avenue will bring you to Boundary Bay Regional Park and the site of the 100-yearold Cammidge House. And down the road from there is the Alexander/Gunn House and a perfect excuse to visit the tranquil Earthwise Gardens.
WINE AND BEER TASTING There’s no need to travel to the Okanagan to sample fine madein-B.C. wine. Wellbrook Winery in East Ladner hosts sevendays-a-week tasting of their fruit wines. Nestled into a 55-acre heritage farm, Wellbrook Winery has white table wines made of white cran apple, peach apricot and rhubarb, a strawberry rose wine, and five kinds of red berry wines. Their dessert and fortified wines are a special treat, particularly the ice apple wine. If it’s frothy suds you want to savor instead, Four Winds Brewery has a beer tasting room open seven days a week just a 10 minute drive from the winery. Ring in the season with a “Saison” or try their IPA, pale ale, pilsner or Belgian pale. Four Winds has 11 brews to sample and eight can be carried away in a growler. All brewed on site and made in Delta.
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Something Social I
Photographs and story by ADRIAN MACNAIR
f you visit the Delta Hospital Auxiliary Society’s Christmas Store on Delta Street in Ladner you might see a new face wearing the blue uniform. Charlotte Mathot has been volunteering for the society for three weeks now, inspired by friends who have already been volunteering there for many years and are equally passionate about the hospital. “I thought, you know, the Christmas Store is a fun place to be at Christmas and you mix with the customers that come in,” says Mathot, adding she’s visited the store every Christmas in the past as a customer. The store is full of decorations and gift ideas, all donated by the community with proceeds going to upgrade critically important equipment at the hospital. Mathot says she wanted to help in a way that was both fun and functional. “People do come together and they form friendships. And at the same time they’re working towards a cause.” That cause is an important one to many Ladner residents. The volunteers of the Delta Hospital Auxiliary presented a brand new, state-of-the-art community bus to the residents of Mountain View Manor last week, just another slice of the $18 million they have contributed toward equipment and other projects over the years. Funding for the hospital has been top-of-mind since 2002 when the provincial government downgraded the facility and threatened closure. The community, along with the auxiliary, rallied to save their beloved hospital. Jim McMillan, a retired Delta teacher, joined the auxiliary in 2007. He says it’s important to help the hospital now, for the time when he and his wife come to rely on it as they grow older. “I remember the years when we didn’t have [the hospital] and we used to trip through the [Massey] tunnel to Richmond which just aggravated whatever was the injury.” There aren’t as many men in the auxiliary as women, but there’s certainly a way to attract them, says McMillan. At the Christmas store, where he works repairing electronics, they have a tea time with assorted goodies to eat. “That was a big draw to keep the guys because we need the crew out emptying the bin,” he says, referring to the donation box in the parking lot. “We sometimes refer to them as ‘the muscle’”. McMillan began volunteering once a week and over the years he slowly upped it to three. He says the friendships he’s made inside the thrift shop and Christmas store have extended beyond volunteer hours and become part of his private life. It was the social side of the job that attracted Jan Siebert to the auxiliary, beginning in the summer of 2013. Coming from a customer service background she wanted to volunteer somewhere she could interact with many people. And she
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Clockwise from top: Mountain View Manor receives Auxiliary donation. Charlotte Mathot decorates. Lynne Jones organizes donations. Jim McMillan tinkers in electrical at the Christmas Store.
already knew many of the regular volunteers from the years she spent shopping in the store as her children were growing up in Ladner. As for the reason she supports the hospital? “Personally I think it’s because it’s the community supporting the community,” says Siebert. “And it’s kind of nice having a hospital in our own backyard, so to speak.” Lynne Jones, who began volunteering three years ago, is spending her first year here at the Christmas store. “There are regulars that come in and you get to know them and it’s really nice because you get to know a lot of people in the community that you wouldn’t meet otherwise and it’s a nice social thing.” Like everybody else in the auxiliary, she feels her volunteer work is valued by knowing it goes into preventing scarce resources from ever threatening the hospital again. “Whatever we can do to help then I like being involved with that.”
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Local Holiday Events In South Delta!
december 11, 7 - 9:00 pm Christmas Concert
december 12, 10 am - 4 pm 2nd Annual Artisan Fair
december 19, 1 pm - 3 pm Winter Splash
january 01, 2016 New Years Day Skates
McKee Seniors Recreation Centre. Spend an evening listening to traditional Christmas Music! Admission is free with a donation to the food bank.
Tsawwassen Arts Centre Looking for those last minute Christmas presents? The second installment of the Artisan Fair returns to the Tsawwassen Arts Centre on December 12, 2015, providing you with plenty of options for unique and original Christmas presents for your family and friends. Admission is free.
Ladner Leisure Centre It’s the last weekend before Santa comes! Enjoy an array of games with a play leader, wear a shaving cream beard and be jolly. Candy prizes will be given to participants. Regular admission rates apply.
Start the New Year off right – be active and bring the family to your local arena for a family skate. Family admission rates apply. Ladner Leisure Centre 1 – 2:30 pm South Delta Recreation Centre 1:30 – 5 pm
december 12 - december 23 12 Days Before Christmas Tsawwassen Arts Centre Join us for a 12-day holiday event series at the Arts Centre! Make Christmas Cards Dec 12 (Sat) 6:30–8:30 pm Make A Gingerbread House Dec 13 (Sun) 1–3 pm Make A Present Dec 14 (Mon) 6:30–8:30 pm Make Wrapping Paper Dec 15 (Tue) 6:30–8:30 pm Make Ornaments & Watch Open Stage Dec 16 (Wed) 6:30–8:30 pm Make Your Own Garland Dec 17 (Thu) 6:30–8:30 pm Sing-Along & S’mores Dec 18 (Fri) 6:30–8:30 pm Cookie Decorating Dec 19 (Sat) 6:30–8:30 pm Charades, Pictionary & Karaoke Dec 20 (Sun) 1–3 pm Make A Gingerbread House Dec 21 (Mon) 6:30–8:30 pm Make A Present Dec 22 (Tue) 6:30–8:30 pm Christmas Movie & Snacks Dec 23 (Wed) 6:30–8:30 pm You can drop-in or register at the door. $5 per person. These events are intended for children 6-12 years old only.
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december 12, 6:15 pm - 7:45 pm Skate with the Grinch Ladner Leisure Centre Bring your camera for a visit to Whoville, and glide around on the ice with the Grinch himself! Everyone welcome.
december 13, 2 pm - 4pm Wine & Cheese Social McKee Seniors Recreation Centre Join us for a selection of cheese and local wines, with entertainment by the Delta Music Makers. McKee Member $5/ Guests $7 Tickets for this event are available at the Centre.
december 15, 16 and 17 9:30 am - 11:30 am A Morning in Whoville Harris Barn Join us for a festive morning for children 18 months to 4 years of age. Bring your camera for a visit to Whoville – even the Grinch himself may suddenly appear! Sing songs, make crafts and enjoy some tasty treats. Please register in advance. $10/ child.
december 20 - january 2 Winter Wonderland Skate Join us for a spectacular skate as the South Delta Recreation Centre ice rink is transformed into a winter wonderland. Winter Wonderland Skate Schedule Dec 20–23: 10 am–12 pm 1:30–5 pm / 6–8 pm Dec 27–30: 10 am–12 pm 1:30–5 pm / 6–8 pm Dec 31: 10 am–12 pm 1:30–5 pm Jan 1: 1:30–5 pm Jan 2: 10 am–12 pm 1:30–5 pm / 6–8 pm
december 24 9:30-11:30 am Tsawwassen Arts
Creative Critters Explore the arts with your preschooler! Crafts, paints & dress-up clothes will be set up for you & your little one to play with. Ages 2-6 yrs.
december 25 11:30 am - 03:00 pm Christmas Day Luncheon McKee Seniors Recreation Centre Enjoy a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. McKee Members $6/Guests $11 Tickets for this events are available at the Centre.
january 01, 2016 36th Annual Polar Bear Madness Boundary Bay Regional Park Are you brave, and maybe a little crazy? Don’t miss out on this chilly plunge into beautiful Boundary Bay to kick-off the new year. Enjoy children’s activities and entertainment for the entire family! Registration – 12 pm Swim – 1 pm
january 01, 2016, 12:30 pm - 04:00 pm Frozen New Years Day Swim Ladner Leisure Centre Winskill Aquatic & Fitness Centre Celebrate the New Year with a splash at your local pool! Enjoy some frozen challenges and games with a play leader from 1:30–3:30 pm. Family admission rates apply.
january 01, 2016 2:00 pm - 04:00 pm Welcome to 2016 McKee Seniors Recreation Centre Get together to celebrate the New Year and enjoy coffee, tea, and cookies. McKee Members $3/Guests $5. Tickets for this event are available at the Centre.
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