Things to Do in Vancouver this Weekend: October 5, 2017

Autumn is in full swing with festivals and feasts this weekend and there are many ways to toast your glass or stein to good harvests. For those of us who solidly believe that this is the most wonderful time of the year – Fright Nights begin this weekend, marking Halloween as just around the corner! There’s also music, circus performance, dance, and it’s not too late to catch some VIFF flicks!

Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Ongoing

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Friday October 6

The Goblin Market
Where: The Cultch
What: A contemporary circus re-telling of Christina Rossetti’s poem, following two sisters, their temptation, sacrifice and eventual salvation. Lively circus is precariously balanced with gritty performances and candid story telling.
Runs until: Saturday October 14, 2017

Harvest Haus
Where: 88 Pacific Blvd
What: Combining modern fare with authentic European harvest traditions, gather your closest mates for what may be the most gluttonous and gratifying Oktoberfest in the city.
Runs until: Saturday Oktober 14, 2017

Terra and Beyond with Chris Hadfield and Danny Michel (show 1 of 2)
Where: The Orpheum
What: Share Colonel Chris Hadfield’s viewpoint “Beyond the Terra,” with music and inspiring images from the International Space Station.

Thanks For Giving
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: While Nan bastes the turkey and prepares the stuffing, her husband hides a freshly hunted bear in the garage and her troublesome daughter is raiding her purse again. To top it all off, her grandchildren have chosen this Thanksgiving to disclose some unexpected personal truths to the family. 
Runs until: Saturday November 4, 2017

Fright Nights
Where: Playland
What: Misty, dark, dreary, and full of spooks and scares may not sound like everyone’s ideal night out, but to those of us who love Halloween, nothing could be better! Playland turns into an animated haunted carnival, including seven haunted houses and fifteen of its best rides; what better way to scream away all of your fears?
Runs until: Tuesday October 31, 2017

North Shore Craft Beer Week
Where: Various locations
What: The North Shore has a rich history of craft brewing and was home to Canada’s first ever microbrewery – Horseshoe Bay Brewery in 1982. Download the Vancouver’s North Shore Craft Beer Week Passport, get a stamp at each brewery as you travel around North Vancouver sampling special craft beer menus and unique casks. With your stamps, you could win prizes!
Runs until:  Friday October 13, 2017

Experimental Ink
Where: Museum of Anthropology
What: The award-winning Assembly Dance Theatre from Taiwan will perform the newest addition to their Dancing in Ink series, choreographed specifically for MOA’s Great Hall for their Canadian debut. They will be joined by Sammy Chien, a Taipei born, Vancouver based interdisciplinary media artist, and Kimura Tsubasa, a renown calligrapher from Japan, featured in the Traces of Words exhibition.

Improv Wars: The Laugh Jedi
Where: Vancouver Improv Centre
What: Vancouver TheatreSports takes you to a universe that exists outside of normal time and space – where unlikely characters co-exist. Hosted by a mysterious hooded figure, the players and the audience search for an individual of unique abilities – one with the power to cloud people’s minds, to slip into any role, to make intuitive connections at lightning speed – The Laugh Jedi. 
Runs until: Thursday November 2, 2017

54-40 (show 1 of 2)
Where: Commodore Ballroom
What: You know them from Ocean Pearl and I Go Blind, this Canadian band is on for two shows on back-to-back nights.

1 Hour Photo
Where: The Cultch
What: From the creators of Empire of the Son, 1 Hour Photo is the story of Mas Yamamoto, a man whose life was swept up by the major currents of the 20th century; from growing up in a fishing village on the banks of the Fraser River, to being interned as a Japanese Canadian during World War II, to guarding the Canadian arctic against Soviet bombers during the height of the Cold War.
Runs until: Sunday October 15, 2017

Potter’s House of Horrors
Where: Potter’s Farm & Nursery
What: Gather your moteliest crew and drop into one of the area’s biggest and best-rated haunted houses, celebrating 15 years of screams! Attractions include two haunted houses (plus a “Li’l Haunters” attraction geared to kids 12 & under), a coffin ride, a haunted paintball shootout, and a photo booth. Partial proceeds go to Critter Care Wildlife Society.
Runs until: Tuesday October 31, 2017

Vagabond Players presents Little Shop of Horrors
Where: The Bernie Legge Theatre (New Westminster, BC)
What: Meek and mild flower shop assistant Seymour Krelborn has stumbled across a peculiar new plant species, which he names after his stunning but vulnerable crush Audrey. The plant, Audrey Two, has plans that are far greater than Seymour can imagine as it grows into a bad-tempered, foul-mouthed carnivore who offers fame, fortune, the girl he loves, and an escape from skid row in exchange for feeding its growing appetite for blood.
Runs until: Sunday October 29, 2017

Hyperlink
Where: Firehall Arts Centre
What: A collaboration between The Elbow’s artistic director Itai Erdal, writer/performer TJ Dawe, and director Rachel Peake, Hyperlink delves into life online and the limits of digital empathy. 
Runs until: Saturday October 14, 2017

Oktoberfest at the Vancouver Alpen Club
Where: 4875 Victoria Drive
What: The Deutsches Haus boasts German favorites from Spätzle to Schnitzel and the best selection of German beers and wines in Vancouver.
Runs until: Saturday October 21, 2017 (weekends)

Jim Park: Unknown Terrain
Where: Kimoto Gallery
What: The Northern landscape forms an important part of Jim Park’s practice. Park sees paint as a language; the memory of lived experience merges with the pictorial possibilities on the canvas.
Runs until: Saturday October 28, 2017

Sarah Slean
Where: The BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts
What: Slean’s sound has been compared to Kate Bush, Fiona Apple and Tori Amos, while her deeply personal songs draw from jazz, classical, pop and global influences. 

Lab Art Show
Where: Chinese Cultural Centre
What: Up to 150 artists including local galleries and artists from over 20 countries including Canadian artists Chili Thom and Natacha Trottier.

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Saturday October 7

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Harvest Dinner
Where: Sea to Sky Gondola
What: A cozy harvest dinner atop a mountain! Share the entire menu with your group, family style.

BC Lions vs. Ottawa Redblacks
Where: BC Place Stadium, 4:00pm
What: It’s football. If you like football, go see it and cheer for these fellas.

Rare book, Photograph and Paper Show
Where: Heritage Hall
What: A curated event featuring twenty-three exhibitors with specialized collections of books, fine maps, photographs and interesting paper items.

LA Witch
Where: The Fox Cabaret
What: Rock from Los Angeles, on tour to support their debut self-titled full-length release.

Necromantix
Where: Venue
What: It’s a psychobilly show, playing with Deadcats.

Wild Salmon Caravan Parade
Where: Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Society
What: Bring your drums, regalia, town clothes, costumes, banners, flags, streamers and any other parade wares you need. Celebrate the spirit of wild salmon.

Terra and Beyond with Chris Hadfield and Danny Michel (show 2 of 2)
Where: The Orpheum
What: Share Colonel Chris Hadfield’s viewpoint “Beyond the Terra,” with music and inspiring images from the International Space Station.

Fort Langley Cranberry Festival
Where: Fort Langley
What: Experience the popular cranberry stomp, and play a host of cranberry and farm related games.

BP20YR
Where: Pacific Colloseum
What: Blueprint celebrates 20 years with Diplo, Zeds Dead, Showtek and more.

Hershe National Coming Out Day Party
Where: Prive Nightclub
What: Celebrate National Coming Out Day at this all-inclusive dance party.

East Side Flea
Where: The Ellis Building
What: 50+ local vendors, makers, vintage sellers, oddity finders. Play pinball and pool. All this, with a bar!
Runs until: Sunday October 8, 2017

54-40 (show 2 of 2)
Where: Commodore Ballroom
What: You know them from Ocean Pearl and I Go Blind, this is the second of their two Vancouver dates.

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Sunday October 8

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Imagine Dragons
Where: Rogers Arena
What: American millennial rock from Las Vegas with hits like Believer, with guests Group Love and K. Flay.

Bass Coast Festival Showcase
Where: The Commodore Ballroom
What: Basscoast DJs The Librarian B2B Mat the Alien, Michael Red, Barisone and SHAH.

Fred Penner
Where: The Orpheum
What: He’s a Canadian icon of entertainment and inspiration for children and families. Who’s more stoked – adult millennials and gen-Xers or their children? Come find out.

Sumac and Boris
Where: The Rickshaw
What: Japanese experimental music playing with sludgy growly metal.

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Ongoing

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The Christians
Where: Pacific Theatre
What: After taking his church from a meager storefront to gleaming megachurch, Pastor Paul overturns one of the most sacred tenents of his congregation’s beliefs, sending them reeling towards schism. As they grapple with the mysteries of faith, certainty, and what happens after we die, they must also face the reality of loving those whose beliefs have made them into sudden strangers.
Runs until: Saturday October 7, 2017

Mount Pleasant Farmers Market
Where: Dude Chilling Park
What: Amble over and pick up some afternoon picnic supplies, groceries for the week, and Sunday dinner fixings from 25+ farms and producers. Each week you’ll find a fresh selection of just-picked seasonal fruits & veggies, ethically-raised meats & sustainable seafood, artisanal bread & prepared foods, craft beer, wine, & spirits, handmade craft, and coffee & food trucks.
Runs until: Sunday October 8, 2017

Angels in America
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: Witness the soaring conclusion to the acclaimed play that asks us what we do for those we love. Perestroika is a revolution against the politics and prejudice in the 1980s as the AIDS epidemic rages on, and the characters wrestle with their ideologies and an angel looking for an answer. In the centre of it all is Prior Walter, a man in a world of peril who chooses to live in his light.
Runs until: Sunday October 8, 2017

East Side Flea
Where: The Ellis Building
What: 50+ local vendors, makers, vintage sellers, oddity finders. Play pinball and pool. All this, with a bar!
Runs until: Sunday October 8, 2017

Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: Words and their physical manifestations are explored in this insightful exhibition, which will honour the special significance that written forms. Varied forms of expression associated with writing throughout Asia is shown over the span of different time periods: from Sumerian cuneiform inscriptions, Qu’ranic manuscripts, Southeast Asian palm leaf manuscripts and Chinese calligraphy from MOA’s Asian collection to graffiti art from Afghanistan and contemporary artworks using Japanese calligraphy, and Tibetan and Thai scripts.
Runs until: Monday October 9, 2017

Richmond Night Market
Where: Richmond, BC
What: There’s a dinosaur park! Anamatronic dinosaurs! Also – live performances, carnival games, over 200 retail stalls and over 500 food choices from around the world.
Runs until: October 9, 2017

Vancouver International Film Festival
Where: Various locations
What: In addition to over 300 of the best films from around the world, VIFF expands the frame to incorporate and celebrate some of the exciting new aspects of visual story telling. This includes events such as the world’s largest showcase of elevated YouTube content by digital-first creators and the Kronos Quartet performing a live score to renowned filmmaker Guy Maddin’s latest film The Green Fog – A San Francisco Fantasia.  
Runs until: Friday October 13, 2017

North Shore Craft Beer Week
Where: Various locations
What: The North Shore has a rich history of craft brewing and was home to Canada’s first ever microbrewery – Horseshoe Bay Brewery in 1982. Download the Vancouver’s North Shore Craft Beer Week Passport, get a stamp at each brewery as you travel around North Vancouver sampling special craft beer menus and unique casks. With your stamps, you could win prizes!
Runs until:  Friday October 13, 2017

The Goblin Market
Where: The Cultch
What: A contemporary circus re-telling of Christina Rossetti’s poem, following two sisters, their temptation, sacrifice and eventual salvation. Lively circus is precariously balanced with gritty performances and candid story telling.
Runs until: Saturday October 14, 2017

Aileen Bahmanipour: Technical Problem
Where: Grunt Gallery
What: An exhibition of mixed media drawings by Vancouver-based, Iranian-born artist Aileen Bahmanipour that explores cyclical political power and cultural identity.
Runs until: Saturday October 14, 2017

Amphibia
Where: Centre A
What: Amphibia, Tromarama’s first solo exhibition in Canada, will transform Centre A into a hybrid physical and digital space using five newly commissioned works, ranging from site-specific pieces to pulse-sensing technologies that interact with our own physical, individual bodies.
Runs until: Saturday October 14, 2017

Harvest Haus
Where: 88 Pacific Blvd
What: Combining modern fare with authentic European harvest traditions, gather your closest mates for what may be the most gluttonous and gratifying Oktoberfest in the city.
Runs until: Saturday Oktober 14, 2017

1 Hour Photo
Where: The Cultch
What: From the creators of Empire of the Son, 1 Hour Photo is the story of Mas Yamamoto, a man whose life was swept up by the major currents of the 20th century; from growing up in a fishing village on the banks of the Fraser River, to being interned as a Japanese Canadian during World War II, to guarding the Canadian arctic against Soviet bombers during the height of the Cold War.
Runs until: Sunday October 15, 2017

Hyperlink
Where: Firehall Arts Centre
What: A collaboration between The Elbow’s artistic director Itai Erdal, writer/performer TJ Dawe, and director Rachel Peake, Hyperlink delves into life online and the limits of digital empathy. 
Runs until: Saturday October 14, 2017

Onsite / Offsite Tsang Kin-Wah
Where:  Vancouver Art Gallery
What:  This large-scale composition transforms English texts to form intricate floral and animal patterns. The work draws from discriminatory language that appeared in newspapers and political campaigns in Vancouver during the 1887 anti-Chinese riots, the mid-1980s immigration influx from Hong Kong and most recently, the heated exchanges around the foreign buyers and the local housing market.
Runs until: Sunday October 15, 2017

Oktoberfest at the Vancouver Alpen Club
Where: 4875 Victoria Drive
What: The Deutsches Haus boasts German favorites from Spätzle to Schnitzel and the best selection of German beers and wines in Vancouver.
Runs until: Saturday October 21, 2017 (weekends)

West End Farmers Market
Where: 1100 Comox St
What: Located in the heart of Vancouver’s busy West End, this laid-back Saturday market looks onto beautiful Nelson Park and adjacent community gardens. Each week, shop for the best in local, seasonal produce, artisanal bread & prepared foods, craft beer, wine, & spirits, ethically raised meat, eggs, & dairy, sustainable seafood, wild crafted product, and handmade craft. Hot food & coffee on-site as well.
Runs until: Saturday October 21, 2017 (Saturdays)

Trout Lake Farmers Market
Where: Trout Lake
What: This is where you’ll find the vendors who have been doing it since the beginning; what started as 14 farmers ‘squatting’ at the Croatian Cultural Centre back in 1995 has grown into Vancouver’s most well-known and beloved market. Visitors come from near and far to sample artisan breads & preserves, stock up on free-range and organic eggs & meats, get the freshest, hard-to-find heirloom vegetables and taste the first Okanagan cherries and peaches of the season.
Runs until: Saturday October 21, 2017 (Saturdays)

Kitsilano Farmers Market
Where: Kitsilano Community Centre parking lot
What:   A great selection of just-picked, seasonal fruits & vegetables, ethically raised and grass fed meat, eggs, & dairy, sustainable seafood, fresh baked bread & artisanal food, local beer, wine, & spirits, and beautiful, handmade craft. Kids and parents alike can enjoy entertainment by market musicians, a nearby playground and splash park, and coffee and food truck offerings each week.
Runs until: Sunday October 22, 2017 (Sundays)

Contemporary Iranian Cinema Series
Where: The Cinematheque
What: Acclaimed and accomplished new films from Iran are in the spotlight in this new monthly showcase.
Runs until:Thursday October 25, 2017

Jim Park: Unknown Terrain
Where: Kimoto Gallery
What: The Northern landscape forms an important part of Jim Park’s practice. Park sees paint as a language; the memory of lived experience merges with the pictorial possibilities on the canvas.
Runs until: Saturday October 28, 2017

Vagabond Players presents Little Shop of Horrors
Where: The Bernie Legge Theatre (New Westminster, BC)
What: Meek and mild flower shop assistant Seymour Krelborn has stumbled across a peculiar new plant species, which he names after his stunning but vulnerable crush Audrey. The plant, Audrey Two, has plans that are far greater than Seymour can imagine as it grows into a bad-tempered, foul-mouthed carnivore who offers fame, fortune, the girl he loves, and an escape from skid row in exchange for feeding its growing appetite for blood.
Runs until: Sunday October 29, 2017

Fright Nights
Where: Playland
What: Misty, dark, dreary, and full of spooks and scares may not sound like everyone’s ideal night out, but to those of us who love Halloween, nothing could be better! Playland turns into an animated haunted carnival, including seven haunted houses and fifteen of its best rides; what better way to scream away all of your fears?
Runs until: Tuesday October 31, 2017

Potter’s House of Horrors
Where: Potter’s Farm & Nursery
What: Gather your moteliest crew and drop into one of the area’s biggest and best-rated haunted houses, celebrating 15 years of screams! Attractions include two haunted houses (plus a “Li’l Haunters” attraction geared to kids 12 & under), a coffin ride, a haunted paintball shootout, and a photo booth. Partial proceeds go to Critter Care Wildlife Society.
Runs until: Tuesday October 31, 2017

Improv Wars: The Laugh Jedi
Where: Vancouver Improv Centre
What: Vancouver TheatreSports takes you to a universe that exists outside of normal time and space – where unlikely characters co-exist. Hosted by a mysterious hooded figure, the players and the audience search for an individual of unique abilities – one with the power to cloud people’s minds, to slip into any role, to make intuitive connections at lightning speed – The Laugh Jedi. 
Runs until: Thursday November 2, 2017

Circle Craft Christmas Market Preview Exhibit
Where: Net Loft building on Granville Island
What: Circle Craft Gallery’s Fall exhibit will give Circle Craft Christmas Market lovers a sneak peek. Exhibitors in the Preview exhibition are: East Van Jam, G Ceramic & Co, Ludviks Designs, Lulu Fiedler, Market Canvas Leather, Misheo, Rosewell Woodworking, Susie Benes, and Yifat Jovani.
Runs until: Thursday November 2, 2017

Thanks For Giving
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: While Nan bastes the turkey and prepares the stuffing, her husband hides a freshly hunted bear in the garage and her troublesome daughter is raiding her purse again. To top it all off, her grandchildren have chosen this Thanksgiving to disclose some unexpected personal truths to the family. 
Runs until: Saturday November 4, 2017

Intangible
Where: Bill Reid Gallery
What: Contemporary Coast Salish art is embedded within a traditional cultural framework that includes community, ceremonial life, territory, history and innovation. Six artists challenge our expectations and illustrate Coast Salish art as a thriving art tradition – a dynamic one that demonstrates both continuity with the past and exploration of new ideas and technologies.
Runs until: Sunday December 10, 2017

Bill Reid Creative Journeys
Where: The Bill Reid Gallery
What: Celebrating the many creative journeys of acclaimed master goldsmith and sculptor Bill Reid (1920–1998), this exhibition provides a comprehensive introduction to his life and work.
Runs until: Sunday December 10, 2017

Entangled: Two Views on Contemporary Canadian Painting
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: An insight into two distinctly different modes of painting that have come to dominate contemporary painting in this country. The origins of both can be effectively traced back to the 1970s, to a moment when the continued existence of painting was hotly debated.
Runs until: January 1, 2018

Amazonia: The Rights of Nature
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: MOA will showcase its Amazonian collections in a significant exploration of socially and environmentally-conscious notions intrinsic to indigenous South American cultures, which have recently become innovations in International Law. These are foundational to the notions of Rights of Nature, and they have been consolidating in the nine countries that share responsibilities over the Amazonian basin.
Runs until: January 28, 2018

Tin and Gold: A 10 Year Anniversary Show
Where: The Fall
What: Celebrate 10 years of alternative music, tattoo artistry, and multimedia events. The art show includes artists Megan Majewski, Jenn Brisson, Alison Woodward and more.
Runs until: February 1, 2018

City on the Edge: A Century of Vancouver Activism
Where: Museum of Vancouver
What: A photo-based exhibition exploring how protest demonstrations have shaped Vancouver’s identity from the Vancouver Sun and The Province newspapers’ photo collection. These photographs are exceptional historical records of intense and transformative moments in the lives of Vancouverites.
Runs until: February 18, 2017

Tasting History: The Traveling Tales of Tea
Where: Roedde House Museum
What: Tea is one of the most consumed liquids in the world, second only to water. But the beverage that brings much pleasure and calm to our 21st century senses is steeped in a turbulent history of politics and society. The exhibit will also feature stories from Vancouver’s modern-day tea community.
Runs until: March 2018

Emily Carr: Into the Forest
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Far from feeling that the forests of the West Coast were a difficult subject matter, Carr exulted in the symphonies of greens and browns found in the natural world. With oil on paper as her primary medium, Carr was free to work outdoors in close proximity to the landscape. She went into the forest to paint and saw nature in ways unlike her fellow British Columbians, who perceived it as either untamed wilderness or a plentiful source of lumber.
Runs until: March 4, 2018

The Lost Fleet Exhibit
Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum
What: On December 7, 1941 the world was shocked when Japan bombed Pearl Harbour, launching the United States into the war. This action also resulted in the confiscation of nearly 1,200 Japanese-Canadian owned fishing boats by Canadian officials on the British Columbia coast, which were eventually sold off to canneries and other non-Japanese fishermen. The Lost Fleet looks at the world of the Japanese-Canadian fishermen in BC and how deep-seated racism played a major role in the seizure, and sale, of Japanese-Canadian property and the internment of an entire people.
Runs until: March 25, 2018

Chief Dan George: Actor and Activist
Where: North Vancouver Museum
What: An exhibition exploring the life and legacy of Tsleil-Waututh Chief Dan George (1899- 1981) and his influence as an Indigenous rights advocate and his career as an actor. The exhibition was developed in close collaboration with the George family.
Runs until: April 2018

In a Different Light
Where: Museum of Anthropology
What: More than 110 historical Indigenous artworks and marks the return of many important works to British Columbia. These objects are amazing artistic achievements. Yet they also transcend the idea of ‘art’ or ‘artifact’. Through the voices of contemporary First Nations artists and community members, this exhibition reflects on the roles historical artworks have today. Featuring immersive storytelling and innovative design, it explores what we can learn from these works and how they relate to Indigenous peoples’ relationships to their lands.
Runs until: Spring 2019

What are you up to this weekend? Tell me and the rest of Vancouver in the comments below or tweet me directly at @lextacular

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