Consider, for a moment, the complete and total practicality of a park.
Kids antsy? Take them to a park. Does the dog need to burn off steam? Take it to the park. Need your daily moment of Zen? Again, the park.
And besides, who doesn’t love a park?
It’s with this spirit in mind, coupled with the North Shore’s numerous park blessings in all corners, that the North Shore News is launching a series of commemorative T-shirts that pay tribute to our most beloved green spaces.
Stylized, retro graphics on each shirt will celebrate the places we play, unplug and cherish.
Picture those pennant-style park designs famous in both Canada and the U.S. in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s – your family would go on a road trip to Lake Louise, Banff or even Yellowstone National Park, and you’d come home with the pennant to proudly hang and remember your holiday jaunt.
In a nod to that bygone era, the North Shore News’s Vintage Shop is leaning on that style of retro for a series of T-shirts that recognize the natural gems in our own backyard: Cypress Provincial Park, Mount Seymour Provincial Park, Lynn Canyon Park and Ambleside Beach will be some of the locales featured.
Each shirt design will come in numerous colours – black, red, dark heather and Kelly green, among others – and the sizes range from small to 3XL.
The T-shirts are printed in and shipped from Vancouver. The North Shore News has partnered with custom clothing company, Coastal Reign, whose twentysomething co-founders, Eddison Ng and Boaz Chan, have printed more than 200,000 shirts for their Canadian customers.
All T-shirts are 100% cotton, preshrunk jersey knit, and available in various colours and sizes, priced at $35 plus tax. Shipping is free.
Perhaps the best part of all of this is that all proceeds support local journalism at the North Shore News. Since 1980, the North Shore News has received more than 200 provincial, national and international awards for newspaper and website excellence, including the Canadian Community Newspaper Association’s “Newspaper of the Year” award in 2019, along with golden awards in the Ma Murray Community Newspaper Awards category for Newspaper Excellence for three consecutive years from 2017 from 2019.
The local parks shirts will be one of many nostalgic offerings available at the Vintage Shop, where you’re instantly transported back 20, 30, or even 50 years to a time when life was much simpler.
More than a dozen shirts in a range of sizes and colours will have you looking modern-chic, while giving the nod to decades past. Long-time community fixtures featured on those shirts include the Lions Gate Tennis Club, Lynn Valley and the Norvans hockey team, among others.
Five different collector totes are now available online that feature art and insignias dating back to the 1960s. Those totes include artwork featuring the B.C. coat of arms; The Seven Seas Floating Seafood restaurant; West and North Van Varsity throwback designs, and a fifth design proclaiming “I Heart North Van.”
Each tote is 100% cotton, with 20 1/2” self-fabric handles and a 9 1/2” handle drop.
And with more municipalities across the region banning single-use plastics, they’ll certainly come in handy for any trip to the grocery store.
And that’s just the start - the Vintage Store’s roster of cool and quirky collectibles will be ever-expanding in the coming months.
It’s no secret that this part of this world is uniquely blessed when it comes to greenspaces to recreate and relax.
If big trees and even bigger bridges are your thing, Lynn Canyon Park is a must. Hit up the world-famous suspension bridge, which stands roughly 50 metres above the valley floor, or marvel at some of B.C.’s oldest and tallest trees in the surrounding park space.
Ambleside Beach on a nice summer evening is like a small piece of heaven descended on Earth: vistas for days and the ideal spot to cool off in the ocean.
Perhaps skiing, snowboarding or hiking is your thing? The North Shore has that, too, with a pair of parks situated roughly 30 minutes outside of downtown Vancouver: Mount Seymour and Cypress provincial parks are perfect settings for skiers and snowboarders alike, from newbies and experts to everyone in between.
The exclusive shirts and totes can be bought online at shop.nsnews.com.
