One of the excellent annual events in our city — with more than 50 sites this year — offered the opportunity last weekend to explore the many organizations that make it rewarding and fun to live here in Richmond.
This was the 18th annual Doors Open Richmond, superbly organized by the Richmond Museum Society.
Doors Open started in 2008 in Richmond and is the longest-running Doors Open event in B.C.
Since that time, more than 250,000 visitors have explored Richmond’s most popular national historic sites, museums, art studios, agricultural farms, religious organizations, cultural centres, food and beverage establishments, city services and much more.
The sites reflected our multicultural community.
Exploring them all was free. Friendly and helpful guides were available to answer questions.
The initiative is part of a cross-Canada program. Our set of events was supported by the City of Richmond, the BC Arts Council, the Province of British Columbia, the Government of Canada, Fairchild TV, Talentvision and the Richmond News.
Two separate bus tours also facilitated the visits to selected sites.
One of the highlights this year was the Kwantlen Polytechnic University farm — a new site that demonstrated sustainable crop methods and showcased the ability to grow a wide variety of vegetables within our city.
Another highlight was the wooden boat building at Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site. Shipbuilding and fishing are at the core of Richmond’s heritage.
Richmond’s resident shipwright described and demonstrated the use of shipbuilding tools.
Visitors had the opportunity to try out their skills with some of these tools.
The Gulf of Georgia Cannery put on multiple displays, including a fascinating one from Japanese culture — the ancient art of gyo-taku — also known as fish rubbing.
In this artistic process, frozen sea creatures of various kinds — in this example, an octopus — are covered in ink or paint and then pressed with a special heavy paper. This transfer creates a print that can then be transformed into unique works of art. Careful pressing brings out the best possible transfer detail.
And all of the above is only a sampling of the 50 plus sites that made up Doors Open in 2025.
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