PoCo Pride is a chance to celebrate the many great aspects of our community and our City’s May Day Celebrations are certainly no exception.

This year our May Day Festival commemorates its 89^th year.  We will be gearing up for our City’s 100^th Birthday next year!

The tradition of May Day began in Port Coquitlam in 1923.  We are pleased with all the growth and change that has taken place in our community but proud that many of our rituals and traditions have remained the same.

If you have a long history in Port Coquitlam, you will likely know someone that was a former May Queen or perhaps you were a member of the Royal Party or a Maypole Dancer.  These traditions are very special to Port Coquitlam and ones that we embrace with pride!  

We will begin our festivities with the Opening Ceremonies at 7:30 pm on Friday, May 4^th in the Port Coquitlam Recreation Complex.  It is the beginning of an action-packed week that is geared for the entire family!  

The final day of our 89^th May Day Festival will celebrate our mothers during Mother’s Day in Lions Park starting with a pancake breakfast provided by Port Coquitlam’s Kinsmen along with activities throughout the day including the traditional Maypole Dances.

What is a celebration without a parade?  The Port Coquitlam Rotary May Day Parade will begin at 11 am on Saturday, May 12^th.  The parade route and further details about activities that are taking place throughout the week are available on our City’s website at www.portcoquitlam.ca/mayday.

Our City’s May Day Task Force has worked extremely hard with the parks and recreation staff to make this year’s May Day Festival one that you will all enjoy!!

On behalf of Port Coquitlam City Council, we invite you to join in the fun this May Day – and feel the pride!

As a commitment to being more transparent and improving accountability, I will be posting a monthly list of external meetings hosted or attended by the Mayor’s office. This list will include meetings with businesses, government, schools or groups but will not include meetings with staff, media or community events. I am pleased to provide you with a list of the meetings that took place in March 2012:

• Our Lady of the Assumption School regarding traffic signal at Shaughnessy Street and Fraser Avenue
• Port Coquitlam Building Supplies
• Sutton Group – First West Realty
• SHARE Imagine 2012
• Graduation Ceremony, A Chance to Choose
• Port Coquitlam Budget Open House
• CDDC Strategic Communications
• Port Coquitlam Bantam Hockey Tournament – Opening Ceremonies
• Making Your City Compassionate Summit
• CP Rail
• Polonez Tri-City Polish Association
• Kottage RV Grand Opening and Site Tour
• Rain City Strategies
• Our Lady of the Assumption Church
• Foam Only Site Tour
• Port Coquitlam Minor Soccer Jamboree
• Soroptimist International of the Tri-Cities Give Her Wings Gala Evening
• Premier Christy Clark
• Remax Sable Realty regarding development on Burns Road
• Minister Terry Lake and Minister Blair Lekstrom
• Chair Sharon Gaetz, Fraser Valley Regional District
• M20 and Dave.ca Communication
• Resident regarding TransLink Funding Opportunities
• Minister Pierre Arcand, Québec Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks
• Strandberg Consulting
• President, CUPE 498
• Minister James Moore, MP Port Moody-Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam and Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages
• Resident regarding Homes for Good Society Board
• Mayor Jack Froese, Township of Langley
• Platform Properties regarding 1991 Lougheed Hwy.
• Air Care
• Cascade Renewable Carbon Corporation

Port Coquitlam City Council would like your feedback on the proposed budget. Please come out and see what is planned and what lies ahead in the future. You’ll have a better understanding of what City services are provided and how they are delivered. We will be focusing on our budget for 2012 to 2016 so it is important that you are involved in the process.

I would like to invite all of you to come out and find out what is happening in your community. The Open House will take place on Saturday, March 10^th from 9 am to 12 noon at Wilson Centre, located at 2150 Wilson Avenue. We hope to see you there!

Each year the City of Port Coquitlam recognizes the many volunteers that make our community a better place for all of us to live, work and play. Our community would not have as many activities for all of us to enjoy without the support and commitment of our volunteers, it’s just that simple. We rely on assistance from our volunteers for our May Day Festival, Canada Day, and our Rivers & Trails Festival through a variety of committees, and that’s just to name a few. This year, the volunteers on our Spirit Committee just finished a week of activities to keep us all busy and now they are gearing up for our 100 birthday celebration in 2013.

This year’s theme at the Volunteer Recognition Awards on April 17^th is ‘The Stars of Our Community’. Please help us recognize all the stars in our community and nominate someone that you know that makes our community a better place. Nominations can be done online  or you can pick up a nomination form at one of our City facilities. The nomination deadline is Friday, March 9^th so please nominate someone you know that is a star in our community so we can let them know how special they are to all of us.