Good afternoon, Langley! It's a mostly cloudy Thursday with a high near 23°C, and just enough of a threat of showers to keep the umbrella close but not enough to hold you back from anything.
Plenty happening on the local front today. Langley City is moving ahead with a long-overdue storm sewer upgrade around Linwood Park, and the Langley Field Naturalists have written council to applaud the Township's transformation of the former Horne Pit into Fernridge Nature Park.
Looking ahead to the weekend, Langley Global Fest returns to Douglas Park on Saturday, and the Township has rolled out its summer recreation lineup, including the $25 Summer Fun Pass and a full slate of themed evenings at the Aldergrove waterpark starting tonight with a Dive-In Movie Night.
Elsewhere, the 20th Ride for the Kids visited the Canuck Place hospice in Abbotsford yesterday in what may be its final year, BC nurses are reporting more than 1,400 incidents of employer intimidation since their job action began, and the province has announced three new Indigenous-led conservation areas covering 1,270 square kilometres.
Linwood Park storm sewer upgrade heads to construction
Langley City is moving ahead with a long-overdue storm sewer upgrade around Linwood Park.
The current system is undersized for today's storm events and cannot handle flows during heavier rainfall.
Council has awarded the construction tender to Blackline Site Works for $789,329.13, plus $49,768 to ISL Engineering for construction management. An $85,000 contingency was also approved, which is prudent when digging into aging underground infrastructure.
Work is scheduled to start this summer and wrap up in the fall, funded through the 2025 Langley City budget.
Storm sewers matter because whatever enters a storm drain eventually ends up in a river, so getting the capacity and design right protects local watercourses downstream.
Langley Global Fest returns to Douglas Park on Saturday
Langley Global Fest is back for its fourth year on Saturday, July 11 at Douglas Park.
The free family festival runs from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with an Elder's Welcome opening the day, followed by remarks from Township Mayor Eric Woodward and deputy mayor Paul Albrecht.
Ten performances are scheduled, ranging from tae kwon do and Bhangra to Zumba, tai chi, and Ukrainian dance, with country group Whiskey Bent closing the stage at 4 p.m.
Eight food vendors will serve international cuisine, and 27 community organizations will be on hand alongside a marketplace of artisans from Africa, Korea, Cambodia, and beyond.
The event is organized by Langley Community Services Society with support from Rotary Langley and the City of Langley, and runs rain or shine.
Note that the venue has changed from Willoughby Community Park to Douglas Park, 20550 Douglas Cres.
Langley Field Naturalists praise Township's new Fernridge Nature Park
The Langley Field Naturalists are applauding the Township's transformation of the former Horne Pit into Fernridge Nature Park.
In a letter to mayor and council, PR chair Lilianne Fuller thanked the Department of Engineering for protecting the sensitive wetlands nearby.
Conservation groups had feared development would harm habitat and damage the mainstem of the Little Campbell River.
Instead, Fuller writes, the new park could become a jewel among Langley's natural areas. Last year's local bioblitz in the region turned up 360 species, including 84 different birds.
It's a rare bit of good news for wetland protection in a region where habitat sits under constant development pressure.
Township of Langley rolls out summer recreation programs, $25 Fun Pass
The Township of Langley is offering a lineup of free and low-cost summer programming, including Summer Nights events running July through September with live music, movies, and family activities.
Children and youth aged four to 18 can access recreation facilities all summer for $25 through the Summer Fun Pass, valid until September 7.
Additional programming includes adults-only Sip 'n Dips at The Outdoor Experience on July 16 and 30, a family movie night featuring Hoppers on August 6, and Youth and Family Nights at the waterpark later this month.
Spray parks across the Township are also open, offering free cool-down spots as summer heat builds.
Accessible public recreation remains one of the most important pieces of community infrastructure, especially for families squeezed by rising costs of nearly everything else.
Aldergrove waterpark rolls out summer special event nights
The Outdoor Experience at Aldergrove Community Centre has a full summer of themed evenings lined up for every age group.
Tonight, Thursday, July 9, kicks it off with a Dive-In Movie Night featuring Zootopia 2 from 7 to 9 p.m., with more movies scheduled for August 6 and September 3.
Sip 'n Dips, an adults-only pool night with local craft beer, wine, and seltzers, runs on select Thursdays through the summer starting July 16.
Family Night returns July 15 and August 19, and Youth Night, for ages 13 to 18, takes over the waterpark on July 23 and August 20.
All events require advance online registration through the Township, with registration opening seven days before each event.
Full pricing and dates are on the Township of Langley website.
Ride for the Kids visits Abbotsford hospice, possibly for the last time
The 20th annual Ride for the Kids rolled into Canuck Place-Dave Lede House in Abbotsford on July 8, and it may be the last one.
Founder Jeff Bandura, a former pro hockey player, has led the cycling fundraiser since 2007 and is one of only three people to ride every single year.
This year's shirts were branded "one final ride for the kids," though Bandura, 69, admits the ending is not certain.
He cycled the full route despite a hip replacement less than two weeks earlier, and says the longtime crew is feeling the miles. The group used to cover 100 kilometres and now rides 62.
Ride for the Kids had raised more than $870,000 for Canuck Place before this year's event, and organizers would love to hit a million before hanging up their bikes.
Donations are open at canuckplace.akaraisin.com.
BC nurses report more than 1,400 incidents of employer intimidation during job action
The BC Nurses' Union says its members have filed more than 1,400 intimidation reports in less than a week of job action.
Union president Adriane Gear says nursing managers are threatening to report nurses to the College if they refuse to clean stretchers, restock supplies, or take on other duties outside their role.
Job action began July 2, and picket lines are expanding to Surrey Memorial Hospital and the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre this Thursday, on top of one already up at Vancouver General.
The union has filed an emergency application with the Labour Relations Board.
The Health Employers' Association of BC says its members are not directing nurses to work outside their scope, and has asked the union to raise specific allegations through formal channels.
Attorney General Niki Sharma said the province supports the right to strike and hopes the dispute can be resolved at the bargaining table. Nurses say the fight is about ensuring the province hires enough staff so patient care does not depend on people doing more with less.
The Langley Union stands in solidarity with the striking nurses.
BC to establish three new Indigenous-led conservation areas
BC is moving to protect three ecologically rich areas through Indigenous-led conservation, in what could end decades of conflict over resource extraction.
The proposed areas are the Jumbo watershed, known as Qat'muk to the Ktunaxa, the long-contested Skagit headwaters near Manning Park, and the old-growth Raush Valley east of Prince George.
Together they cover 1,270 square kilometres, roughly 11 times the size of Vancouver, and safeguard grizzly habitat, salmon-bearing rivers, and rare inland rainforest.
Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Minister Randene Neill said the announcement supports BC's commitment to protect 30 per cent of the province by 2030.
Ktunaxa Nation Council chair Kathryn Teneese, who signed the 2010 Qat'muk Declaration, called the province's support "extremely important" after a decades-long fight to keep a ski resort out of the sacred grizzly bear valley.
Advocates welcomed the news but noted the three areas cover just 0.13 per cent of BC's land base, and warned the province is nowhere near its 2030 target with the biodiversity crisis deepening.
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