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<\/a>On the afternoon of May 22, the JCC parking lot will become an arts space where kids\/teens can participate in a collaborative mural project led by Zohar Hagbi, a local Israeli artist. And, on the evening of May 23, the JCC atrium will come alive with music in a sing-along-style show led by musician and former Israeli radio broadcaster Moshe Bonen with Zysblat (tickets, $10, include a glass of wine).<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a music degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston and used to write and perform my own folk\/rock music back in the day,\u201d said Zysblat. \u201cBut, my favourite thing in the world to do when I was living in New York was to go up to the Bronx to Moshe\u2019s loft and sing while he played his grand piano. He is an amazing player and accompanist.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zysblat\u2019s professional background is both in music management and in the food industry. She started her own company 12 years ago \u2013 Paletas, which makes and sells natural popsicles. She got the idea while living in New York, discovering the icy Mexican treat at a grocery store.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAfter she brought the idea to the restaurant where she worked as a cook in Brooklyn and created unique desserts for the restaurant\u2019s menu, she realized that it could be a lot of fun to make them in Israel,\u201d it says on the company\u2019s website. \u201cNaomi went on a trip to Mexico to learn from local paleteros, their method and tradition, and get inspiration for special and different flavours, then came back and opened her small business here in Tel Aviv.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was born in Jerusalem to Canadian-born parents \u2013 my dad was from Calgary and my mom is from Vancouver,\u201d Zysblat told the Independent<\/i>. \u201cWe grew up visiting our grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins every summer in Canada so it\u2019s like a second home to me. I even spent a few sabbatical years my parents took here in Vancouver, and attended school here. I knew this was an experience I wanted for my kids as well and, after Oct. 7, realized there\u2019s no better time to come here. My husband Adi always loved BC because he was a mountain biker and beer brewer, so it was a win-win.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not surprising then that a nature walk is also part of this year\u2019s festival. On the morning of May 25 at Central Park in Burnaby, there will be a walk led by young community madrichim<\/i> (leaders). The terrain is suitable for all ages and abilities. There will be songs, stories, snacks.<\/p>\n At the festival\u2019s main event at the JCC on May 26, there will be food trucks (Planted and Meet2Eat), a marketplace (jewelry, glass work, flower arrangements, photography, home decor, Israeli popsicles and jachnun<\/i>, a Yemenite Jewish pastry), DJ\u2019ed Israeli music, Israeli dance shows (troops from across Metro Vancouver, including Or Atid youth dancers), a drum circle, wine-tasting, arts and crafts, a gaga pit, face-painting, and dance, art and hummus workshops. In the Zack Gallery, the Tikun Olam Community Art Installation is already on display. The day closes with a performance by the Options, a group of local Israelis who cover Israeli rock and other songs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n