British Columbia Magazine

Time is running out to have a treasured name live on in a lichen species. The contest to name two new species of lichen found in British Columbia’s rainforests closes December 15, so get brainstorming and start bidding.

The two species of lichens were discovered by researcher Trevor Goward who has donated his dibs on naming rights (which, under scientific protocol, usually go to the person who describes it). Instead, The Land Conservancy of British Columbia and the Ancient Forest Alliance are holding online auctions for the public to bid for the right to name the lichens. All proceeds will go to the two environmental groups. Goward refers to the auction of the naming rights as “taxonomic tithing,” and encourages other researchers to do the same.

Make a bid on the respective lichen species by visiting the websites of The Land Conservancy (1-877-485-2422) or the Ancient Forest Alliance (250-896-4007).

Some people like new car smell; personally, I’m fond of new book smell. So it was with delight that I opened up a box this week from Harbour Publishing containing 10 advance copies of James D. Anderson’s new book British Columbia’s Magnificent Parks: The First 100 Years. This lovely 259-page coffee table book was written by a parks insider who spent 30 years of his professional career creating and managing B.C.’s provincial parks.

We are giving away copies of the book along with a single copy of the Summer 2011 special parks issue of British Columbia Magazine on our Facebook page throughout the summer.

Our first winner was Lotte Sonne Nielsen from Denmark, one of the magazine’s many international readers. Congratulations, Lotte!

Keep your eye on our Facebook page for the next random drawing — and while you’re there, please “like” us to receive regular updates about the magazine. Now, back to that new book smell….

Do you love B.C.’s provincial parks? Tell us why for a chance to win some great prizes in our newest Share Your B.C. contest.

British Columbia Magazine has teamed up with BC Parks to offer readers an opportunity to celebrate the 100th anniversary of our provincial parks system.  To enter, share your top thing to do in a B.C. provincial park in 200 words or less for a chance to win one of three adventure prizes and have your submission published on our website.  Contest begins on March 15, 2011 and closes on September 30, 2011.

Full contest details, entry form, and rules here.

First prize is a Family Resort and Caving package that includes a luxurious, two-night getaway for a family of four at Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort in Parksville and a guiding caving experience at Horne Lake Caves.

Second prize is a Sea to Sky package, including a two-night escape to Olympic Legacy Cabin in Porteau Cove and a half-hour scenic floatplane ride from Van City Seaplanes.

Third prize is a Go Camping packaging for a three-night stay at a BC Parks campground, a one-year BC Parks parking pass, a BC Parks picnic blanket, two BC Parks coffee cups, two BC Parks water bottles, and a 1-year subscription to British Columbia Magazine.

Visitors to the Vancouver Aquarium over the coming weeks will see a tower of canned salmon and tuna to rival any grocery-aisle display. The massive Ocean Wise Canstruction Inukshuk, on display through the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, was devised to show Olympic spirit while highlighting Canada’s Ocean Wise sustainable seafood program.

[photo: Meighan Makarchuk/Vancouver Aquarium]

Twenty aquarium staff members and 25 volunteers put in more than 400 person hours to construct the sculpture. It’s roughly three metres tall and about half that wide, made entirely of Ocean Wise-recommended tinned fish donated by Vancouver-based Raincoast Trading. The inukshuk symbol, a traditional marker for the Inuit people of Canada’s Arctic, inspired the official logo of the 2010 Winter Games.

How many cans did it take to make the inukshuk? Stay tuned. The Vancouver Aquarium’s CAN You Guess Contest runs until February 13. Guess the correct number of cans and you could win two tickets to an Olympic speed-skating event at the Richmond Olympic Oval, courtesy of BC Hydro. Enter in person at the Vancouver Aquarium, or online at www.visitvanaqua.org.

When the installation is dismantled, the cans of fish will be donated to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society for distribution in the community. The sculpture was created in cooperation with Canstruction Vancouver, the local chapter of a design/build competition that encourages creation of giant canned-food sculptures to help fight world hunger.

Here is a contest our ski-loving readers shouldn’t miss.

Enter the Great Mountain Giveaway today for a chance to win a five-day ski vacation in British Columbia for you and 19 friends.

The lucky winner will get to choose his or her destination from a selection of 13 B.C. ski resorts, and will receive one day of exclusive access to the mountain’s ski runs: no lift lines! The prize package, which includes free accommodation, lift tickets, rentals, and return airfare for 20, is being billed as “the most exclusive ski experience ever.”

The contest, sponsored by Tourism British Columbia, closes March 1, 2010.

To celebrate British Columbia Magazine’s 50th anniversary this summer, we invited readers to share their top recommended things to do in B.C.—for a chance to win some amazing travel prizes.  To our absolute delight, thousands of you took the time to reflect, dream, and write about your favourite B.C. experiences.  Today, with great pleasure, we announce the lucky winners of our special 50th anniversary Share Your B.C. contest.

Grand prize: A luxurious three-night getaway for two at Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, a premier “eco safari” retreat on Vancouver Island’s west coast.

Winner: Frederick Donnelly of Rothesay, NB

2nd Prize: A unique three-night experience for two with Spirit Bear Adventures in B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest, sanctuary of white bears and authentic Kitasoo culture.

Winner: Garrett Baker of Victoria, BC

3rd Prize: A four-day Rocky Mountaineer Classic Rail Vacation for two in award-winning GoldLeaf Service.

Winner: Tony Berry of Surrey, BC

4th prize: A four-day B.C. Ferries North Coast vacation package for two by land, sea, and air, including BC Ferries’ Inside Passage Cruise.

Winner:  Jerry Fazakas of Regina, SK

Congratulations to our winners, and thank you to our contest sponsors for making our 50th contest so exciting.

Most of all, thank you to all who took the time to enter our contest.  Close to 1,000 of your submissions are now a part of our permanent online Share Your B.C. adventure database, which can be searched by activity or location. More are being processed and uploaded each week, creating a wonderful, free online resource of insiders’ travel tips about the very best of British Columbia.

We continue to invite new entries at www.shareyourbc.com. All eligible submissions will be entered into our monthly draw for a chance to win a free one-year subscription to British Columbia Magazine. Visit today, and start planning your next B.C. adventure. 

Karen Davies of Victoria, winner of our Saltspring Island Getaway Contest, recently travelled to the southern Gulf Island with husband, Dai, to claim her prize. Karen and Dai met with resident artist/author Nick Bantock, creator of the bestselling Griffin & Sabine series of books, and subject of our Spring 2009 “Nick Bantock’s Saltspring” feature article. At Bantock’s airy Ganges studio, the threesome quickly fell into conversation about life, art, and politics.

“We were really surprised at Nick’s down-to-earth nature and lack of ego,” said Karen. “He’s very stimulating to be with.”

The gallery has a “happy feel” that invites discovery, Karen observed. “We loved the texture of Nick’s work,” she added. ”He creates the sort of pictures you want to be involved with, rather than just look at. . . . Nick was also very generous in the way he told us about how he works.”

The winner’s prize also included a stay at the Harbour House Hotel and $50 in Saltspring currency. Karen used the colourful bills to buy herself two of Bantock’s out-of-print Griffin & Sabine books, which, of course, Bantock personally inscribed.

The next morning, the couple visited Saltspring’s famous Saturday market, then kayaked to nearby Chocolate Beach.  All in all, it was, Karen sighed, a “wonderful getaway.”

The fall months are a wonderful time to travel in British Columbia. With summer holidays over and children back in school, traffic is lighter on the highways, and many accommodation properties are offering enticing shoulder-season rates.

Need some travel ideas? British Columbia Magazine’s Share Your B.C. adventure database is a great online resource. Hundreds of travellers just like you have entered their favourite experiences around the province.

You can search the database in several ways. Choose a region, such  as the Okanagan, to review all activities entered for that area, or focus in on activities closest to a particular town. Or, you can search by activity—say, paddling—and see recommended canoeing and kayaking destinations all over B.C.

We launched our B.C. adventure database to mark the 50th anniversary of British Columbia Magazine in June 2009, in conjunction with an exciting Share Your B.C. Contest. We’ve now drawn four names from all entries submitted and will announce the lucky winners of our travel-adventure prizes as soon as their eligibility (and all that legal-schmegal) has been confirmed. Stay tuned!

It’s time to say goodbye to summer. It’s always a sad farewell, as we fold up our patio umbrellas and relegate our flip-flops and shorts to the back of the closet. But for readers of British Columbia Magazine, there is reason to embrace the change of seasons . . .

A new issue!

A new contest!

SNEAK PEAK: OUR LANDMARK 200TH ISSUE

The Fall 2009 edition has just come off the press. It’s a great package of stories and photographs to rev your engine for fall adventure, beginning with a small-town tour up the Sea-to-Sky Highway from Vancouver to Whistler—literally, the road to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Associate Editor Jenny Manzer profiles Horseshoe Bay, Porteau Cove, Britiannia Beach, and more! Plus, this issue’s featured travel destination is sporty Squamish, a Sea-to-Sky hot spot for climbing, paddling, hiking, biking, and kiteboarding.

Other highlights of the Fall 2009 issue:

* Biologists working deep in grizzly country.

* Gerry Bracewell, our Annie Oakley of the Chilcotin.

* A visit to Klemtu, land of the “spirit bear.”

* And a paddling trip through the lush Columbia wetlands.

YOU COULD WIN!

Coinciding with the launch of our new Fall 2009 issue, we also launch a new Share Your B.C. monthly prize draw. Visit www.ShareYourBC.com to search our online database of hundreds of B.C. travel recommendations, submitted by travellers just like you.

Contribute your own “Top Thing to Do in B.C.” and you’ll have a chance to win a FREE one-year subscription to British Columbia Magazine. We’ll be giving away one every month for a year.

Later this month, we’ll announce the lucky winners of our 50th-anniversary Share Your B.C. summer sweepstakes draw, which closed September 8, 2009. Stay tuned!

Editorial staff never know what they’ll be asked to do—it’s part of the fun of working on a magazine. For our two new billboards in downtown Vancouver and a video spot now running on BC Ferries’ customer-information monitors, Associate Editor Jenny Manzer contributed . . . her legs.

Art Director Ken Seabrook designed the delightful ad, and Assistant Editor Shanna Baker photographed Manzer’s gams.

Manzer, better known for her editing and writing skills than her work as a leg model, notes wryly, “When Shanna pulled me into Ken’s office, where the rest of the staff had gathered, I knew something ominous was about to happen.”

Manzer may have been a tad reluctant to pose for the ad, but as rockers ZZ Top famously crooned, “She’s got legs . . . she knows how to use them.”

Thanks for being such a good sport, Jenny!

Click here to learn more about that exciting contest.