The ThunderBlogs

There’s no signpost stating “Welcome to UTown@UBC,” but the growing community is easy to recognize. Wander far enough southeast at UBC, past the music blaring frat houses and student buzzing residences, past the cold, sterile-looking Health Sciences buildings, and there are post-card worthy neighourhoods made up of elegant condos, tree-lined bike paths, immaculately trimmed hedges and kids, lots of kids.

“I never knew how many kids lived on UBC,” said Saangeeta Lalli, a volunteer at the Annual Barn Raising event that took place on Saturday at the Old Barn Community Centre in the heart of UTown@UBC.

The centre, built in 2007, is neither old, nor a barn. Its name and design were inspired by an old barn that existed in the same spot in 1920, when UBC’s land was being cleared by Clydesdale horses. Today it is home to the University Neighborhood Association in charge of running the community.

Families were out enjoying the festivities on the grassy park outside the centre, despite ominous sprinkles of light rain. Sights of baby-strapped and stroller-pushing parents looking relaxed, of colorful balloons and face-painted children were everywhere. Joyful fiddle harmonies from the Celtic Folk band Blackthorn provided a fanciful backdrop as kids played and parents socialized between lining up for the BBQ, riding the horse-pulled-carriage, and checking out information booths. The event, like the community, seemed to be all about the kids.

“I moved to UBC for my son, who goes to Lord Byng,” said Rocio Escalona who works for the UNA.

Meanwhile, Tim Fijal, who runs Little Mountain Campus Academy located in the UBC Village, said that many Korean and Chinese parents like to expose their children to the university environment hoping for an “osmosis-like affect on their intelligence.” Fijal’s literacy tutoring programs are popular among Korean and Chinese families who make up a significant portion of the residents in UTown.

So how much of a connection is there between these communities and the rest of UBC? The student-run booths showed the UNA connecting with pockets of the student body that can help fulfill their stated mission of providing a “sustainable residential community.” These included the Beaty Biodiversity Museum and Sprouts, which delivers local organic produce to UBC residents by bicycle.