Things to Do This Weekend in Vancouver
This weekend remember to appreciate your favourite dads! And while you’re at it, there’s Car Fee Day on Main and in the West End, a Harry Potter symphony, ballet, a live game show, baseball, and it’s looking like a good day for some straight-up park lounging as well.
Friday June 14
VSO at the Movies: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in Concert (show 1 of 2)
Where: Orpheum Theatre
What: Audiences can relive the magic of Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, set to the music of a live symphony orchestra. Watch Harry become a wiz at potions, win Felix Felicis, and uncover the meaning of Horcruxes.
5X Festival
Where: Various locations
What: A South Asian millennial festival showcasing the best of music, art, film and fashion. This multi-day, multi-genre festival celebrates creativity through art, fashion, live music, club nights, film, and a block party. It also hosts a conference to build connections and capacity in the South Asian communities.
Runs until: Sunday June, 16, 2019
The Price is Right Live
Where: River Rock Casino
What: Everyone’s favorite game show is on its way to you, along with the chance to win a share of the more than $10 million in cash and fabulous prizes! Alongside a celebrity host, randomly-selected contestants play everyone’s favorite games like Plinko, Cliffhangers, The Big Wheel and even the fabulous Showcase. Lucky audience members can even win prizes right from their seat.
Nooner At The Nat – Vancouver Canadians vs Spokane Indians
Where: Nat Bailey Stadium
What: Take me out to the ballgame! Enjoy the footlong hotdogs, the peanuts, the sushi run? It is all there for you when you watch the local minor league Vancouver Canadians at Nat Bailey Stadium.
Trevor Noah Loud & Clear Tour 2019 (show 1 of 2)
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
What: Trevor Noah as an award-winning comedian from South Africa and host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central.
Yungblud
Where: Venue Nightclub
What: Hip-Hop-influenced English indie rock musician is in Vancouver for an early all-ages show.
Shawn Mendes
Where: Rogers Arena
What: A multi-platinum and chart-topping singer/songwriter.
Kirk Fox (show 1 of 2)
Where: Yuk Yuks
What: Kirk Fox is a film and television actor, TV host, and a respected stand-up comedian. As an actor, in television, he has had recurring roles on NBC’s hit comedy Parks and Recreation opposite Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari, Nickelodeon’s How to Rock, and more recently on the hit Fox show The Mick starring Kaitlin Olson.
Sticky Fingers
Where: Commodore Ballroom
What: This Australian reggae/indie rock band has earned themselves a name on the strength of their style and high- voltage live shows.
West Coast Symphony Orchestra
Where: Christ Church Cathedral
What: Conductor Bjuar Llapaj presents Beethoven, Rossini, and the World Premiere of Jim Hopson’s West Coast Suite.
Festival d’été francophone de Vancouver
Where: Various locations
What: Discover more than a week of concerts under the banner of international francophone music. In a lively atmosphere, thousands of people come together to hear artists from across Canada and around the world.
Runs until: Sunday June, 23, 2019
Saturday June 15
West End Car Free Day Festival
Where: Denman Street, between Davie and Robson
What: Car Free Day celebrates the vibrancy of Vancouver’s diverse neighbourhoods by organizing a multi-site annual arts and culture festival that reclaims traffic thoroughfares as community focused public spaces. This allows artists, local residents, performers, artisans, non-profits, and businesses to interact, engage, and re-imagine spaces normally reserved for vehicle traffic.
Tropical Boat Cruise Glow Party
Where: MV Britannia
What: Get into the vibe of summer on a boat. Dress in all white for this annual event brought to you by Melo Productions. Watch the sun go down as you party on the open deck or dance the night away inside the main cabin’s three different levels – it’s up to you to make use of all the ship has to offer.
Breakout Festival 2019 (day 1 of 2)
Where: PNE Forum
What: Timbre Concerts and CRESCENDO1 are proud to be bringing back Canada’s only all hip-hop music festival to Vancouver. This outdoor festival and will feature some of the hottest artists in hip-hop alongside some of Vancouver’s most promising rising acts.
Coastal City Ballet’s Swan Lake
Where: Bell Performing Arts Centre
What: Back by popular demand, Irene Schneider’s illustrious and beloved ballet presents a modern twist on the timeless classic. The diverse talents of Coastal City Ballet along with the beautiful score of Pytor Tchaikovsky, glorious costumes and imaginative sets brings this heart wrenching love story to life. Coastal City Ballet’s production of Swan Lake features a professional principal cast with close connections to the company.
Truck Stop Concert Series
Where: Red Truck Beer Company
What: The show will feature two stages for non-stop music along with free-flowing ice-cold craft beer, food trucks, and a full day of music festival vibes right in the heart of downtown Vancouver. Alongside Red Truck’s double-gold winning Road Trip Classic Lager, Red Truck will be pouring a wide range of this year’s summer seasonal beers, patiently brewed with warm days and great times with friends in mind.
Steveston Heritage Experience
Where: Steveston, Richmond
What: The Steveston Heritage Experience leads you back in time on an interactive walking tour, stopping at four celebrated historic attractions—Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site, the Steveston Tram, the Steveston Museum, and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site. Along the way, you’ll hear eye-opening tales of yesteryear village life, as told by a chatty local who seems to have just stepped from the streets of 1914. Carefully chosen food and beverage tastings will be served.
BC Lions vs Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Where: BC Place
What: Join the roaring crowd at this Canadian Football League (CFL) game.
Kirk Fox (show 2 of 2)
Where: Yuk Yuks
What: Kirk Fox is a film and television actor, TV host, and a respected stand-up comedian. As an actor, in television, he has had recurring roles on NBC’s hit comedy Parks and Recreation opposite Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari, Nickelodeon’s How to Rock, and more recently on the hit Fox show The Mick starring Kaitlin Olson.
Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival
Where: Douglas Park, Langley
What: 20+ hand-picked food trucks from the Greater Vancouver area. This free event is kid friendly with face painting, entertainment and live roaming entertainment.
F is for Funny “South Asian Edition”
Where: Anvil Centre, New Westminster
What: Laughter Zone 101 is excited to be presenting a group of South Asian comics. This comedy troupe includes seasoned comics that have performed at some of the biggest South Asian festivals in greater Vancouver, and across Canada and the United States.
Croatia Days
Where: Coatian Cultural Centre
What: This annual event opens the doors of Canada’s largest Croatian Cultural Centre and takes a moment to celebrate one of the most vibrant communities in the lower-mainland. As a part of this year’s festivities, guests will enjoy free admission as well as live entertainment, folk dancing, music, choir performances, a children’s play area, futsal, video entertainment, a variety of fresh food, video entertainment and a beer garden.
VSO at the Movies: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in Concert (show 2 of 2)
Where: Orpheum Theatre
What: Audiences can relive the magic of Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, set to the music of a live symphony orchestra. Watch Harry become a wiz at potions, win Felix Felicis, and uncover the meaning of Horcruxes.
Langara College Community Day
Where: Langara College
What: A free community festival to celebrate Langara’s 49th year on 49th Avenue. Live music from 54-40 and guests, food trucks, kids zone and prizes.
Richa Sharma
Where: Hard Rock Casino
What: Richa Sharma is an Indian film playback singer as well as devotional singer.
Trevor Noah Loud & Clear Tour 2019 (show 2 of 2)
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
What: Trevor Noah as an award-winning comedian from South Africa and host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central.
Sunday June 16
Alberto Giacometti: A Line Through Time
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: With more than 130 artworks on view, this exhibition will present the work of Alberto Giacometti, one of the twentieth century’s most renowned and influential artists. Including masterful works in sculpture, painting, drawing and design, it will examine the breadth of Giacometti’s practice while highlighting his place among his contemporaries in Paris and London
Runs until: Sunday September 29, 2019
CAG Artist Performance: Patrick Cruz aboard the Moving Bus
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Patrick Cruz creates an immersive sonic experience on the turntables, turning visual art audiences into listeners aboard his wrapped How far do you travel? bus as it tours through the city.
Grouse Mountain presents Seek the Peak
Where: Ambleside Beach
What: Seek The Peak is back for its 16th year complete with 13 kilometers of fitness bragging rights and a challenge guaranteed to leave you breathless. With an awe-inspiring 1400 m climb from Ambleside Beach to the top of Grouse Mountain, Seek The Peak will test your fitness, stamina and overall mental toughness but the camaraderie will keep you powering onwards and upwards. Face the 13 km course alone or tackle it with a team splitting up the legs including the famous Grouse Grind.
The SuperDad Show
Where: The Improv Centre
What: The SuperDad Show pokes fun at the foibles and challenges of what it means to be a modern Dad. Based on audience suggestions, VTS’ quick-witted improvisers could explore such timeless themes as “two-Dad familie”’, “Dads and their love affair with the barbecue”, “hockey Dads” or “Dad, can I have the keys to the car?” in belly laugh-inducing scenarios.
Main Street Car Free Day Festival
Where: Main Street between Broadway and 30th
What: The biggest of Vancouver’s Car Free Day festivals spanning 21 blocks, Main Street has 15 stages and mini festivals along the entire street. This is a fun, family-friendly event with kid-zones, skateboarders, funky artisan shops and popular food vendors. You can really taste the flavour of Main Street with extended patios from many restaurants.
Burnaby Village Museum presents Father’s Day Fun
Where: Burnaby Village Museum & Carousel
What: A variety of activities for fathers and their families. Classic cars & motorcycles, walking tours, 1920s school day programs, and all the other usuals: carousel rides, blacksmith demos, platen press demos, tram, farmhouse, and more.
The Happening presents Bucket List
Where: The Centre
What: Join The Happening Dance in celebrating a season of hard work, commitment, passion, and determination through a magical “Bucket List”! The journey takes you through the disciplines of tap, jazz, ballet, contemporary, hip hop, musical theatre, and breaking, all while we aspire to make a difference in our lives and the lives of others.
Vancouver Canadians vs Spokane Indians
Where: Nat Bailey Stadium
What: Take me out to the ballgame! Enjoy the footlong hotdogs, the peanuts, the sushi run? It is all there for you when you watch the local minor league Vancouver Canadians at Nat Bailey Stadium.
Patty Griffin
Where: Vogue Theatre
What: Known for her stripped-down musical style, the Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter is the sweetheart of Americana music and is touring her self-titled tenth studio album.
Breakout Festival 2019 (day 2 of 2)
Where: PNE Forum
What: Timbre Concerts and CRESCENDO1 are proud to be bringing back Canada’s only all hip-hop music festival to Vancouver. This outdoor festival and will feature some of the hottest artists in hip-hop alongside some of Vancouver’s most promising rising acts.
Ongoing
Throne and Games – The Last Laugh
Where: The Improv Centre
What: Loosely based on HBO’s popular TV series, this improv laugh-letting features myriad unexpected plot twists – all suggested by the audience. No two performances can ever be the same because of this key element. Like its TV inspiration, the audience has no idea what to expect next, and, neither do the cast. VTS improvisers are master actors – creating the plot line, developing characters and dialogue all on the spot based on audience involvement and suggestions. Warning–there may be spoilers!
Runs until: Saturday June 15, 2019
Deanna Bowen: A Harlem Nocturne
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Deanna Bowen’s artistic practice concerns itself with overlooked histories of Black experience, often connected to her own family in Canada and the US. Mining archives and forgotten documents, she makes use of a repertoire of artistic gestures to bring traces of a complex, deeply personal and often violent past into public visibility. Bowen’s solo exhibition A Harlem Nocturne comprises two separate trajectories of new research that follow the artist’s maternal lineage in Canada.
Runs until: Sunday June 16, 2019
FotoFilmMic18
Where: The Polygon Gallery
What: Fotofilmmic18 is the 6th edition of FotoFilmic’s annual touring exhibition juried by an international panel of photography curators and established artists. This group exhibition features 30 emerging and mid-career analogue photographers representing 12 countries: Australia, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Scotland and the United States.
Runs until: Sunday June 16, 2019
5X Festival
Where: Various locations
What: A South Asian millennial festival showcasing the best of music, art, film and fashion. This multi-day, multi-genre festival celebrates creativity through art, fashion, live music, club nights, film, and a block party. It also hosts a conference to build connections and capacity in the South Asian communities.
Runs until: Sunday June, 16, 2019
The Late Show – Adult Only Improv Comedy Where: The Improv Centre What: Are you a grown-up? If you are, join us! This show takes the furry hand-cuffs off our improvisers to present edgy, uncensored improv comedy. With the aid of audience suggestions, our quick-witted improvisers create scenarios that explore mature themes, content and language. You never know how far this show will go and the audience are willing accomplices. Runs until: June 29, 2019 (Saturdays)
Wild Things: The Power of Nature in Our Lives Where: Museum of Vancouver What: This exhibition delves into the life stories of local animals and plants—how they relate to each other and how they connect people to nature in the city. Scenic design, videos, taxidermy, crowd-sourcing technologies, and the display of natural specimens breathe life into these tales of co-habitation. The immersive nature of the exhibition, including hands-on activities, encourages visitors to examine their relationship with nature, think about momentarily disconnecting from their devices, and find equilibrium with the natural world around them.
Runs until: September 2019
Matilda The Musical
Where: Stanley Alliance Industrial Stage
What: Sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty to find your happy ending! Armed with an outsize wit and a vivid imagination, precocious Matilda takes a stand to change her destiny. Even cruel parents and a hardened headmistress can’t get in her way. From the wonderfully subversive imagination of Roald Dahl, this fun family musical will bring out the child in everyone.
Runs until: Sunday July 14, 2019
Mom’s the Word: Nest ½ Empty
Where: Granville Island Stage
What: From the world-renowned creative team behind the Mom’s the Word series comes another chapter in their stories of family and fracas. The kids are grown, marriages have “evolved,” and bodies are backfiring. Life doesn’t get any prettier, but it never strays far from ludicrous or poignant as the moms continue to mine their personal history for every embarrassing detail. From a sold-out run and a hit tour, the moms are back again to share this nestful of insights and ribald humour.
Runs until: Saturday July 20th, 2019
Butterflies at the Vancouver Aquarium
Where: The Vancouver Aquarium
What: Step out of British Columbia’s temperate rainforest and into the Amazon’s tropical rainforest when you enter the Graham Amazon Gallery. Discover a wide variety of butterflies, including blue morphos, giant owls and heliconians, as you stroll along the boardwalk. Keen eyes will spy them feeding on nectar, fruit and flowers, camouflaging on tree trunks, courting a mate and hitchhiking on lucky visitors.
Runs until: September 2019
Moving Still: Performative Photography from India
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery & Annex Theatre
What: A major exhibition of works by thirteen artists based in India whose photographic practices focus on constructing and reconstructing realities. The exhibition and will showcase more than one hundred works, dating from the 1800s to the present, and examines themes of gender, religion and sexual identity using photography, an important medium in India since the mid-nineteenth century.
Runs until: Sunday September 2, 2019
Making Waves: The Story and Legacy of Greenpeace Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum What: With humble beginnings in Vancouver, Greenpeace has grown into a large organization with offices in 40 countries. The NGO has protested numerous causes: whaling, deforestation, mining, genetic testing, and nuclear testing. Explore this exhibit that goes from their first voyage from Vancouver to Amchitka to protest Nuclear testing on an old fishing vessel to how cities, government, and industry today are developing new policies, technologies, and sustainable practices to ensure the preservation of our environment.
Runs until: Monday September 9, 2019
Bard on the Beach
Where: Bard on the Beach Festival Site, Vanier Park
What: Bard on the Beach, Western Canada’s largest not-for-profit, professional Shakespeare Festival, welcomes you to join them for their 30th season. Presented in a magnificent setting on the waterfront of Vanier Park, this year’s lineup includes: The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare In Love, All’s Well That Ends Well, and Coriolanus.
Runs until: Saturday September 21st
Rolande Souliere: Frequent Stopping IV and V
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: The multi-media practice of Australia-based Anishinaabe artist Rolande Souliere entangles the visual language of hard-edged geometric abstraction with that of contemporary traffic signage to consider how colonial infrastructures mark both spaces and the people inhabiting them. Her solo exhibition Frequent Stopping IV and V presents new large-scale, site-specific work at the Contemporary Art Gallery’s two public sites: its street level façade and the nearby Yaletown-Roundhouse Station. This exhibition draws from Souliere’s ongoing body of work that creates interventions using caution tape and street barrier patterns in immersive, muscular installations.
Runs until: Friday September 20, 2019
Shipyards Night Market
Where: The Shipyards, North Vancouver
What: Fresh food, locally made products, musicians, art and entertainment. The festivities in the Square kick off at 5pm on Friday nights where you will find 100+ vendors selling fresh food and locally made products. The Friday Night Market also includes a beer garden serving local craft beer and cider as well as Betty’s Vodka Iced Tea. You must me 19+ to enter the beer garden. On the Shipbuilders’ Stage there is live music until 10pm, showcasing talent from all over BC.
Runs until: Friday September 27, 2019
Alberto Giacometti: A Line Through Time
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: With more than 130 artworks on view, this exhibition will present the work of Alberto Giacometti, one of the twentieth century’s most renowned and influential artists. Including masterful works in sculpture, painting, drawing and design, it will examine the breadth of Giacometti’s practice while highlighting his place among his contemporaries in Paris and London
Runs until: Sunday September 29, 2019
Womxn and Waterways Where: Bill Reid Gallery What: Explore the unique connection between womxn and water in the matriarchal societies of the Northwest Coast, with special attention to the roles of child-bearers, healers, and doulas. Artists Richelle Bear Hat (Blackfoot/Cree), Krystle Coughlin (Selkirk), Lindsay Katsitsakataste Delaronde (Mohawk), Alison Marks (Tlingit), Dionne Paul (Nuxalk/Sechelt), Kali Spitzer (Kaska Dena), Marika Echachis Swan (Nuu-chah-nulth), Carrielynn Victor (Sto:lo), Veronica Rose Waechter (Gitxsan) and Water Keeper, Audrey Siegl (Musqueam) will explore water as a crucial element of creation, its historical uses for survival, and contemporary over-consumption as a threat to sensitive coastal ecosystems.
Runs until: Wednesday October 2, 2019
Shake Up: Preserving What We Value
Where: Museum of Anthropology
What: The exhibition will bring to light the convergence of earthquake science and technology with the rich Indigenous knowledge and oral history of the living cultures represented in MOA’s Northwest Coast collection. Beyond scientific discoveries, knowledge of earthquakes and natural disasters has been passed down through generations throughout many cultures, including those of the Northwest Coast First Nations. Also as part of the exhibition, visitors will have the opportunity to see the majestic poles of the Great Hall undergo conservation, many for the first time in 40 years.
Runs until: Fall 2019
Richmond Night Market
Where: Richmond, BC
What: Stop by for authentically Asian snacks, street food and retailers selling unique accessories and knick-knacks at street-side prices. Some merchants are willing to bargain, so channel your inner negotiator and you’ll leave with a haul. There’s a diverse array of nightly live entertainment ranging from music and dance performances to carnival games and rides.
Runs until: Friday October 4, 2019
Shadows, Strings and Other Things: The Enchanting Theatre of Puppets
Where: Museum of Anthropology
What: This enchanting exhibition illustrates the role puppets have played around the world in the transmission of cultural knowledge, stories, and values from generation to generation. Shadows, Strings and Other Things features a broad array of puppets, old and new, from 15 countries in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Visitors will have the opportunity to view more than 250 handcrafted puppets from MOA’s collection — the largest in Western Canada — plus, new acquisitions from China, Brazil, Italy, Java, the UK, and France revealed to the public for the first time. Enter into an immersive and theatrical world for visitors of all ages.
Runs until: Monday October 14, 2019
How Far Do You Travel
Where: Select B-Line TransLink busses
What: Five Canadian artists — Diyan Achjadi, Patrick Cruz, Rolande Souliere, Erdem Tasdelen and Anna Torma — are being commissioned to graphically wrap the exterior of a series of articulated buses traveling on major routes in Metro Vancouver.
Runs until: Tuesday December 31, 2019
Teatro Intimo Del Flamenco
Where: The Improv Centre, Granville Island
What: Karen Flamenco brings the glamour and extravagance of a large flamenco dance production onto a small theatrical stage. The one-hour production welcomes audiences of all ages with live traditional flamenco music, dance, storylines, puppetry and magic. With theatre style seating and bistro-style table seats, every audience member will get a close-up and personal experience that is very typical of a traditional Spanish Tablao.
Runs until: Saturday May 1, 2020
What are you up to this weekend? Tell me and the rest of Vancouver in the comments.
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