Feel-good Friday: Global BC’s highlights of the week

Each week at Global BC, we highlight our stories to bring a bright spot to your Friday and into the weekend.

Here are the five stories we want to share:

Meet the man who’s lived 30 years in Stanley Park

Hidden in the forest of Stanley Park, not far from a walking trail, there’s a campsite.

From the outside, it doesn’t look like much — a few green tarps attached to a couple of trees.

You’d be forgiven for missing it, even if you saw it.

But this isn’t just any campsite.

This site belongs to a man who’s chosen to call Stanley Park home for more than 30 years. His name is Christenson Bailey and he’s Stanley Park’s longest resident.

7:00 Man lives in Stanley Park for more than 30 years

Life in the forest: How Stanley Park’s longest resident survived a changing landscape
Christenson Bailey started camping in Stanley Park in 1990. And he still lives there today.

He’d moved into a tiny campsite hidden deep in the forest to make art for the last three decades, and he has lived on next to nothing.

In the beginning, Bailey survived on just $300 a year by putting his art skills to use, doing sign-writing jobs around the city for cash.

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“By just doing this sporadically, coming in and out of the forest, no one ever questioned me,” Bailey tells Global News. “I just walked down the street, and knocked on doors. I asked, ‘Would you like this?’ and showed them a presentation. People paid me a good fee.”

6:29 How Stanley Park’s longest resident survived for more than 30 years in the park

‘If the Canucks are scoring, the drinks are pouring’: Businesses, fans buzzing for playoffs

The Vancouver Canucks regular-season is over and fans and businesses in the city are already gearing up for their Stanley Cup playoff run.

Superfan Dave Stein is holding a space for the crown jewel of his $1-million collection of Canucks memorabilia.

“I want a picture of the team holding the Stanley Cup. It doesn’t even have to be signed,” he told Global News.

“I have the perfect spot for it on the wall.”

2:13 This is BC: Comprehensive Canucks collection

Emerson the ‘real rascal’ elephant seal swims hundreds of kilometres back to Victoria

Despite the efforts of officials and volunteers, Emerson the elephant seal just loves his adoring public too much to stay away.

His latest trip involved swimming hundreds of kilometres in just five days to land back on the beaches of Victoria.

“(He’s) an animal we know well,” Paul Cottrell with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada told Global News. “We even know he was born in the U.S., just across the border at Deception Pass Park. And his mom ended up giving birth right in this park.”

Cottrell said after three or four weeks, the weaning period was over, and his mom took off.

“So this young pup was looked after by volunteers for quite a while,” he said. “And Emerson has kind of grown attached to people. And now two years later, he’s weighing over 500 pounds and he’s taken a liking to Victoria.”

2:18 Elephant seal’s return to Victoria area raises safety concerns

Banana python reunited with its owner; youth thieves ‘remorseful’: RCMP

Three young people were arrested in connection with the theft of a banana python, and police say they’re contrite about their regrettable choices.

The search for an $800 banana python that was stolen from a business in the 300 block of Highway 33 West in Kelowna, B.C., started on Monday and came to a positive resolution two days later.

Through CCTV footage and the assistance of community partners, Kelowna RCMP community youth safety officer Const. Fed Angulo was able to identify three youths involved in the incident, then retrieve the stolen snake and return it to the business owner.