Celebrate BC Day at Kokanee Creek Provincial Park on Sunday with a day of special family activities.
The events start in the morning with the long-standing and ever popular Jerry’s Rangers program which will feature a special BC Day adventure for kids in the Kokanee Creek forest. Meet at the Visitors’ Centre at 10 a.m.
A sandcastle contest will take place at 1 p.m. at the day area beach on the east side of the park.
The celebration wraps up with family folk dancing on the lawn near the playground. Heavy Shtetl, a five-piece Eastern European roots band, will provide the music while folk-fusion performer and dancer instructor Slava Doval leads the group through the steps. And for that extra energy needed for all that dancing, birthday cake will be served!
Do your kids love making art? Do they love camping? Are you planning day-trips or holidays close to home? If your kids are between five and 12 years old, join Kokanee Park art instructors for regular or drop-in art classes at the Visitors’ Centre.
Certified art teachers Fiona Brown and Charlotte Erlandsson are offering mixed-media art classes including photography, bookmaking, paper-making, printmaking, collage, drawing, painting, sculpture, and nature-arts.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to involve kids in low-tech art making by introducing them to new techniques and materials that they can continue to explore once holidays are over,” says Brown. “It’s great fun to meet a bunch of kids for just two hours, expand our visual universe together, then return home with a wonderful sense of inspiration and accomplishment.”
Classes run from 1 to 3 p.m. every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday until Labour Day. The two hour class fee is $10 including materials. Seven to 12 year-olds may be dropped off, and five and six year-olds are welcome to attend accompanied by an adult.
Now run by the West Kootenay EcoSociety, the Kokanee Park Visitors’ Centre offers new and revitalized programs, some of which are long-standing favourites, and others are new and diverse. In addition to Art-in-the-Park, visitors and locals can choose from yoga and fitness classes, music and theatre evenings, movie nights, photography excursions, other educational workshops, and some special events in the spring and fall.
Partnerships with private enterprises such as Oso Negro Coffee, Otter Books and Phoenix Computers add to the available services. There is a coffee and snack bar, wireless Internet, and books by local authors for sale at the centre.
“Ideally, the centre will become a focal point for North Shore residents for a variety of community events throughout the summer and shoulder seasons,” says program coordinator Mel Reasoner.
For more information about programming at Kokanee Park, email mel.kokaneecentre@gmail.com.