The last weekend before the Labour Day weekend is shaping up to be a busy one in the Royal City.

Knit 1, Take 2, a local knitting group, will celebrate national Knit in the Park Day. Knitters of all levels will gather near the covered picnic area in Queen's Park from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 29 for knitting, laughs and some yarn-inspired fun.

Everyone is welcome to join in the fun and bring a picnic lunch and a blanket or chair. The event is designed to raise the visibility of this artisan craft.

The much-anticipated Kraft Celebration Tour rolls into town Sunday, when a community barbecue and live broadcast of TSN's SportsCentre will take place in Tipperary Park. New Westminster will also receive a $25,000 cheque from Kraft Canada for its new youth centre, which was part of the prize the city received for beating Nelson in the online voting competition.

The event will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. in Tipperary Park and city hall's Fourth Street parking lot. The community event will run from 1 to 4 p.m., while the TSN SportsCentre broadcast will take place from 3 to 4 p.m.

Planners are estimating up to 5,000 people may attend the event, which will include an entertainment stage, a sports zone and autograph area, a family zone where people can enjoy all kinds of games and activities, a dunk tank and more. People are encouraged to wear sports-related attire - such as their Salmonbellies or Royal City Youth Soccer jerseys - to the event.

The 11th annual Doggy Fun Day event is being held on Sunday, Aug. 29 from noon to 3 p.m. at Queen's Park. It's being held on the field near First Street, behind Queen's Park Stadium.

The Royal City Rockets dog agility team will perform at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. The event also features displays, a raffle and contests for dogs and owners, including a three-legged race, bobbing for wieners, a dog and owner look-alike and the Super Duper Pooper Scooper race, in which contestants will vie to pick up the most pretend poop in a set time.

FAMILIAR FACES IN NEW CITY PLACES

Some familiar faces will be performing new roles in the city's department of parks, culture and recreation.

Joy Barkwill, a longtime employee at Century House, is retiring as the city's manager of seniors and youth services. She's staying on to help transition her successor into the role.

"Joy will still be with us for about six weeks, as she eases out of the role," said Dean Gibson, the city's manager of parks, culture and recreation. "We are conscious of the relationships our staff have with the public at Century House. We wanted to ensure we had an orderly transition so the continuity in services were maintained."

Leslie Cole, who has been the manager of Queen's Park Arenex, will step into Joy's role as of Sept. 1. The job includes managing Century House, where Leslie worked as a recreation programmer before moving on to manage the Queen's Park Arenex.

"It's a little bit of a homecoming, for sure," Gibson said.

Jay Young, who has been a recreation planner at Century House, moves over to fill the vacancy at the Arenex. "For both Leslie and Jay, this is an upward move in the organization," Gibson said.

Young, who organized the Olympic Torch relay's visit to New Westminster, demonstrated that he was able to take on a more senior position within the city

"We feel great about that," Gibson said about promoting from within. "They are already oriented and familiar with city operations. It provides recognition for the excellent work our staff are already doing."

Gibson said the city really only looks to outside sources when no internal staff are qualified.

The city opted to hire someone from the outside when it hired Cidalia Correia is the new assistant manager of Canada Games Pool. She'll assist Hilary Knowles in managing the city's pools and overall aquatic needs.

"It's filling a vacancy that existed before," Gibson said. "The previous position was not quite as senior. We modified the position."

Gibson said Correia comes to the city from a senior position in the YMCA organization. Coming from outside the City of New Westminster and from outside municipal employment means she'll bring some new ideas to the organization.

"Early in her career she worked at Canada Games Pool," he added. "She has been away for some time."

NEW ROLES

Two planners at city hall have recently been promoted to more senior positions.

Lil Ronalds was promoted from planner to senior planner, while longtime senior planning analyst Jim Hurst was promoted to development planner.

"They deserve it," said Lisa Spitale, the city's director of development services. "They have been working very hard."

Hurst, one of the longer-term employees of the planning division, had already taken on some of a planner's duties. He's been doing some development planning, as well as neighbourhood plans and public policy work.

"He is mentoring the junior staff. He is doing that work as well. That is how you create succession as well," Spitale said. "He is exceptional at development review. He is able to look at a site plan and automatically identify the ongoing issues. Exceptional. He will see things sometimes that a project architect hasn't seen. He is very, very good with the younger staff in helping them to understand the complexities of situations - that is something they talk about as well."

Ronalds' roles have included work on the city's financing growth initiatives, which is work related to amenities, density bonusing and development cost charges. In addition to doing that "incredibly detailed" work, Ronalds has also done public policy planning regarding the affordable housing strategy.

"She also has a breadth of knowledge of technical housing issues. Invaluable," Spitale said. "She is one of the key writers of the downtown plan."