Visit Memorial Peace Park on August 10, 2024, to receive a real treat. The CEED Centre Society is collaborating with Leslie Komori to host the Maple Ridge Bon Odori Japanese Canadian Festival. The subtitle is Okaeri-nasai: returning to our roots.

This is a performance festival featuring Japanese Canadian music, dance, and interactive activities for families. Taiko drum troupes with diverse musical styles are the main attraction. The Vancouver Miyake Taiko troupe will feature taiko participation. Then the Vancouver Okinawa Taiko troupe will showcase the drumming stylings characteristic of this tropical archipelago. Finally, the Nori Nori and Komori duo will perform contemporary pieces while the Otowa Ryu Dance Group acquaint us with traditional and folk dance. 

You won't want to miss the demonstration by the Vancouver Sumo Sundays Club, with their version of this traditional wrestling form.  And you get to participate in the Tanko Bushi or coal mining dance with instruction by Sensei Akemi Komori. 

At 1:00 pm, there will be an off-site tour of significant Nikkei figures at the nearby Maple Ridge Cemetery. And Linda Kawamoto Reid and the Maple Ridge Museum have created a brochure for self-guided tours of significant Nikkei sites around the City. 

For children, the kid's tent will offer an origami paper folding table and a seed bomb making table. Meanwhile, their parents can dress in yukata or kimono for the photo booth. 

On the surface, this festival is meant to showcase contemporary Canadian Japanese talent performing traditional and fusion arts. The deeper meaning of the event is to serve as the first official welcome home for the Nikkei (people of Japanese ancestry) that were forcibly removed from Maple Ridge in 1942 during WWII and were not allowed back for about two decades. While many from this era have passed on with time, their offspring across Canada have known that their roots lie in Maple Ridge. And this festival is one of many measures to restore a missing narrative from Maple Ridge history and to recognize the legacy of Nikkei from the area, who farmed on approximately 230 farms and comprised about 30% of the local population. We hope that these people will feel the warm welcome back home to their roots with this festival . 

The CEED Centre's project titled "​Remembering the Lost Legacy of the Japanese Canadian Farming Community in Maple Ridge" will further assist in restoring the narrative of this once thriving community once it opens in May 2025. 


Festival Schedule 11:00 am-3:00 pm
11:00am | Katzie First Nation Welcome and Opening Taiko Call 
11:30am-12:00pm | Vancouver Miyake Taiko (taiko participation included)
12:00pm-2:00pm | Kids Tent Activities
12:00pm-2:00pm | Kimono/Yukata dressing tent 
12:15pm | Vancouver Okinawa Taiko
1:00pm-2:00pm | Historical Tour of Significant Nikkei Figures at Maple Ridge Cemetery
1:00pm | Vancouver Sumo Sundays Club Demonstration
1:45pm-2:15pm | Nori Nori and Komori, Otowa Ryu Dance Group
2:15pm-2:30pm | Public Community Japanese Dance Instruction of Tanko Bushi (Coal Mining Dance) by Sensei Akemi Komori
2:30pm - 3:00pm | Maple Ridge Bon Odori

Our CEED Centre Farm Market resumes on May 30th and will be held every Thursday from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm until mid-September. The market itself will feature fresh produce from Triple Creek Farm, Yellow House Farm and Christian's farm. A hot dog stand run by volunteers is new this season. Like our little café, it is donation based and will be open from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm on the first Thursday of the month. The performance stage will feature a wider range of musicians, storytellers and poets this season, starting off with our favourite singer-songwriter, Paula Justus and guests. The market will also feature more of the Sewing CEEDling's artisan textile products, like shopping bags lined with upcycled plastic liners and more. So whether you come to grab your healthy dinner from the freshest produce available in town, or just come to listen to the performers and snack on cinnamon buns or the venerable hot dog, there is a community of people waiting to connect with you. 
Christian
​May 23, 2024

As you may have heard, the CEED Centre Society is working to revive the narrative around the Japanese Canadian farming community that once comprised roughly 30% of the Maple Ridge population in the early part of the 20th Century. Our building was constructed by that community to serve as an English language kindergarten. We are now working on cultural events as part of the process of casting light upon that community and creating a more welcoming Maple Ridge to returning people and their descendants. 
On August 10th, 2024, we plan to partner with members of the Lower Mainland Japanese Canadian community to stage a performance festival featuring contemporary artists. Our working title is Bon Odori--Okaeri-nasai.
To provide a compelling activity for festival attendees of all ages, we would like to host an origami table. Therefore, we seek people that enjoy teaching this paper folding art to others to participate in the festival, which will include musical and dance performances.  If you know how to fold cranes and other intriguing paper sculptures, please get in touch with us. 

Christian Cowley, executive director
April 23, 2024

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Summer is usually a nice time to relax, smell the roses and enjoy nature. Well, our summer here at the Centre has been rather fast paced, so we're looking to later in the autumn to take in the changing colours and smell the rain-soaked fresh air. September is shaping up to be a busy time. 
     We are working on a few new projects simultaneously. The CEED Centre Farm Market has been running on Thursdays since May with Paula Justus heading up the performance stage. It will continue until September 28.
    Home Depot has graciously agreed to help us renew our aging fence beside the performance stage on September 13. All hands are welcome to assist. We will also be installing the gorgeous benches built with oak slabs gifted by John Wakita and built by Gerry Pinel. They will become the centerpiece of a Japanese rock garden at the front of the Centre, where members of the public can sit in the shade of the cherry blossoms. Two bulletin boards, one for our programs and one for public use, will also get built nearby. 
     On September 12, we will launch a School Pantry Project to deliver fresh produce from local farms to school children. This is a pilot project to enhance local food security and create the start of an institutional market for small farmers. We are still recruiting additional farms in the Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows area that can offer farm shares for 10 weeks in autumn and 10 weeks in spring. 
   Over the next few years, we plan to research and display interpretive materials to tell the story of the Japanese Canadian settlers who homesteaded and farmed in the Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows area up until 1942. These settlers once comprised about one-third of the population. While the fishing narrative is well documented, there are few traces left of the farming community after the Internment of almost 22,000 Japanese Canadian citizens in the coastal area.
    And as usual, we will offer our free weekly programs--the Seniors Activity Group (SAGE), CEED Centre Art Group, Wednesday Community Discussions, Community Computer Program, Sewing CEEDlings--and the regular drop-in services in the CEED Centre Neighbourhood House. 
     You will also find us out in the community at GETI Fest on September 16th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at Memorial Peace Park, at Rivers Days in Allco Park on September 24th from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm, and at the Healing Journey Continues Through Truth and Reconciliation on September 30th from 10:00 am to 2:30 pm at Memorial Peace Park. See you there. 
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Spring has finally sprung! The CEED Centre Farm Market re-opens on Thursday, May 18, with new hours and a lot more fun. We have shifted the market into the afternoon and evening to make it more accessible. It runs from 4 to 8 pm. 
     We added a stage in the community garden to entertain you and your friends while you sip on refreshments and baked goods available by donation. The grand opening will feature Kat and Tony on the stage. Expect the entertainment to range from musical performances, to storytelling,  and poetry.  Thanks to the Alouette Men's Shed for building and installing the stage for us. 
     The farm market is our social enterprise. It makes a modest income for us to fund our free programs for seniors and others, while it feeds you and simultaneously promotes hyper-local farming. We source the produce from mom-and-pop farms in rural Maple Ridge that are too small to get to all the farmers' markets, where they have to spend a whole day selling after a half day of harvesting and prep. We want to encourage more small farms to use their property for growing food to boost our local food security and provide income for the farmers. Of course you get the freshest possible local food with all the nutrients and flavours intact. 
    Our goal for the farm market and stage is to create a fun space for residents to gather on a Thursday evening throughout the summer. We seek additional performers, storytellers and poets to entertain us, so please ask your talented friends to contact us. We can also accept local produce from Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows farms or backyards. Any unsold produce left over from markets is distributed to low-income individuals and supporting organizations. 

Join our second annual Family Block Party on June 10, 2023, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm to experience a great gathering of the community. We will have fantastic musical performances by the likes of Bruce Coghlan, Paula Justus and more, youth improv, drum circles and storytelling. Look for the seed bomb making table and the healing tent among other exhibitors. Inside the CEED Centre Neighbourhood House, you'll find the games sessions run by Martin D.  The event will take place at the CEED Centre and Beckett Park, next door. Stay tuned for more info as the event develops.  

Save the Date: Saturday, March 4, 2023
10:00 am to 1:00 pm
​CEED Centre Organic Community Garden
11739 223 Street, Maple Ridge

Bring yourself and your trusty packets of saved seeds down to the CEED Centre Organic Community Garden on March 4th, a Saturday, to swap seeds with your fellow gardeners. If you are just a beginner and don't have much to share, that's okay: come for the revelation of gardening secrets by the likes of Carl Ronka, Dave Evely and the Centre's own Christian Cowley. Carl will regale you with ways to tune into our local ecosystems. Dave will tease you with hydroponic techniques for the perfect, small-scale indoor garden. Christian will whisper into your ears how to liberate your plants from the tyranny of plastic pots and perhaps turn your world upside down by revealing why you are really watering the garden. Hint: think small, very small.
The event will have something for your adult ears and some activities to engage your children. And refreshments of course. It's a garden party. If you've never been here before, check out the community garden and learn how you can become involved with CEED Centre activities and projects.   
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