Category — Building Community

Breven Angaelica Warren is the founder and producer of the Columbia Gorge International Film Festival. Formerly known as the Washougal Film Festival, the newly-named event will move to the downtown Vancouver Hilton and Convention Center this month. It will open on Wednesday, August 18 and close on Sunday night, August 22.

Breven Angaelica Warren, Producer, Columbia Gorge International Film Festival

The opening night starts with a reception followed by a screening of Earthwork, directed by Chris Ordal. In addition a film designed to be projected onto ice will be shown – on ice, with music.

Films will be shown throughout the day and evening on Thursday, Friday and during the day on Saturday – in four different theaters at the Convention Center. An awards ceremony will be held on Saturday night and prize-winning films will be re-screened on Sunday.

A filmmaker and producer who also works at other festivals like Sundance, Breven has scheduled more than 300 films, ranging in length from 1 minute to 2.5 hours. Numerous filmmakers are coming to Vancouver for the event. Admission to view the films is free! Trailers for some of the films are available at Trailer Addict . The complete film list is posted here.

What brought you to SW Washington?

My mother graduated from Washougal and my dad graduated from Camas so I was made here. They had me in Florida and I grew up in Florida and Jamaica. My family moved back here quite a few years ago and I came here to help them with what they were doing and I am a filmmaker so I brought my film projects with me.

I was living in Washougal and the community was so amazingly supportive of my filmmaking. A lot of times I would get the question, “Where can we see your films?” Unless you were on the film festival circuit I don’t know where you would see them. So I had the idea of starting a festival to share with the community what they were helping me make and to bring independent film to the community.

That is how I started the festival in 2008, largely to give back to the community as well as to offer another opportunity to filmmakers because the film circuit is very tricky to get into and it took me a long time to get my films on the festival circuit. In 2008 we screened over 300 films. Part of my mission is to have it free to everyone. It’s a terrible business model but I want to stick to that.

In 2009 we grew a little and had more films and more filmmakers come. We are in our third year and the Convention Center was available and we could have everything under one roof. So many filmmakers come in from out of town as well as out of country and we can offer them all the amenities.

What is the best kept secret about SW Washington?

Is it a secret that we have the most amazing nature opportunities here? I’m obsessed with the gardening here.

If you didn’t live here, where would you live?

Somewhere where I can create. I am more interested in my community, the people around me, than the location.

What’s coming up that you are excited about?

Absolutely the Film Festival and getting to share so many amazing films with so many people. And especially the quality of filmmaking. We have amazing films from all over the world. We represent about 40 countries and really breathtaking storytelling, creative art films, great narratives and wonderful documentaries.

What would surprise people to know about you?

I started working in the industry as a child. Got my SAG card at age nine. Also, I make installations. I construct things. I like to make large pieces of art. I love glue and tape.

I love Downtown Vancouver. It’s the galleries, coffee houses and restaurants, the treasured, older buildings and rich history, the venerable Esther Short Park and Vancouver’s Farmer’s Market. But most of all — it’s the people.

“Meetcha’ Downtown” brings this home. Produced by Vancouver’s Downtown Association, this new video says much more than a long blog post on ZEST. Watch the video here . Enjoy! And Meetcha’ Downtown!

“Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.” – Frank Lloyd Wright

When I was a kid, chickens lived in barnyards. I was in awe of my grandmother’s fearlessness as she entered her long, white hen house and reached under each angry hen to snatch her egg. Those beaks looked mighty scary to me.

Looking back, I can’t imagine what it was like to have the 150 Rhode Island Reds and White Leghorns, which she tended to every day. That is a LOT of eggs! Combine that with multiple crowing roosters and we’re talking serious (and noisy) poultry.

Pondering the age-old question: Which came first?

The Wall Street Journal reported about the urban chicken trend on July 8, article here. Now chickens enjoy city backyards and Vancouver is no exception. We love our chickens!

Roosters are forbidden in our city limits (thank you, City of Vancouver!) but hens are doing quite well. In fact, the chickens will be queens for the day on July 17 at the Coop du Jour Tour, which will allow us to look into their castles. A fundraiser for the Hough Foundation, the self-guided tour will feature chicken coops of various designs in Vancouver’s Uptown Village neighborhoods. The tour will be held from Noon to 4 pm.

I had the opportunity to preview one of the coops in June. “Coop” is WAY too weak of a word. This was nothing like my grandmother’s utilitarian hen house. The Mowats have created a stylish home for their brood in the Hough Neighborhood and will be part of the tour.

Much More than a 'Coop'

A Condo for Hens

My neighbors Caitlyn and Jerrad are inspiring new chicken owners. They have creatively transformed their daughter’s play structure into a handy coop, while preserving the swings, upper deck and slide for play. They will explain their architectural wonder during the tour. Frank Lloyd Wright would be proud.

Play Structure or Chicken Coop? It's Both!

Buy your tickets now for the Coop du Jour. They are available at Arnada Naturals and Mint Tea in advance (Only $10 per family) or on the day of the event. More info about the tour is here.

Grandma Moses reputedly said that if she hadn’t been a painter, she would have raised chickens. She would have enjoyed the Coop du Jour.

Fireworks!

Last year, the Fourth of July program at Fort Vancouver was cancelled due to lack of funds. This year, Vancouver’s celebration is back and event-packed, aided by the sponsorship of Bank of America, numerous other supporters and, just announced today, a $10,000 Bring Back the 4th prize (one of only 10 awarded in the US) from Liberty Mutual.

While Independence Day at Fort Vancouver culminates with the booming fireworks show at 10:05 pm, the day is filled with diverse entertainment on four stages (including rock music, heritage fashion, fiddlers, hula dancing, military arms, a press conference with Abraham Lincoln [should be interesting!], puppets and Sing 4th contest) walking tours, food, arts and crafts, a parade and games. Gates open at 8 a.m. The entertainment starts at noon.

Staff members at the Fort Vancouver National Site are working round the clock to ensure that this is a memorable day. But they can use your help. You can get involved with this big day by volunteering. Details are on the Fort Vancouver Web site.

THIS is the year to head back to the Fort for the Fourth. There is a reasonable admission charge for anyone 13 years and older ($7 at the gate, $5 online here and a dinner buffet ($50 per person) in the prime fireworks viewing area at Pearson Field, where the fireworks will be launched this year. (They will not be launched from a river barge so you will want to be on the Fort grounds to view them.) C-Tran Shuttle tickets are available here.

Bring the kids. Bring a blanket. Practice your “ooooo’s” and “ahhhhh’s.” Vancouver’s Fourth of July celebration is back in town.

Houses, yards and, of course, bodies have “good bones.” They provide form, shape and the potential of great things to come. “A city is no different,” says urban visionary Michele Reeves. “Its bones are its structures, its landscape, and its general environment.”

Michele Reeves

Michele is the Principal of Rethinking Urban Spaces in Portland. She has worked with the redevelopment of Portland neighborhood shopping areas like the Mississippi and Alberta districts. She has also consulted with the cities of Gresham and Hillsboro. Under contract with Vancouver’s Downtown Association (VDA), she has been studying downtown Vancouver with a focus on retail development. She shared her findings and recommendations in April at a special VDA. A video of her presentation is available here.

Let’s start with the bones. She talked about them at length at the April meeting and in an interview with ZEST, quoted below.

“Downtown Vancouver has a great stock of older buildings, and in some stretches, such as the blocks of Main Street between 6th and 11th, they are sufficiently interconnected so that they would be able to form a successful retail district quite easily if they were populated with retail tenants,” she reports. Having retail tenants on the first floor will be critical as downtown Vancouver re-develops.

Heritage Building at 6th and Main

This was certainly the case during the 1940s and 1950s in downtown Vancouver. Mid-century photos show a vibrant retail environment and active street life up and down Main Street. Our buildings were filled with shops and shoppers.

“Having a stock of existing structures that are attractive, historic, and provide a sense of place already in existence is a very important building block for a successful urban core,” Michele states. “These buildings can be more easily renovated and offered for lease at lower rents than structures that result from new construction.”

“Your structures make your downtown a unique place on earth. Take advantage of that.”

Historic Elks Building

Downtown Vancouver's 9th Street

Landscape is another plus. “Vancouver is located along the beautiful and significant Columbia River. The city’s ability and plans to reconnect with and reclaim its heritage as a great river city is vital to giving Vancouver a positive sense of identity and bridge between its past and its future.”

Turtle Place on a Snowy Winter's Night

Turtle Place Sculpture and Centurion Building

So how do we take advantage of our “good bones”? Michele recommends eight goals:

Short-to-Medium Term Goals
1. Focus on the Core – The six-block area from 6th to 11th Street on Main Street where retail space is available is “low-hanging fruit.” North of 11th, the current focus is employment, which should be strengthened. Attract those employees down Main Street to eat and shop.
2. Adopt a new paint policy - Create historic district painting requirements, including four-color palettes on older buildings, that use color to bring vibrancy and interest to downtown. “Beige is not a color!” Michele emphatically says.
3. Adopt new awning policy – Many awnings are too large, are architecturally inappropriate and create shadowy areas.
4. Activate key vacancies – Focus on bringing retailers, particularly from 7th to 9th street where there are openings
5. Join VDA – More people should get involved with Vancouver’s Downtown Association (Hear, hear! As a member, I totally agree! Click here for a VDA brochure with membership form.)
6. Activate sidewalks – Planter boxes, sidewalk seating, public sculptures, etc could encourage people to walk from block to block and add visual interest

Medium to Long Term Goals
1. Improve storefronts – remove awnings to restore transom windows, replace aluminum facades with period appropriate storefronts
2. Activate building second-floors – renovate second floors of buildings for living spaces and offices to create a mix of retail, residential and office uses.

2nd Story Opportunity

“Vancouver is a successful edge city that is a part of a larger regional economy that should fair strongly in the decades ahead,” Michele reports.

Downtown Vancouver has a strong history, committed business community and the “good bones” to continue to attract more retail businesses and residential spaces. With the new Vancouver Community Library opening in 2011 at Evergreen and C, more small businesses moving downtown and improvement in the economy, Michele’s recommendations are not pie-in-the-sky. What would you like to see in downtown Vancouver? Please comment!

What makes a strong community? Good schools, safe and friendly neighborhoods, effective government, busy libraries, good people…What about sports? How do athletics and athletes factor into to the picture?

When you live in a small city, you don’t expect to have a pro basketball team, particularly when there is an NBA team just across the river. But we DO have a team! The Vancouver Volcanoes, our semi-pro basketball team of the International Basketball League, played its home opener on May 7.

Mayor Leavitt Tosses the Tip-Off Ball

The game was just as much about community as sports. From the welcome by the Volcanoes dance team in the foyer of the Clark College O’Connell Sports Center to children’s face painting to an on-court family shoot out during the break and a raffle, the evening was about community. Even when a errant fire alarm briefly sent the audience and players out onto the college lawn, the kids turned it into a chance to race around the grounds and play with the Volcanoes canine mascot.

Playing with the Mascot During an Unexpected Break

Reminiscent of Everett Giants baseball games we attended in the 1990s, it was a family-oriented evening. In the words of team owner Bryan Hunter, from the game program:

“A Volcanoes game is more than just a basketball game. What we have done is created an event that focuses on activities that are fun and exciting for everyone, with the added emphasis on families and their children.”

So what about the game? I am not a sports writer but can safely report that the game was fast, high scoring with lots of three-pointers in a rough physical battle with the Yamhill HighFlyers. The team members are former college players who obviously love the game, including local Prairie High star Devin Uskoski.

The Vancouver Volcanoes

The Yamhill HighFlyers

While the teams were definitely serious about winning, there was a refreshing friendliness to the game. Where else would you see a player and referee, arm in arm, smiling about a play? You know you’re not in a mega-coliseum when you can hear what the coach is yelling to his players (or the ref) and what the players are yelling back (not always publishable). It’s full-court involvement for everyone and a lot of fun.

Lots of shooting

The final score? 135-110. We won. Go Volcanoes!

Was it better than driving to Portland, paying high prices for tickets and food, and watching players from a distant seat? The players weren’t as polished but, yes, for my money, it was more fun. An added bonus — we walked to the game. My only complaint would be about hard bleacher seats. Next time, we’ll take cushions. Not a big deal.

The Volcanoes season offers 10 home games with the last local game on June 27.Tickets are only $5 for adults 18 and over and free for kids. Details are at www.vancouvervolcanoes.com Go Volcanoes! Go Vancouver!