Doors Open Richmond allows visitors to explore the city’s diverse places
From June 8 to 9, people can check out over 40 places including faith-based institutions and public services
There are 43 site partners at this year's Doors Open Richmond event. (Submitted/Claudia Culley)
Doors Open Richmond (DOR) is returning for its 17th year on June 8 and 9 with more than 40 sites to visit, ranging from public services and local businesses to cultural centres.
Presented by the Richmond Museum, DOR gives new and long-time Richmond residents the opportunity to learn more about the city and visit places they have been curious about.
“If all of us took even small steps to [find] more about people that we don’t really know that well, I think it builds tolerance, it builds acceptance, it builds more of a sense of community,” says Mark Sakai, treasurer of the Richmond Museum Society.
“For people who’ve grown up in Richmond, it really provides — to use the overused metaphor — an ‘open door’ into different cultural communities and the people who are really your neighbours.”
He advises visitors to plan ahead for the free event by using a map on the museum’s website to browse the 43 site partners and learn more about what they will offer, their drop-in times, and if they require prior registration due to limited access.
The Turkish Canadian Society will have savoury Turkish cuisine to sample and traditional crafts to practice, while visitors at the Richmond Olympic Oval can tour its facilities and interactive museum. Visitors to the Steveston Japanese Language School can create their own paper crafts, according to a press release.
BC Ambulance Services and the city’s fire-rescue and RCMP are also DOR site partners, along with the 12 Service Battalion Museum and 39 Service Battalion, an army reserve.
The Az-Zahraa Islamic Centre, Gurdwara Nanak Niwas, and Eastern Catholic Church Richmond are among the faith-based places participating in the event.
Visitors can also stop by the Richmond Public Library’s Brighouse branch, Steveston Tram, Sanduz Estate Wines, and Ukrainian Community Society of Ivan Franko.
There are more than five new locations this year, such as watercolour painter Scott Pleydell-Pearce’s studio and Sudnya Dance Academy, which instead of a physical drop-in location is offering a short online video into the classical Indian dance of bharatanatyam.
Paper and printmaker Gina Page is also returning as a Doors Open partner for the first time since the pandemic. If the weather is good, she will lead a paper-making demonstration on her back porch. The process involves preprocessed plant fibres, a bucket of water, a frame with two pieces, and craft foam, she says.
Inside her home studio, Page has displayed framed etchings, a design medium she primarily works on with zinc plates in Granville Island. She will also feature artist books made with handmade paper, which has imagery and poetry inside them.
Page hopes visitors will get in touch with her if they are interested in learning more about paper making.
“I hope that they could buy paper-making kits on Granville Island, and I wouldn’t mind teaching paper making myself, as I’ve been doing it for a long time,” she says.
“Most people aren’t aware of the processes involved in paper making or etching, so I have books on display and some little zinc plates so they can actually see how this is done or get an idea of how it’s done.”
Sakai says many of the Doors Open sites are along public bus routes, allowing visitors to minimize their carbon impact and avoid worrying about finding parking.
In total, more than 235,000 visitors have explored locations a part of DOR, a number Sakai anticipates will likely increase to a quarter of a million by the end of this year’s event.
While the event only comes around once a year, Sakai says it is a chance for people to visit places, learn, and share stories.
“It’s all about creating that sense of community, and I think people when they do that, they feel more connected, they feel more rooted in their community, and they become more tolerant,” he says.
“Maybe they’ll do things like volunteer for something that they were thinking about doing in the past but didn’t do. Just those little things that make up the strength and the heartbeat of a community, you want to keep building those things.”
For more information, visit richmondmuseum.ca/doors-open-richmond/.
