The city of Coquitlam is calling on volunteers to help mark the municipality’s 125th anniversary this year.
About 150 leaders, production assistants, event ambassadors and activity attendants are needed to put on the milestone celebrations including:
• Neighbourhood Nights: Free family events will take place at parks such as River Heights (June 23), Westwood Plateau (June 30), Ranch Park (July 7), Burquitlam (July 14), Northeast Coquitlam (July 21), Austin Heights (July 28), Central Coquitlam (Aug. 4), City Centre (Aug. 11), Harbour Chines (Aug. 18), Lougheed (Aug. 25), Maillardville (Sept. 1) and Eagle Ridge (Sept. 8);
• Kaleidoscope: The anniversary’s signature event at Coquitlam Town Centre on July 23 and 24;
• and Heritage Picnic: A re-creation of the Booth Farm community picnic from years past, at Blue Mountain Park on Sept. 17.
Volunteers are required to be at least 13 years old and complete an application (interview, police information and reference checks, and orientation).
To sign up, visit www.coquitlam125.ca/volunteer.
••••••
If you have a little writing talent, the small contest may be for you.
To help celebrate Coquitlam’s 125th birthday, Coquitlam Public Library is inviting people 16 years and older up to enter a Tiny Story Contest, which opens May 20 and runs through June 30.
Tiny stories — also known as flash fiction, postcard fiction, and micro fiction — are extremely short stories. The story must be 420 characters or fewer — approximately one paragraph —with every letter, space and punctuation mark counted.
The first 420-character stories were written by author Lou Beach as social networking site status updates. These were collected and published in a book called 420 Characters, which serves as inspiration for the CPL contest.
The contest is free to enter, and there are prizes to be won. Each entrant may submit up to three stories and must live in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore or Belcarra. Entries already published, accepted or submitted elsewhere are ineligible.
All winners will read their stories on stage at Kaleidoscope, Coquitlam’s 125 Years celebration, at Town Centre Park on July 23. Entries or questions may be emailed to tinystoriescpl@gmail.com or submitted to the information desks at City Centre or Poirier. Full contest details can be found at www.coqlibrary.ca, including samples of tiny stories.
@TriCityNews
