This was the second year in a row that we partnered up with the charitable Burnaby Neighbourhood House to bring to our beloved Metrotown its most boisterous summer program: the Summer Street Party. Under the communally created Umbrella Wall Art from last year, members of the community gathered once again to revel in the neighbourhood glee.
The Umbrella Wall Art was a guardian. The wall was a construction fence, to begin with. Its existence was bundled with the construction site. Its primary mission was to shelter passers-by from the debris of the work in progress. In a way, it’s like an umbrella. Or a candy wrapper. Never quite the main course. Never quite a part of this world.
It was never going to truly belong, at least until people left their marks of dreams and hopes on it last year. At the 2018 Summer Street Party, people painted vibrant colours and gave life to the wall. The wall was no longer a stolid guardian. It transformed into a fluid, dynamic vehicle of laughter, spirit, and memories.
For an unwitting person at the 2019 Summer Street Party, the wall stood nonchalantly for a year. For Belford, however, we saw it grew on the hearts and minds of all those who had shared a piece of it. The wall was as alive as Andy’s toys. And we hope it gave just as much comfort to the community.
