Hats Off Day was a blast this year, despite a brief bout of heavy rain.
Hats Off Day, one of Burnaby's best-loved festivals, is an annual opportunity for Heights businesses to take their hats off to local residents to thank them for their patronage. Thousands of people flooded Hastings Street to check out the various info booths, street food and entertainment.
The line-ups for food were long, and all kinds of businesses had booths set up in the streets, some offering freebies, treats and balloons.
There was a musical troupe in front of Cioffi's Meat Market and Deli, doing a cover of Renato Carosone's Naploetano classic Tu Vuò Fa' l'Americano. Stephanie and Scott Jaeger, the husbandand-wife team that own and run The Pear Tree Restaurant, were out on the sidewalk, selling samples from their kitchen.
I ran into some enthusiastic young people from Shark Truth, a non-profit group run by Burnaby resident Claudia Li.
The group is trying to have shark fin soup banned to help stop "finning," a practice where sharks' fins are sliced off and the creatures are thrown back in the ocean to die. I also ran into Stephen D'Souza from Burnaby Community Connections, which had a kids' table to make cute "campfire hats" with the Burnaby Camping Bureau as the inspiration.
Everyone huddled under the awnings and crowded into stores when the rain hit, but the weather was otherwise cooperative.
If you missed this year's festival, and you are looking for something similar to make up for it, there's always Car Free Day coming up on Sunday, June 17 in Vancouver. Go to www.carfreevancouver. org for more.
BURNABY NORTH REUNION TICKETS
Apologies for the misinformation I ran in the Wednesday, May 25 edition of this column regarding ticket sales for the Burnaby North Secondary reunion. Tickets for the reunion, which is on Sept. 15 at the Executive Plaza Hotel, are on sale this Wednesday (today) and Thursday June 6 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Burnaby North Secondary. (I had written they were on sale at the hotel.) For more information, go to www. classreport.org/can/bc/ burnaby/bns/1972.
Have an interesting item you would like to share with the community? Email it to Jennifer Moreau at [email protected].
