For four hours on Saturday afternoon, May 7, Langley City’s Douglas Park was transformed, into a festival for young people, marking the final day of B.C. Youth Week with button-making, an art station, cultural shows, crafts, goodies bags, barbecued hot dogs and popcorn, outdoor puzzle, giant checkers game, and more.
Taran Kingsbury, Langley City youth recreation programmer, said it was the first Youth Week event to be held at Douglas Park, and the first since the annual celebration had to be “paused” due to the pandemic.
“We’re just here to hang out and have fun,” Kingsbury told the Langley Advance Times.
While the festival was meant for young people from 12 to 24, there were plenty of younger kids taking part, as well.
Zac, 7, and younger brother Hudson, 5 from Willoughby were fascinated by the button-making machine, which turned the decorations on the paper circles they selected into wearable art.
Their mom, Carly brought them after she heard about the outdoor kid-friendly event.
“You have the park, and you have the event, how can you say no?” Carly remarked.
During the week, between May 1 and May 7, there was also a youth art gallery featuring work by Grade 6-12 students at Timms Community centre, which also hosted a free movie night where attendees could bring their own snacks, as well as a foods of Langley tasting day with samples of different cultural cuisines from local restaurants.
There was also an opportunity to try Caneball or Chinlone, a non-competitive traditional game from Myanmar (Burma) that uses a ball made of handwoven rattan in a game similar to hacky-sack.
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B.C. Youth Week aims to build a strong connection between youth and their communities by highlighting the interests, accomplishments, and diversity of youth across the province.
It was started in 1995 by a small group of local municipal planners and youth recreation leaders in the Lower Mainland.
Initially, the discussion centred on creating a Youth Day, but it wasn’t considered big enough, so the group decided to dedicate a full week to the celebrations.
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Langley Township celebrated Youth Week by hosting active youth swims at Township pools and an active youth skate at George Preston Recreation Centre.
Have a story tip? Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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