4 UNBC Life

Prince George: a year
of celebration

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Kelley Ware
Multimedia Coordinator

here are many enormous, once-in-a-

lifetime events happening in the next
several months here in Prince George. Pacific
Western Brewing even released a pretty tasty
new beer - the German-styled Festbier - to
help us celebrate. If you have not heard of
any of these events, you may have been living
under a rock. Nevertheless, each of them is
too significant not to mention so here are the
events to watch out for in Prince George in
2015:

Canada Winter Games -
February 13 to March 1

Held over our extended Reading Week,
Prince George will be host to over 2,400
young athletes from all over Canada.
Competitions range from traditionally winter
sports such as hockey, alpine skiing, and
curling , to summer sports such as archery,
synchronized swimming, and squash.

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Single-day passes for these events are a
reasonable $20. The opening ceremonies at
the CN Centre on the evening of February
13 will be a little more extravagant: tickets
are $100. However, the opening ceremonies
will be televised on a national broadcast.

If sports are not your idea of fun, other events
will also be occurring over the same time.
The Coldsnap Festival has partnered with the
Canada Winter Games and is sure to provide
phenomenal entertainment. The schedule
will be finalized as part of the Canada

Winter Games 2015 mobile app launch on
January 13. Some bands have already been
confirmed, including A Tribe Called Red,
Alex Cuba, Delhi 2 Dublin, King Crow, and
Rosewood’s Diary. For a list of bands, you can
visit canadagames2015.ca/artists/artists.

Prince George’s 100th Anniversary - March 6
The City of Prince George was incorporated

on March 6, 1915. That means the city will
be in celebration mode all year long. The

Mayor’s Volunteer Banquet will be held

at this time, celebrating Prince George’s
most hardworking volunteers who make
our community great. There have already
been a couple of events to lead up to this
celebration; however, most will be taking
place in warmer months after the official
anniversary day. More events will likely pop
up soon, since the City of Prince George has
a grant program and committee dedicated to
developing events for the centennial. Keep
your eyes open, this is sure to be exciting.

The 25th Anniversary of the University
of Northern British Columbia - June 22

On June 22nd 1990, the Provincial Legislature
passed Bill 40. Known as the UNBC Act,

the passing of the bill officially created
UNBC. The Prince George campus officially
opened its doors in August 1994 when

Queen Elizabeth II came to Prince George

to open the new university. However, some
students began taking classes in 1992 with
the QuickStart program, which meant that

six students graduated in May before the
campus opened. Events have been occurring
on campus since the beginning of the

fall 2014 semester and they will continue
throughout the winter 2015 semester. UNBC
has launched a challenge: 25 Hours for

the 25 Years. The university is challenging
students to pledge on the 25th Anniversary
website to complete 25 hours of volunteering
before June 22. As the website says:

“As an institution we aim to make a
difference in our communities, through
teaching, research and service. As students,
staff, faculty and graduates, you all help

us achieve this goal, and much of it is done
through volunteer engagement in your
community. The 25 Hours for 25 Years
program is designed to challenge all members
of the UNBC community to embrace the value
of service and to spend some time making

a difference wherever, however you can.”

Pledge to volunteer at unbc.
ca/25/volunteer-challenge