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.

Gung Hay Fat Choy! We wish you prosperity! This is a greeting for Chinese New Year. This year, the 14-day holiday begins on Sunday, February 14.

In 2004, husband Gary and I had the great, good fortune of celebrating Chinese New Year, The Year of the Monkey, in Hong Kong. A post-SARS tourist recruitment deal with VIP seats at the Chinese New Year parade, fireworks, day tours and other enticements lured us to this fascinating city. Upon our arrival, we joined the shopping throngs in the flower market of Kowloon, where we bought yellow chrysanthemums (for longevity) for our hotel room and ahhhed over all the red decorations. Ever since, we have celebrated the Chinese New Year at home.

Last year, a friend and excellent chef made a multi-course Chinese dinner for 13 at our house to celebrate the New Year. This year, we attended the Vancouver Chinese New Year celebration sponsored by the Friends of the Cascade Park and Vancouver Community Libraries. The event included an energetic lion dance by the Portland Lee’s Association Lion Dance Team and a giggle-inciting “Images of China” puppet show by Dragon Art Studio plus dance and singing groups – a lucky way to celebrate 2010, The Year of the Tiger, the year of both our births.

The dates of the New Year differ between Asian countries. Vancouver’s Vietnamese community celebrated the holiday on January 30 with a large community event. Portland’s big celebration will be an eight-hour Chinese New Year Cultural Fair on February 14 at the Oregon Convention Center. There are many other events scheduled at the Lan Su Chinese Garden (formerly the Portland Classical Chinese Garden) at NW 3rd and Everett from February 14 through February 28.

It’s time to plan your own celebration. Here are six ideas for celebrating the Chinese New Year:

1. Call your favorite Chinese restaurant and ask if they are offering any special foods or menus for the Chinese New Year. If not, go any way and order a multi-course banquet. Chinese families often eat Buddha’s Delight, fish and dumplings to kickoff the holiday. Mandarin oranges are popular, too.

2. Plan your own feast at home. In Vancouver, the International Market (3216 E. Fourth Plain Blvd) should have the ingredients you need.

3. Visit some import stores for new year’s decorations. These aren’t easy to find in SW Washington. I hate to send you across the river but…great places for decorations are the import stores across the street from the Lan Su Chinese Garden and the amazing Fubonn Shopping Center, where you will also find foods from all over the Asian world.

4. Pick up some red, lucky money envelopes (hong bao) (available in Vancouver at the International Market mentioned above) for children and unmarried family or friends and distribute them with money in an even amount. ($8 would be especially lucky because 8 is a lucky number in Chinese culture.)

5. Decorate with fresh flowers. Chrysanthemums (longevity), narcissus (prosperity) and plum blossoms (luck) are three options. Bamboo plants are good year-round choices, too.

6. Visit your relatives. This is the time of year that Chinese people around the world travel home to make “new-year visits” to relatives and friends. Visit YOUR family! Wear red and take them some mandarin oranges! Have a great time and don’t forget to tell them Gung Hay Fat Choy!

For more information about the history and traditions of the Chinese New Year, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year.

Sometimes you just have to put on your dancing shoes and hit the streets.  That happened in September when Main Street closed to traffic and opened to live music and lots of movement during Vancouver’s First Friday Artwalk.

Vancouver’s Downtown Association President Lee Couthard reported that 800 revelers participated during the evening event. From the 6th Street Gallery, Firehouse Glass and the Magenta Theater costume sale on lower Main Street up to North Bank and Angst, and spots in-between, galleries and restaurants were very busy.

The next First Friday Artwalk will be held on October 2 starting with a reception from 5 to 7 pm at Columbia Credit Union. Galleries will be open from 5 to 9 pm. Come ready to view and buy art, have dinner, see your neighbors. There is a LOT happening in downtown Vancouver!

When we grew up in (dare I say it) the 1950s and 1960s, everyone knew everyone else on the block. Parents, kids, dogs, cats, no creature was overlooked. Barbeques and block parties were the norm. Now we often hear people say that they want to meet their neighbors but don’t quite know how to do it. It seems like many neighborhoods are designed for the least human contact possible. Drive into the garage, enter the house and there is no opportunity to even casually neighbor.

We are lucky that many on our street like to get together. Each year, we have a Root Beer Float Social on the patio for our neighbors. Twenty-five of us gathered on a warm Sunday in July. This was a multi-generational affair with the ages ranging from 9 months to 90+.

We always ask the proverbial question: What comes first – the ice cream or the root beer? We never seem to reach consensus on this question. We just keep pouring and scooping, scooping and pouring.

June 20 marked the 90th anniversary of A&W Root Beer, which started in Lodi, California. How lucky that A&W was the chosen brand at our party this year!

In the true spirit of Martha Stewart, here is your supply list if you choose to gather your neighbors for root beer floats: invitations (personally delivered, please), regular and diet root beer, regular and light vanilla ice cream, ice, straws, long spoons, glasses or cups, napkins, a pitcher of water for those few who don’t drink root beer, lots of good cheer. Buy plenty. We always end up with unopened ice cream and soda. This year’s recipient was Share House men’s shelter in downtown Vancouver.

Happy Birthday, A&W! Thank you for all those great root beet floats! And thanks to our neighbors who really make our neighborhood a great place to live!