Village Vibe
news and views from the heart of Fernwood
www.fernwoodneighbourhood.ca
september 2005
Fernwood residents encounter public space Sunday August 28th at a street party to celebrate our newest neighbourhood asset - the Cornerstone. Led by a roller blading bee, a suitclad insect, and a dancing chicken, a children’s bike parade wended its way through the streets. Hot local music and two smoking barbeques kept the rain away for the better part of the afternoon. The street party rounded off the weekend-long Fernfest , a celebration of all things Fernwood hosted by the Fernwood Community Centre. From the Victoria Fire Department’s challenging obstacle course, to the beer garden, to the senior’s tea, there was fun for all, from the very young to the young at heart. For more on Fernfest and hot pics of the Cornerstone see inside.
Neighbourhood Imagination Captured by the Cornerstone Sponsor’s Corner *The Ministry of Children and Family Development *The Belfry *Ralmax *The Future Shop *Phillips Brewery *Glen Mitchell *Meadowvale Developments *Garde Collins *Chapman’s Ice Cream *the Victoria Fire Department *the Thin Edge *Hernandez
Overwhelming support from Fernwood residents has been the heartening theme of August! To date, with only three work (read fun) parties, one Belfry fund raising event and nearly four weeks under our ownership (read tool) belts, we have already logged over 2000 hours of volunteer labour, received over $12,000 in cost-free services, and Fernwood residents alone have contributed over $8,000 to renovate the heart of our community. Buy it, and they will come! The board, staff and volunteers of the Community Centre just want to say thank you one and all! We risked big, and we knew that as a neighbourhood, Fernwood would pull together, and we have! To date, we’ve cleaned up the entire bottom floor, almost complet-
ed renovations of the Corner suite, have begun negotiations with businesses that align with the desires expressed in a number of neighbourhood resident’s surveys, have begun the capital and monthly donations fund raising campaign, done a HUGE media blitz (we’ve found the Cornerstone story in places like the Business Examiner no less!) organized three work parties - including getting donations of safety gear - gutted the upstairs, and have just as of today (August 30th) received plans and elevations to submit to the City as drawn and donated by Garde Collins. Yikes! Throw into the mix that we are still cleaning up from the largest, most successful Fernfest EVER, and have continued on page 2