I had floated the idea once before, at a Blueridge Community Association meeting in 1997, after seeing what they did at Deep Cove Daze. Nobody around the table bit, and the suggestion went nowhere.
A year later I tried again. This time, one person agreed it was a good idea — and decided to spearhead it. That was the late Don S. Williams, the local actor known for playing the First Elder on The X-Files. Don had real organizational talent, and he put together a committee within weeks. He gave the event its name — Blueridge Good Neighbour Day — and we have kept it ever since.
We rented Blueridge Elementary School and held the very first BGND on September 13, 1998. It is the only year we ran it after the summer break. We started small: a parade and pancakes made from Don’s special and secret recipe. Six or seven hundred people came. We raised a bit of money and set it aside for the following year.
In hindsight, it was pretty bold to barge ahead without any financial safety net.
The early challenges were less about money than about finding enough volunteers — a recurring theme — and getting the word out. This was before email, websites and social media. We relied on volunteers to deliver the BCA newsletter to every household in Blueridge and Seymour Heights, something we have continued to do ever since.
From the start, we made room for community tables — local businesses, organizations, neighbourhood groups. After a few years we added a silent auction, which quickly became the financial engine of the day. Bouncy castles came in. Live music too, whenever possible from local talents and bands. The cakewalk became a favourite. The pancake breakfast eventually gave way to lunch — burgers, hot dogs, food trucks now, and for many years Greek gyros prepared by a local family. The pie-eating contest was always a crowd-pleaser.
Every year the tradition continued — until one year it almost didn’t. Our first planning meeting drew four people. We agreed to pack it in. One of the four asked us to give her two weeks. The rest of us had our doubts, but we scheduled another “final” meeting anyway. To our surprise, more and more women kept walking in. She had invited every one of her girlfriends to her house, kept their wine glasses full, and by the end of the night they had all happily agreed to join the BGND committee the following week. Many of them stayed on for well over a decade.
Some attractions stayed because people loved them. Others we changed deliberately, often by giving each year a theme: “Our Community — Our Canada” in 2017, “Retro” in 2018, “Blue(ridge) Hawaii” in 2019, “Rainbow” in 2023, “Fantasy” in 2024. A more recent favourite is the beer garden, where parents can have a drink while their kids are working through the bouncy castles or riding the mini train that loops around the field. Newer additions include pickleball, a chess tournament, a petting zoo (which replaced the ponies), and mascots from Vancouver’s sports teams.
We managed to host BGND for 22 consecutive years before COVID forced us to cancel in 2020, 2021 and 2023. When we returned, we were genuinely nervous. Could we restart it? The committee had turned over — very few old-timers, a lot of new faces with a great deal of energy and ideas. The weather cooperated, and we drew one of the largest crowds we have ever seen: well over two thousand people.
You might think that after this many years it would become routine. It never did. Each year brought new challenges, and each year brought its own kind of satisfaction. As an organizer, you can never really relax during the event itself—something always needs handling—but there are quiet moments. Watching the parade arrive at the school, often led by the fire department. Sitting in the beer garden with a beer and a few neighbours.
One year I was standing in the lunch line, waiting to order, and I felt suddenly overwhelmed by the privilege of working with such an extraordinary group of friends and neighbours. That, I think, is what I love most about BGND: a community that turns up, year after year, to put on something this big for itself.
What amazed me most was the generosity of Blueridge and Seymour Heights residents — their time, their commitment, their friendship. Many of the people I met through this event have become friends for life. Local businesses, too, have been remarkably generous sponsors and donors over the years.
One thing has never changed: every ride, every game, every piece of children’s entertainment has always been free. The kids have fun, and their parents do not have to worry about the cost.
In 2025 we celebrated our 25th BGND, with “Silver” as the theme. It was something to be able to say we had done it twenty-five times, even with the COVID interruption. After the event, many of us on the planning committee decided to step down after years of hard and diligent work, and we feared this might be the end of it. Then, late in the year, a couple of local residents approached us. With the BCA’s support, they are carrying it forward. That’s wonderful for our community.
