Merry Christmas to everyone! We’ll keep things a little shorter with our update this week.

Leading up to Christmas, those of us living in British Columbia were under travel restrictions we were recommended not to travel in and out of specific areas surrounding Vancouver. That ended up delaying a trip that we had planned and left us looking for things to do in the day leading up to Christmas. This was how we ended up doing one of the things that the city put on: Steveston's Winter in the Village located in Richmond, BC.

For the month of December, Steveston Village is filled with festive fun including decorated historic sites and their Light Up the Village Tour - a self-guided tour of lights put up around the village. Steveston Village's iconic sites were decorated with beautiful and seasonal lights that illuminated the heritage buildings as the sun set in the evening. On one of these evenings, we made our way out to Steveston Village for our evening walk to bask in the festive glow.

About Steveston Village

We've visited Steveston Village with Markus plenty of times and we've shared about our experience here. In addition to its historical buildings like the Britannia Shipyards and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, Steveston is also home to some of the freshest seafood you can find in the Vancouver area and neighbours one of our favourite beaches - Garry Point Park.

At this time of year, Steveston Village was transformed into a winter village with decorations and lights throughout the streets and all the shops with their unique window displays to show off their Christmas spirit. Especially in a year like 2020, for the village to put on something like this for people walking outdoors was truly appreciated.

Steveston Village isn't the type of park or trail that we usually write about on The Markus Project. In fact, it's a village with small shops for things like stationery, ice cream, bakeries, teas, book stores and restaurants of all cuisines that you can imagine. On this particular evening, we brought Markus to Steveston Village for our night walk and to check out the decorations and lights. The result was a night filled with memories and amazing photos!

Light up the Village Tour

The first of the stops on the Light up the Village Tour was the Imperial Cannery where fishing boats would dock back in the day. While the cannery is no longer there, dock was dressed in string lighting, accentuating its beautiful wooden structure which is nice during the day, but even more so when lit up in the evening.

Steps away from the dock is a giant ornament made up of lights and this was where we spent a lot of our time with Markus! This was a great spot for photos as evidenced by the number of people waiting for their turn to stand inside the ornament to have a photo taken of them.

Further down the street towards the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, there was a beautiful evergreen tree decorated in traditional Christmas tree lighting with a star on top. Funny enough, Markus wanted no business coming to this tree because it's across the street from his groomer and he started panicking as we rounded the corner even though it was evening and the shop was closed!

As we turned the corner from the Christmas tree and began to head back down Moncton street, there are a few more light fixtures including one outside the Steveston Museum with smaller lit up trees and group of deer and another fixture by the old Steveston Tram. The Steveston Tram is built along the old tracks and the actual tram now sits inside a building with glass doors so pedestrians can pass by and catch a glimpse of history.

In total, the walk took about 30 minutes to complete and it was a great way to do our evening stroll. We're not sure if this was a one-time thing or if this is something Steveston Village does every year, but we encourage you to check it out in the future if they end up doing it again!

My Recommendation for Reactive Dogs

Steveston Village tends to be busy, but since we're in the middle of a pandemic, it was fairly quiet there. That said, since we're walking down sidewalks next to streets with moving cars, almost all of the dogs you're going to meet on this walk are going to be leashed up, so there's no concern there.

Our dog Markus developed reactive tendencies in his years as a street dog and living in a rescue shelter in South Korea. He went unadopted because he was unfairly labeled as aggressive. Now given a second chance, Markus has made incredible strides towards reintegrating into the dog world in Vancouver, Canada.

We want to make the distinction that Markus is reactive, but not aggressive. He allows dogs to approach him - to smell and do the dance and he gets along with most, but there are triggers that’ll set him off into a growling, barking or, at the worst, a snapping frenzy. We understand the stress of not knowing what to expect. That feeling of being accused of being aggressive when he isn’t or being on an on-leash trail and an off-leash dog approaches us with their owner yelling from a distance that their dog is friendly? We get it.

In our Parks & Trails and Overnight Adventures series, we’re creating a guideline for reactive dogs to the parks and trails (even hotels and Airbnbs) that we explore in the Pacific Northwest. We want to equip you with things to look out for (do other dogs tend to be off-leash on the trail, does it get overwhelmingly busy, are the paths wide or narrow, etc.). Ultimately, there are varying levels of a dog’s reactivity and only you can decide what you think is appropriate for yours. Our hope is that our experience allows you and your dog to explore the beautiful Pacific Northwest we call home.

We’re so grateful for your support of The Markus Project. We mostly choose our locations through searching and word of mouth. If you know of a park, trail or location you think we should check out, please share it with us. We’d love to know!