July 01, 2007
Dreamfish Revived at Canada Day Fest
Canada Day dawned bright and clear, and the Stream of Dreams Murals Society and Byrne Creek Streamkeepers took part in the festivities at Burnaby's Eastburn Community Centre.
We've participated in this event for many years, but this day was special because we invited people to help revive the original Stream of Dreams dreamfish that graced a chainlink fence at the corner of Kingsway and Edmonds in Burnaby for many years. The dreamfish commemorated the killing of 5,000 fish in Byrne Creek in 1998 when someone poured a toxin down a storm drain, and grew into a watershed education and community art program that has taught nearly 50,000 participants across Canada.
That original mural had to come down for a new development, and we salvaged all the wooden fish that were still in good condition, and sanded them and primed them so that they could be repainted for a new location on a bridge on the Urban Trail that crosses the Skytrain line near Edmonds station.
Dreamfish are special, and you cannot paint one until you have heard the story of the death and rebirth of Byrne Creek, and learn how drains on streets and parking lots lead directly to local waterways. We set up a pathway in our tents through which people passed to learn that story, and then they painted their dreamfish.
People line up to paint dreamfish.
We had lots of posters of trout and salmon to provide inspiration.
Kids learn from a 3D topo map of the Byrne Creek watershed.
Kids paint their dreamfish.
The collection of fresh dreamfish grows.
The palettes of paint grew increasingly funky!
Here's another one next to a blank dreamfish.
Even more dreamfish...
Admiring the eclectic collection.
Do you remember which dreamfish you painted?
What's a Canada Day without an RCMP honour guard?
Or municipal, provincial, and federal politicians cutting a cake?
By the end of the afternoon, Stream of Dreams and streamkeeper volunteers were exhausted, but we had a great time.
Posted by Paul at July 1, 2007 08:19 PM