Friday Special Feature
Special Olympic Feature
Paint the Town Red
North Shore News, December 13, 2009 "Some people think leaving your Christmas lights up after the yuletide is over isn't in the best taste. But the Canadian Olympic Committee wants you to make an exception this year. As part of its Paint the Town Red campaign, the committee is asking Canadians to hang only red LED lights on their homes this Christmas, and then turn them back on in February when the 2010 Winter Olympics start.
"Keeping your red lights up after the holidays and turning them back on in February 2010 is a great way to light up Canada, show your support for our athletes, " said Heather Moyse, a national bobsleigh team member and 2010 hopeful, in a COC release.
"Other ways to show off your red during the Games: Wear a red jacket, scarf, hat and mittens. Paint a red maple leaf on your cheek, or tie a Canadian flag to a hockey stick. Hang red drapes in your windows and tie red streamers to your car's antenna, consider dying your hair red for the Games, or emblazoning your snow-covered lawn with a red food colouring maple leaf. The goal is for all the Canadian Olympic athletes to know that the entire nation is cheering them on."
The house in the photo at 939 Shavington Street is fully supporting the 2010 Olympic Games and the Paint the Town Red COC project. In fact, it was an idea of the owner Suzanne Wilson to relight your outdoor Christmas lights during the Olympics. A friend and former Olympican Shirley Olafsson suggested it to the committee who then modified it to be only red LED lights, to fit in with their project. (It must be noted that lots of people must have had the same idea since lots of homes are ablaze with all colors of Christmas lights.)
The house on the steep sloped lot at 939 Shavington Street was built in 1964 by owner P. Olson for $12, 700. A house with the same floor plan was built next door to the west. The stucco and cedar shingled houses have a floor area of 1273,75 square feet on the top/main floor. On this floor are three bedrooms-one with en suite, a living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom. Downstairs at 939 is a bedroom, workshop, family room, storage room, laundry room, and bathroom. For the first 30 years the laundry room also had a toilet. That area has now been made into a separate bathroom with a shower. The remaining laundry room also serves as a dark room and a sewing room. The back of the house has two sundecks: one off the master bedroom and one that has been enlarged twice off the dining room. The enlargement provided a roof for the hot tub beneath. In 1964 the cedar trim on the front of the house and eves was painted bright blue. In the 1970's it was changed to today's British Racing Green. Most of the houses on Shavington Street, which is on a steep slope, have similar architecture which gives both the top and bottom floors a view of Vancouver and the Iron Worker's Memorial Bridge (formerly the Second Narrow's Bridge).
The home was bought by Alan and Suzanne Wilson in 1972 for $36,500. Today similar houses in this area sell for around $700,000. Alan, a retired New Westminster Elementary School Librarian, and Suzanne, a retired special education teacher, raised their three children in the house. In her retirement Suzanne has done several projects for the North Vancouver Archives. To celebrate the year 2000 she designed, and completed her Year 2000 Photography Project, Your House/Our Home. This collection of photographs of over 2000 homes in the City of North Vancouver with about 800 of them accompanied by additional photographs and/or house histories was given to the Archives by the Wilson's. Only participants in the project were allowed to contribute money for supplies and part of that money was given to a charity. In the month of June 2007 to celebrate the City of North Vancouver's 100 birthday, Suzanne delivered 1000 cards with house photographs taken during her year 2000 project, to home owners. Since 2001 she has been taking black and white photographs of houses where demolition permits have been applied for in both the City and District of North Vancouver. The black and white contact sheets she prints in her laundry room dark room and their accompanying record sheets become part of the permanent photo collection at the North Vancouver Archives in the North Vancouver Community History Centre at 3203 Institute Road.
Note all the decorations on 939 Shavington Street for the Paint the Town Red project: the red LED lights on the house and the light standard at the bottom of the front steps to the house, the Canadian Flag, the official Inukshuk banner on the front door, the red bow on the bench, the red rug at the front door, the "Go Canada" sign from The Vancouver Sun in the window to the east of the front door, the Canadian and US flags in the window at the far east side, the Canadian flag candle in the pot near the front door, the red pillar candle in the pot next to the bench, and the objects in the right hand kitchen window. On that window sill are a moose, a loon-the official Canadian bird, a beaver-the official Canadian animal, a wooden soldier from The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery from Ottawa, and two pairs of official ten dollar 2010 Olympic Games mittens.
Over three million pairs of the red mittens are expected to be sold. Four dollars from the sale of each pair of the mittens is contributed to the Canadian Athletes. (The Vancouver Sun 1/13/2010.)
Photo: Taken February 13, 2010 by SW.
Note: Home of Suzanne Wilson and her family since 1972.
