THE DUNDARAVE FESTIVAL

The Ultimate
Canadian Christmas

WEST VANCOUVER ❈ BRITISH COLUMBIA
  • Shine in the Forest of Miracles
  • Be a Festival Founder
  • 2022 Forest of Miracles
  • Sustainably Spectacular
  • The Love & Joy Blog

16/7/2011

The Power of Belonging

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
For as long as there's been a West Vancouver, families have been gathering at Dundarave Beach to play, cast a net, a line or a crab trap, or jump off the peer at high tide into bracing salt water that on a good summer might reach a balmy 19˚ C.  (No chance of that, alas, this wet July as we swim through frigid sheets of February hanging in the sea.)  This is the way its been for little over a hundred years, Dundarave Beach as something of a sanctuary for families.

Before there was a West Vancouver, epochs back to the arrival of the First Peoples across the Bering Straight land bridge (summer reading: Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel), this beach remained a sanctuary but in even more powerful ways.  The forests were ancient and likely came down to the edge of the water then, and the tides sustained a greater array of life than they do even now.  We're seeing otters about today in greater profusion, and there was the grey whale last summer that paused right in the heart of the swimming buoys; but four thousand years ago, the magnitude of life on this beach would have been almost supernatural.  It surrounded and sustained the ancestors of our friends of the Squamish Nation.

All of this underscores the enormity of the gesture of Wendy Charbonneau, whose many times great grandfather Chief George Capilano welcomed Captain George Vancouver to the waters off Dundarave Beach, in lifting her hands to welcome the Dundarave Festival of Lights last season.  With the blessing of the Elders of the Squamish Nation, we named our principal performance space on the Beach the Festival Longhouse because, well, it is long but also because it is a place of sanctuary against the weather, a place to include everyone in celebrating the life of our community, a place to rejoice in the ways all of us belong here. 

In the hands of Ryan and his crew at Wildcoast Productions, the Festival Longhouse is very much a twenty-first century take on the most ancient of structures, high tension cables and structural supports for an immense white roof.  Raised and then removed for each Festival weekend, the Longhouse reflects our values of human ecology in sustainability and a no-trace presence on Dundarave Beach.  A big bonus, which we try never to take for granted, is Ryan's unflappable professionalism in taking our vision for the site and making it happen--the grace of the Dundarave Nativity Pavilion and its spire high above the Beach standing with the welcoming expanse of the Festival Longhouse against the worst of a Pacific coast winter.

It may well feel like winter now in this flinty midsummer, but the weather calls us always to give shelter to each other, to make certain in every season we can all enjoy the comfort and power of belonging.

Share

0 Comments

9/7/2011

Building Our Community Through the Dundarave Festival of Lights

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
Festival Founder Tim Lack joins in at the West Vancouver Community Day Parade.
Long before blogs and iPads, the festival was the original social networking platform, the place where a community would gather to take stock of itself, celebrate the best of its traditions, and renew the relationships -- one to one, family to family -- that give life meaning, security and joy.  The work of the festival has always been to build community and to do so, going back to the root of the word in "feast", in a spirit "characterized by rejoicing".

You can see this on the front page of this website, a sampling of the faces of the hundreds of performers and the thousands of people in their audiences who set aside the pressures of the holidays to connect with the best spirit of our community, the true spirit of the season.  The experience was powerful because, as we rolled into the longest nights of the year, we gathered together in the ancient and beautiful duty of making sure no one is left out in the cold.  And it was a ton of fun.  Keeping the concerts free, holding them in the wheel chair accessible shelter of the beautiful Festival Longhouse and Nativity Pavilion, and timing them to make sense for the needs of families in the busiest season of the year allowed us to collect ourselves in a spirit of rejoicing because no one was left out in the cold.  Thanks again, O Department of Canadian Heritage, for helping us make this possible last season.

But here's the thing.  Even as we work now to create the program for the Festival's 20th Anniversary this season, in the height of summer, www.dundaravefestival.com continues to log 1500 hits on its website each (way off season) month.  This is a bit of a mystery because, although Morris dancers, children's choirs, massive mariachi orchestras, show tunes, and stellar folk artists are always in season, this is very much a website that celebrates the light of the Christmas season.  So why the interest even through the summer months?  It comes back to this fact of community, and the ordinary miracle -- to borrow again from Sarah McLachlan -- of the ways we need each other, reach out to each other and deepen in each other a sense of belonging.

None of this happens automatically, and we're grateful for the love and support the Festival receives from its circle of Founders.  Moving forward to our 20th Anniversary this season, we're working out new ways to keep the Dundarave Festival of Lights inspiring and inclusive.  This means, first of all, keeping its concerts absolutely free.  It also means tapping into the power of our forest of Christmas trees -- the only one of its kind in coastal British Columbia -- to help us end homelessness beautifully.  Because no one should be left out in the cold.

To find out how you can support the Festival, or to share with us your ideas for ending homelessness in our community, post a comment to this blog or contact us here.

Share

0 Comments
Details

    The Dundarave Festival Society

    We are a circle of friends working in the Dundarave Festival of Lights Society to bring to life the promise of Christmas in our community, a season of life, passion and purpose that leaves no one in the cold.  This is community-driven social change, in the true spirit of Christmas and the best spirit of our community.

    Picture

    Archives

    October 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    December 2012
    September 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009

    Categories

    All
    1914
    Aboriginal
    Al Mitchell
    Armistice
    Autumn
    Ballad
    Barefoot
    Bc Auditor General
    Benedict Xv
    Bonfire
    British Properties
    Canada
    Canadian
    Canadian Heritage
    Carols
    Christmas
    Christmas 2011
    Christmas Eve
    Christmas Spirit
    Christmas Tree
    Christmas Trees
    Christmas Truce
    Community
    Donne
    Doubledee
    Dundarave
    Dundarave Beach
    École Pauline Johnson
    Elderly
    Firefighters
    George Capilano
    George Vancouver
    Golden Rule
    Great Canadian Landscaping
    Hero
    Homeless
    Homelessness
    Homelessness Action Week
    Hope
    Jared Diamond
    John Babcock
    Karen O
    Karen O’Shannacery
    Kindercorps
    Kris Doubledee
    London Riots
    Lookout Emergency Aid Society
    Love
    Manhattan
    Mayor Mike Smith
    Miracle
    Morris Dancers
    Motown
    North Pacific
    North Shore
    North Shore Dragon Busters
    Order Of British Columbia
    Rembrance Day
    Royal Hudson
    Seniors
    Silent Night
    Snow
    Squamish Elders
    Squamish Nation
    Stille Nacht
    Superman
    Super Storm
    Tacloban
    Thames River Festival
    Thanksgiving
    West Vancouver
    West Vancouver Centennial
    Wildcoast Productions
    Winnipeg
    Winter
    World War I
    Wwi
    Ypres

    RSS Feed


We acknowledge with gratitude and respect that the Dundarave Festival is located on the  unceded sovereign territories of the
Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh),​and xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.


We acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia.

Copyright © Dundarave Festival of Lights Society. All rights reserved.
PRIVACY ADVISORY: This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States . Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above. 
  • Shine in the Forest of Miracles
  • Be a Festival Founder
  • 2022 Forest of Miracles
  • Sustainably Spectacular
  • The Love & Joy Blog