By Beau O’Neill (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: September 26, 2012
On the perfectly clear and sunny day that ended this year’s summer, many UFV students, scores of Chilliwack residents and the directors and chancellors of the university came out to the Canada Education Park (CEP) in Sardis to enjoy the open house put on by the Marketing and Communications Department. Out on the green were displays from the Athletics Department alongside local food vendors and craft hawkers. All of this took place in the large, tree-edged field south of the glimmering new main Chilliwack building, which featured displays from various departments and university-involved organizations inside its hall of steel, glass and timber.
To formally mark the opening of the CEP, UFV president Mark Evered and Chilliwack mayor Sharon Gaetz gave speeches that thanked the community for its support and the students for their continued effort in the pursuit of higher education. Evered expounded upon the possibilities of the university’s future as it nears its 40th anniversary, which will be next fall, and afterwards received a special gift from RCMP Superintendent Mike Ladeau: a painting of three horse-riding and flag-bearing officers. Before these events was the ceremonial beating of a drum by a First Nations elder, an act that shows UFV’s respect and ties to the original inhabitants of these lands.
Students can often hear the reports from the RCMP’s firing range, so close to the campus it shares the same parking lot.
But the guns were at ease this day and the only annoyance was the unavoidable, sweltering, but moreso pleasant sun, which did not set until well after the first band, The Pink Slips, hit the stage. They performed their folk-rock music with gusto and without a drummer, replacing him with a single kick drum operated by the lead singer’s rhythmic right foot, a touch that completed their imitation of Mumford and Sons with both aural and visual acuity. Adding to what was an older population in lawn chairs, a younger crowd started to congregate in front of the stage, no doubt having smelled the music in the air, which was floating around like the unmistakable perfume of the pork and cheese that was being slung far afield.
Next came The Matinee, a group of men still in the noon of life that, in their hats, jeans, long hair, beards and sunglasses, looked very much like the Sheepdogs, or better yet their predecessor Stillwater, the fake but successful rock group from the 2000 blockbuster Almost Famous. Having performed two Led Zeppelin covers amongst their own jug band creations, Sheepwater finished their set with a mono-rhythmic group percussion jam.
For the next 45 minutes the amicable members of the crowd swayed and held hands as they waited patiently—there was no yelling or shouted questions—in the Valley’s darkness for The Zolas, who, being led astray by a misplaced confidence in Google Maps, were a quarter hour late. Once the band was ready, Gwen O’Mahoney, NDP MLA for Chilliwack-Hope, read aloud a prolonged and seemingly embarrassing biography, compiled of phrases at which the band members smirked and grimaced back stage. They performed their sing-along indie pop with remarkable aplomb, not even startled at the vociferous smoke machine that intermittently belched out a huge whistling cloud of opacity. After the last keyboard chord was smashed out, Dr. Evered once again took the stage to dole out raffle prizes, and thanked the many members of the community and the students of UFV for attending the event.
