Renfrew Ravine gets dog park, stairs, trails

The $1 million restoration of Renfrew Ravine means a lot to Carmen Rosen.

She’s the artistic director of the annual Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival which takes place along the ravine in East Vancouver.

When Rosen moved to the neighbourhood, neither the natural wildness of the ravine, nor Still Creek as the longest visible creek in Vancouver, were well known. The ravine, however, was known for one thing: as a place to dump garbage.

What could an artist do to support such a beautiful place? Rosen wondered.

“So I decided as an artist maybe if I did something that reframed the ravine as a beautiful place we wouldn’t be picking up so much garbage.”

In 2003, she started the Moon Festival. Over the years, the annual lantern festival in September has grown to attract about 5,000 people and played a role in turning the ravine into a valued part of the community.

The Vancouver park board has rehabilitated the ravine by adding a new gravel covered trail that’s less steep and slippery and a second bridge over Still Creek, among other things.

“I always felt bad that I couldn’t welcome people with wheelchairs down to the beautiful lantern installations,” said Rosen, sitting by the creek. “(Next year) people with big strollers and people in wheelchairs will be able to see the lantern installations down here.”

On Tuesday, Rosen was part of a park board event to officially unveil the changes to Renfrew Community Park and Renfrew Ravine Park which stretch from East 19th Avenue to East 29th Avenue.

Still Creek emerges from the city’s storm sewer at a culvert near the 29th Avenue SkyTrain Station.

Additions include a new dog park, fencing and benches, wooden staircases and a wooden boardwalk to a viewing area.