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Environmental

Thank You for Your Clean-Up Efforts

We would like to take an opportunity to thank all of our community members who participated in Spruce It Up! and made our community clean-up day such a success.

With help of our volunteers, area businesses, and the city, we were able to host a success spring-cleaning in the arena parking lot. We hope we were able to take some of your pesky waste and recyclables off your hands and free up some space and time for you in your cleaning efforts!

The City of Calgary provided us alone with 3 truck loads of waste removal, with 6850 kg of garbage removed and 250 kg of organics!

Thanks again for making this event a success and we will see you once again next spring.

Ready, Set, Grow!

If you’ve become a part of the 2019 community gardens at the WHCA, or if you’re an aspiring/practiced gardener looking to get more experience for your green thumb, then stop by and check out our gardens opening on April 27th and take in the great garden talk by Calgary’s Cottage Gardener Janet Melrose!

To coincide with Spruce It Up!, our community clean-up day, we are also have a clean-up and preparation of the community garden plots. Volunteers from Youth Central will be present to help get your plot in tip-top shape so you can use your new-found knowledge from Janet’s garden talk while it’s still fresh in your mind.

Janet’s talk begins at 10 am and has a $10 admission for the general public but can be attended for free if you own a 2019 Community Garden plot with the WHCA. Topics to be covered include:

  • Using your space wisely
  • planting techniques
  • companion planting
  • crop rotation
  • and more!

For more information about the gardens or Spruce It Up!, check out their respective posts on our blog, or visit the gardens page or the events page.

Spruce It Up 2019

Need a hand putting a dent in your spring cleaning? Have you got some stuff laying around just waiting to get thrown out or recycled? Join us on Saturday, April 27th for Spruce It Up!: Our annual community clean-up day!

This year for Spruce, we’ll be joined by some great local businesses to aid in waste and recyclable collection and disposal. The list so far includes:
City of Calgary – regular garbage & organic yard waste (items too big for black/green bin usage)
Comrie Sports – sports equipment in good condition for donation
Vecova – bottles & cans
GEEP – electronics
Best Shred – paper/document shredding
Cerebral Palsy Foundation –  clothing and household item donation
Navajo Metals – scrap metal
West Hillhurst Paint & Design – paint collection
With more to come!

With these great helpers present, we’ll be able to deal with almost anything you bring our way. If you’ve got recommendations for us to include in future Spruce events, let us know!

For this year’s event, we will have areas designated through the arena parking lot for you to drop off your stuff. Once you’ve been able to visit the appropriate station, stop by the BBQ on your way out and help yourself to a burger, brat, and a beverage!

So stop by on the 27th and let us help you clean-up the community!

2019 Gardens Update

The 2019 gardening season is upon us at West Hillhurst Community Association! The garden plots along the front of the facility are now available to community members. We opened plot sales up to previous members around mid-March to allow participants to snag their past-plots and maintain their same gardens they had in prior seasons, but we still have many beds available! By purchasing a 2019 garden plot, you will have 24/7 access to your planter and will be able to grow whatever your heart desires (as long as it’s suitable for the weather conditions)! Plots are available for only $40 and are 5.5′ in diameter.

The front of West Hillhurst Community Association has a beautiful patio consisting of garden beds, benches, a library, and a picnic table for community use. Let’s work together, grow together, learn together! We celebrate individuality and inclusiveness with gardeners of all ages. If you love to grow vegetables but don’t know how or have no space, we can help! We also have a full schedule of gardening seminars to help all levels of gardeners.

All participants must sign up for a volunteer position with the gardens in addition to properly maintaining their own plot all season.

To learn more or to get your plot for 2019, visit westhillhurst.com/gardens, call us at 403.283.0464 ext. 6, or stop by the office.

Autumnal Equinox

Summer came and went like a tropical storm.  School is back in session and that means the inevitable is happening.  Fall arrives  this year on Saturday September 22, 2018 at exactly 8:44 p.m. UTC.



Take some time and enjoy the last bit of summer weather and heat.  Prepare to watch the trees turn into their vibrant colours and the smells when the leaves fall.  We can all hope that summer lasts longer, however, they days are only getting short.

Want to learn a bit more about the Equinox?  Check out the information below:

Autumnal Equinox

  1. See under equinox(def 1).
  2. Also called autumnal point. the position of the sun at the time of the autumnal equinox.

Equinox

[ee-kwuh-noks, ek-wuh-]
noun
  1. the time when the sun crosses the plane of the earth’s equator, making night and day of approximatelyequal length all over the earth and occurring about March 21 (vernal equinox or spring equinox) andSeptember 22 (autumnal equinox).
  2. either of the equinoctial points.

Community Garage Sale in West Hillhurst

Register your home for the garage sale and the West Hillhurst Community Association will provide custom yellow lawn signs*. The WHCA will market the event throughout the community. Registration is free by emailing programs@westhillhurst.com or via calling 403.283.0464 ext 1.

Let’s celebrate Neighbour Day in Calgary on June 16th with our Community Garage Sale on June 16, 2018 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and help our community out together.  *Maps of participating homes will be available in the front lobby.  Let’s come together, shop and reuse!

Spruce Spring Festival

In collaboration with the Spruce Up the Neighbourhood event, the WHCA is having their family and kids Spring Festival.  Not only will the community of West Hillhurst be sprucing up their community, but the WHCA will be offering:

BBQ & Beer Gardens ($)
Ice Cream Truck ($)
Carnival Games
Face Painting
Triple Meg Soccer Demos
Dunk-Tank
Bouncy House & more

After joining in on the clean up and the family friendly activities, stay to help celebrate the West Hillhurst Community Associaion 70th birthday celebrations.  Enjoy the celebratory photo wall, special guest speakers and cake cutting that all starts at 1:00 p.m. sharp!  Do you want to know more about the history of the WHCA?  Check out our website here for the story of inception!

Thank you to our event sponsors!

Spruce Up the Neighbourhood

Join your WHCA during the West Hillhurst Community Spruce-Up the Neighbourhood clean-up event. help reduce the waste going into our landfills and support community programs with recyclable donations. Attend the free event, clean out the house, pass on your recyclable donations and enjoy the family friendly activities that will be set up.

The WHCA will have a large number of vendors accepting household items and waste.  Below, check out what type of items we will be excepting for destroying.  Please note that some vendors do charge for removal of certain items.

Electronic Recycling – By Geep
Beverage container donation recycling – Vecova
Clothing and Household – Cerebral Palsy Assoc.
Paper Shredding – Best Shred
Children’s Sport Equipment Donation – Comrie Sports Equipment
Yard & Organic Waste ($5.00 charge) – Waste Management
Car Seat Recycling ($10.00 charge)
Auto/ Truck tires, batteries, rims – Action Tyre
Old Paint & Oil – Hazard waste drop off (CFD)

If you have any other questions on what waste the WHCA and vendors will be accepting, please contact John @ 403.283.0464 ext 4 or programs@westhiilhurst.com

Flood Preparedness

Dear Community Representative,

As we approach flood season and the five-year anniversary of the 2013 Southern Alberta flood, we’d like to inform you of our plans for our 2018 flood readiness campaign, ask you to share some information with your community members, and update you about the actions we have taken to become a more flood resilient city.

River flooding can occur at any time in Calgary with little or no warning because of the short, steep distance the rivers travel from the mountains to Calgary. The period between May 15 and July 15 is when Calgary is most likely to experience river flooding due to the combination of snow melt and heavy rainfall events. We actively monitor river, weather and snow pack conditions to prepare for potential flooding. It is important to note that:

  • The most important factor is heavy rainfall upstream of Calgary. These events are challenging to forecast, with Calgary in close proximity to the mountains. We can usually see large rain events about 5-7 days in advance, but we may only have 24 hours (or less) to prepare.
  • A high snowpack alone does not cause our rivers to flood. The snowpack in the mountains has been higher than average this year, however with the lower spring temperatures in the mountains, the snow is melting slower than on the prairies.
  • At this point, the long-term forecast indicates this spring will be cooler than normal with normal precipitation. The City and Province continuously monitor for conditions that can develop into flood events.

Since 2013, together with the Province, we have committed more than $150 million towards projects that will reduce our risk of river flood damage. We have also strengthened our understanding of the flow of the Bow and Elbow Rivers, how rivers change, flood modelling, forecasting, preparedness and response.

While we have worked to reduce our risk of river flood damage, we cannot eliminate the risk of flooding entirely. River flooding impacts all Calgarians who live, work, commute or recreate in the city centre or along the Bow and Elbow Rivers.Citizens have a critical role to play in preparing for river flooding. Our 2018 Flood Readiness Campaign aims to educate Calgarians about how to understand their flood risk, be prepared and stay informed. Our campaign includes the following activities:

  • Disaster Alley (May 5)
  • Report to Calgarians airing May 14 to May 20
  • Flood season campaign launch media availability (week of May 14)
  • Flood Readiness open house for Bow River communities at Foothills Academy (May 15, 7pm)
  • Councillor Farkas’s Flood Readiness Townhall for Elbow River communities (May 17, 7pm)
  • Digital advertising, promotion and social media
  • Monthly City News blog posts (April – July), calgarycitynews.com

o   snowpack and flood risk

o   personal preparedness

o   mitigation projects

o   climate change and flood risk

  • Biweekly Flood e-newsletter (May to July), including promotion to increase subscribers (sign up at calgary.ca/floodinfo)
  • Video series featuring residents who have taken actions to become flood resilient to be featured in biweekly flood e-newsletter and online
  • Updates to flood website calgary.ca/floodinfo

Please contact Pamela Reid (Pamela.Reid@calgary.ca or 403 268-4004) if you have any questions.

Click Here for the 2018 Flood Preparedness Campaign 

Carolyn Bowen M.Sc.

Manager, Watershed Planning

Water Resources | The City of Calgary

Mail code #438 | PO Box 2100, Stn. M, Calgary AB, T2P 2M5

T 403.268.2509 | C 403.801.2074

Destination Canada

Spring continues its’ slow arrival across much of Canada.  Like most of us, we are in need of that warm weather.  I, for-one, wake up, check the long-range forecast and hope the temperatures are suppose to continue rising.  Some of you, known as snowbirds, are already ready to go back to somewhere warmer than here.

Well, if Mother-Nature gets back onto her normalized routine, most of Canada show be finally seeing some heat and t-shirt weather.  Are you looking to take a spring-getaway, but want to stay home because of that low-balling Canadian dollar?

I have linked the top 10 Best Canada Spring locations take a little vacation, feel the spring warmth and enjoy the fresh May smells, sounds and colours.  Thanks to Tripadvisor for the list.  Feel free taking your time reading the reviews and admiring the beauty right in our backyard.  Check out those perfect Canadian destinations here.

Do you often plan Canadian getaways in the spring?  Do you have your favourites?  Why do you choose spring to go explore the rest of Canada in?  Share with us your stories.  Let’s bring the community of Canada closer together!