www.vancouver21.com

Eire Born is an Irish dance group from Nora Pickett Irish Dance Academy in North Vancouver and Richmond BC, Canada. They often perform at the Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf in August every year. This video was recorded in the summer of 2009 with the Eire Born dancers all decked out in black dancing to the Celtic sound of Irish jig, fiddle and bodhran drum. The crowd on the Steveston Heritage Authority boardwalk clapped and cheered. These dancers also did a number of performances at Robson Square during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. http://www.eireborn.net

Garry Point Park in Steveston is a large piece of grassland in the southern part of Richmond BC. This is also the place where the South Arm of the Fraser River meets the sea. The landscaping is flat with no obstructions and few large objects dotted the 44-acre parkland. Sea breeze is plentiful. Therefore, one of the most popular activities in the spring and summer is kite-flying or kite-gliding. Kite enthusiasts from all over the Vancouver area come to Garry Point Park to enjoy the sport.

A perfect day at Garry Point Park for them would be seeing their colorful kites rise up into the deep blue sky buoyed by winds that set their minds free.

The southern part of the city of Richmond is beaming with activities especially in the summer and warmer months. Here is also where Richmond’s past has been revitalized for the future.







Steveston, what used to be a fishing village and the former site of BC Packers and Gulf of Georgia Cannery, was transformed into a heritage site, residential area, a community centre and most-importantly, a tourist attraction. The Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf is a popular attraction in Richmond for locals and tourists alike.





When BC Packers left Steveston some years ago, there was real danger that the area could become a ghost town. Yet Steveston, this former sleepy little municipality was able to turn itself around into an attractive tourist destination in a few short years after undergoing a major metamorphosis. If you knew Steveston then and had been away for some time, you would not be able to recognize its present form. Nowadays, people from all over Vancouver and even tourists from around the world come to visit this part of the greater Vancouver area once known for its cannery shops and agricultural farms.





Come to Richmond these days and there are plenty of historical sites for old-time sakes, whether it is the Britiania Heritage Shipyard, Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf or the Gulf of Georgia Cannery.

As you heels click on the Steveston boardwalk on a sunny day, you will be reminded at every turn of the ‘good old days’ when salmons were meant to put into cans and local fruits and vegetables were sold in open air markets. But if you fancy some freshly-caught salmons off the ocean and pick-your-own farm strawberries, there are often local merchants that could suit your particular needs.

First Nations westcoast artist Bill Reid’s The Spirit of Haida Gwaii or The Jade Canoe is also featured in one of the Canadian twenty dollar bills.

Richmond’s northern part is where much of local economy takes place. There are larger shopping malls along the Skytrain Canada Line stations of Aberdeen, Lansdowne and Brighouse. Plenty of supermarkets, drug stores, auto dealerships, Asian restaurants and specialty shops as well. Also, hotels, furniture stores, a casino at nearby Canada Line station etc.

A little further north across the Fraser River North Arm is Sea Island where the YVR Vancouver International Airport is. The entire northern area of Richmond is well-served by three Canada Line stations: Templeton, Sea Island Centre and YVR. Along the Fraser River in the Middle Arm Greenway region is where the Richmond Oval, the speed-skating venue for the 2010 Olympics and the future site of the RiverGreen real-estate development call home.

So Richmond north is a concentration of commercial, sports and community facilities, leisure and entertainment venues and fitness and wellness centers for both the general public and elite athletes.

The southern part of Richmond is very different however. See At Steveston, The Past is The Present and Future.

Lady Luck smiled on Richmond, BC twice.

First, the city gained the favor of Vanoc to build of the $187 million superstructure that was used to host speed-skating events. Then good fortune came to Richmond again when ASPAC, the Hong Kong based developer purchased the land just west of the Oval for a cool $141 million in an all-cash transaction. That amount was more than three times the government of Richmond had expected and the money not only help clear any debt that Richmond had in finishing the Oval project, there was enough left over to allow Richmond to purchase a key piece of real estate in the heart of the city, the Garden City Lands.

Right now, ASPAC is working diligently to lay the preliminary foundation for what will be known as RiverGreen, a parcel of land just west of Dinsmore Bridge. ASPAC intends to build a cluster of 12 to 14 residential towers with 2,000 units to house 4,000 residents. RiverGreen will be the largest planned community housing project in Richmond.
The ASPAC housing will be restricted to 14 stories high as they will be in the direct flight path of the YVR Vancouver International Airport’s air traffic. But to compensate, if that is the right word, RiverGreen residents will have a spectacular view of the famous North Vancouver northshore mountains.

ASPAC is a real-estate developer of high-end residential living spaces that has plenty of experience with the city of Vancouver having developed the Waterfront Place and Harbour Green Place in downtown Vancouver and Wesbrock in UBC University Endowment Lands.

With the construction of the Richmond Olympic Oval and the subsequent good fortune that Richmond has gotten in just a few short years, the city is now well on its way to revive a part of the city that could as well turn into a riverside wasteland or an industrial slum and holds the promise to connect up the formerly disjointed north and south portions.

Will Richmond score a Golden Future with the Oval?


Jogger runs along Middle Arm Greenway and enters Richmond Oval Spirit Square.

The ASPAC RiverGreen development was on surplus land left over from the Richmond Olympic Oval development. The Richmond government sold the land to ASPAC Development in March 2007 for a cool $141 million in an all-cash transaction. That amount was three times what the government had previously expected ($43 million). At the time of the sale, the Richmond government was facing a shortfall of $43 million to complete the Olympic Oval project.

Some conditions of the land sale included the preservation of public “green spaces” with no net loss after development, maximizing the spectacular river views for all, increase public accessibility to the area, adherence to LEED Silver building designs etc. The development project is headed by well-known Vancouver architect James Cheng.

Although ASPAC is based in Hong Kong, it has completed a number of Vancouver real estate development projects, including Waterfront Place and Harbour Green Place in downtown Vancouver and the Wesbrock at UBC’s University Endowment Lands. Now, the company is working on RiverGreen at the Richmond Olympic Oval.

Here, on this prime riverfront property at the mouth of the Fraser River, ASPAC will construct 2,000 housing units for 4,000 residents and the company may spend up to $1 Billion to develop it over the next 10-12 years.

The ASPAC housing units will consist of 12-14 residential towers in five parcels of land in an area that is 8.6 acres large.
The buildings will be restricted to 14 stories high as the area is in the direct flight path of the YVR Vancouver International Airport’s air traffic. Facing the north side, one can see planes arriving and leaving the YVR airport with the Vancouver’s spectacular snow-capped northshore mountains as the backdrop.

The city of Richmond has also retained a half-acre of land nearby for affordable housing development.

Middle Arm Greenway Inukshuk and Speed-skater artwork

Immediately after the 2010 Olympics, the Richmond Oval is undergoing a transformation of its own in renovating the former Olympic speed-skating venue into a heath and fitness centre for the community and a high-caliber training facility for rowing and boating athletes. Next door, preliminary work is being done by ASPAC to prepare the land for a real estate development that will become Richmond’s largest planned community site.

The health and wellness dyke trail built for resident fitness runs along the Middle Arm Greenway. And with this large-scale ASPAC real estate development, the city will truly be linked up from the north and south. Richmond and even Vancouver area residents can now ride their bikes and do their shopping at a wide variety of stores along the three Canada Line Skytrain stations—Brighouse, Lansdowne and Aberdeen, then take a trip down south to the Steveston Village and other historic sites of national interest.

Richmond’s traditional industries have been fishery and agriculture, a heritage that the city government wants to preserve. Also, 1.4 million birds migrate through as part of the Pacific Flyway. So with all these natural characteristics, the city hopes to
keep up with its pro-environment image and habitat.

With the green efforts that the Richmond government is spearheading, things are falling in place. Although the Middle Arm Greenway project is far from finish, citizens are already enjoying cycling and jogging there on the raised dyke trails along the Fraser River.

It’s a new vision for Richmond, one that would likely bear fruit in the post-2010 Olympics Games era.



Public art at the Spirit Square that reflects Richmond’s fishery heritage










Richmond BC Middle Arm Greenway is far from complete in April 2010.

Like elsewhere in the Greater Vancouver area, the city of Richmond encourages its citizens to engage in a more active lifestyle such as exercise and cycling to reduce car usage and carbon emission. All that lead to the development of the Middle Arm Greenway project with a dyke trail that passed by the Richmond Oval.

The outdoor plaza that occupies the north and east sides of the Oval is lined with trees and plants to oxygenate the air. This area is also named the ‘Spirit Square’ which is actually a $20 million BC government program to improve public meeting places in communities across the province. Citizens get to enjoy the outdoor spirit and a Spirit Square reflects the unique character, heritage and cultural diversity of the area.

Slightly more than one-third (37.4%) of Richmond’s lands are Agricultural Land Reserves. So it is interesting to see how Richmond is going to eventually develop the Garden City Lands it purchased with almost $50 million, using part of the windfall from selling the surplus Richmond Oval land to ASPAC Development, a Hong Kong based company in an all-cash transaction of $141 million. That amount was more than triple the expected selling price that city of Richmond had hoped for. Luckily for those who lived there, it also meant that the Richmond government did not have to raise taxes to subsidize the cost of building the Oval in the first place.

Public art by Janet Echelman at the Richmond Oval.


First Nations art at the ‘Spirit Square’ a the north side of the Richmond Oval.


Ice Blade by Seattle artist Buster Simpson at the Richmond Oval.


An architectural perspective of a stone and the display suite at the Oval.


Photographer at the Richmond Oval Spirit Square


View of plane landing at YVR from the Richmond Oval Spirit Square.




The Richmond Oval, a green LEED building with a visitor’s eco-friendly car, a Toyota Prius.