Westboro Beach Community Association

Brighten Up the Neighbourhood with Your Holiday Lights!

We can all use a bit more brightest these days. The 2020 holiday season will be different this year, but we can still be festive and celebrate with style! Get outside and stroll down the streets in our neighbourhood and let us know which house has your favourite light display. It can be simple and elegant or funky and fun. Send us a note (infowestborobeach@gmail.com) with your name and address and the address of your favourite light display.

Did I mention that there will be a prize? The address that gets the most votes will win a $50 gift certificate! The prize will be awarded on December 26.

So bundle up the kids, get outside and walk through our beautiful neighborhood and marvel at the light displays. Maybe some post -walk hot chocolate and cookies?

September 28, 2020

Planning was our greatest challenge this year, but creativity, flexibility and innovation were our strengths! 

Covid restrictions dictated what type of events we could host for our community. Our well loved, and well attended, traditional beach opening and closing events were cancelled. Our beach closing was cancelled a week before our planned event due to the changes announced for outdoor gatherings by our premier last week.

The silver lining in all of this is that we were able to engage a new partner in our community, Consortium Jules Léger, a school and resource centre for francophone students with special needs. We were also very pleased to make some personal connections with families with young children in our community to encourage participation in the events that did go forward. Our board members spoke personally with parents and children playing in the street. As a result we have new “Friends of Westboro Beach”. I am also pleased to report that we were able to continue to support one of our long standing partners, Carlington Community Health Centre, in one of our events.

All events were publicized on our social media sites ( web page, FaceBook, Instagram and Twitter). We included Park People hash tags and graphics as instructed.

We had three successful events this summer: 

1. Westboro Beach Scavenger Hunt – August 2020

• 4 volunteers from the WBCA created the scavenger hunt clues. The objective was to have people get to know their neighbourhood. It included clues along the river and green space, the beach, the Selby Plain and the flora, fauna and wildlife in our neighbourhood. It was great to see families exploring the neighbourhood with their list of clues!
• 33 people participated – 21 adults, 9 children, 3 teens
• We also had interest from people outside of the neighbourhood.
• Two of the teens got the highest number of points!
• All participants received a gift card from 4 different local businesses

 Van Lang Neighbourhood Chalk Art Contest – August 24 to September 4, 2020

• Staff from Carlington Community Health Centre, volunteers from WBCA, Ottawa Housing Corporation and the Westboro Tenants Association worked together to plan and implement this project.
• The contest ran from August 24 to September 4
• Children in the targeted neighbourhood drew pictures or positive messages with chalk
• All the children participating received sidewalk chalk packages (100 chalk kits were distributed) and shared photos of their art and had their name entered for gift cards to Dairy Queen
• 12 children submitted photos and they all received a gift card
• 4 volunteers worked on this event

The Van Lang Centre is the home of WBCA.

Remember COVID-19 protocols are still in effect in Ottawa. Maintain 2 meters of distance to anyone outside of your immediate social bubble.

For the latest updates from the City of Ottawa. Click here.

Meals are delivered weekly to the Richmond Plaza Motel and our neighbours who attend the Westboro Community Kitchen and Dinner in Van Lang. A special thank you to the Food for Thought Net café and Joe Thottungall of the Thali Kitchen and Coconut Lagoon for preparing these meals. As our Van Lang field house kitchen is closed, we are working together with the Carlington Community Health Centre to deliver about 30 meals to individuals and families without cooking facilities or who need a good meal as they have health or mobility issues. Anyone wanting to donate to help to continue this program should contact the Ottawa Community Foundation

There is a new pollinator garden in the neighbourhood!

Many thanks to @OttawaFieldNat or Fletcher Gardens for their contribution of plants to the pollinator garden on the Selby Plains. The Westboro Beach Community Association is keen to be a place for the birds and the bees as well