Things To Do In Vancouver This Weekend

Happy September! Hang on to summer this long weekend by exploring a Taiwan festival, chowing down at a barbecue competition, participating in a murder-mystery, seeing a tiki art show, being a part of the Americas Masters games wrap-up, petting an alpaca at final weekend of The Fair at the PNE, and/or seeing lots of live music.

Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Ongoing

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Friday September 2

Facade Festival
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: An immersive and dynamic projection mapping experience, is set to transform the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Robson Street façade with the work of five Vancouver-based contemporary artists Eric Metcalfe, Barry Doupé, Rebecca Chaperon, Renée Van Halm and Chris Shier.
Runs until: Monday September 5, 2016

 Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo
Where: The Fair at the PNE
What: A perfect sing-along show, belt it out to “Love is a Battlefield,” “Hit me with your Best Shot,” “Heartbreaker,” “Promises in the Dark” and “We Belong.”

The Nature of Art
Where: Van Dusen Botanical Gardens
What: BC based artists Fran Alexander, AFCA, and Susie Cipolla, SFCA, invite you to an exhibit of their art.
Runs until: Thursday September 28, 2016

Vancouver International Tap Dance Festival: And Still You Must Swing
Where: Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre
What: Honouring Tap’s roots in Jazz, this highly acclaimed show captures the beating heart, as will as the rich legacy of tap. Tickets available at Tickets Tonight.

Rory Scovel
Where: The Biltmore, 8:00pm
What: Rory’s stand up has been featured on Comedy Central, Conan, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Disciples of Maui
Where: The Beamont
What: Postmodern tiki sculptures with raw materials sourced and re-purposed from vintage furniture.
Runs until: Saturday September 17, 2016

The Tragic Tribute
Where: The Rickshaw
What: Local bands play songs of The Tragically Hip. Proceeds to Gord Downie Fund For Brain Cancer Research.

Fall for Arts
Where: Whistler, BC
What: Festivals, art shows, markets, movie nights, and arts events all over the city.
Runs until: December 2016

Legend
Where: The Rio Theatre, 9:15pm
What: Good, evil, love, hate, innocence, love and darkness. If this 1985 classic didn’t fill you with sparkly wonder when it came out, either: 1. Your parents made a grievous error in not showing it to you  2. You are dead inside, or 3. You considered yourself too old to care about unicorns when it came out (see point no. 2). You can’t convince me otherwise.

Aritzia Warehouse Sale
Where: Vancouver Convention Centre East Building, 7:00am
What: Ready to get up early and stand in a line for several hours to buy some clothes? Now’s your chance, you can get some things for up to 90% off what they was originally intended to sell for.
Runs until: Monday September 5, 2016

Peach Pit and Dino Lite
Where: The Fox, 7:30pm
What: Peach Pit was formed during the greaseball summer migration of 2014. A few thousand of Vancouver’s sleaziest motored their parent’s cars up the sea to sky highway to attend Pemberton Music Festival, including future band mates Christopher Vanderkooy and Neil Smith.

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Saturday September 3

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Vancouver Whitecaps vs. New York Red Bulls
Where: BC Place Stadium
What: It’s soccer – or football depending on where you’re from. Guys kick around a ball and you can watch and cheer while eating hotdogs and drinking beer.

TaiwanFest
Where: Various Vancouver locations
What: Celebrate Taiwanese culture during this weekend festival that takes place in both Vancouver and Toronto.
Runs until: Monday September 5, 2016

Tim Hicks
Where: The Fair at the PNE
What: Hicks has captured the hearts and minds of Canadian country fans in a huge way. Throw Down garnered him critical acclaim, debuted at #1 its week of release and spawned four Top 10 hits, including three Gold Certified singles; ‘Get By,’ ‘Hell Raisin’ Good Time’ and the YouTube sensation ‘Stronger Beer.’

The White Panda
Where: The Imperial
What: Hailed as “the mash-up kings” by Vibe magazine, The White Panda began when two boyhood friends discovered they had independently embarked on electronic dance music careers in college.

Vancouver International Tap Dance Festival: Tap Masters
Where: Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre
What: A roster of innovative soloists who are highly regarded for their live feel and groove. Tickets available at Tickets Tonight.

Stephen King Triple Feature
Where: The Rio
What: Start with the definitive 80s coming-of age movie, Stand by Me. Darken it up with some Dead Zone. Then dive into full blown horror with Pet Cemetery.

Bob Moses
Where: The Commodore
What: Local electronic music.

Barnes Courtney
Where: The Media Club
What: A moody British singer/songwriter int he vein of Ed Sheeran and Mumford & Sons.

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Sunday September 4

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Who Killed Kraft Bier?
Where: Gastown
What: The year is 1935. Brewery man Kraft Bier has been found dead in a Mount Pleasant back alley. Strangled by the vines of his very own hops plant. The suspects are at large, on street corners, in bars, breweries, pool halls, or lurking inside their secret crime dens. It’s up to you and your squad of fellow detectives to find them and unravel their web of intrigue, deceit and murder – sampling delicious locally brewed craft beer along the way.

Explosions in the Sky
Where: The Commodore
What: Show 1 of 2! Soothing, twinkling, atmospheric post-rock from Texas. If you miss them tonight, see them tomorrow.

Little Birds Traveling in a Big World are Way Cool Because…
Where: Beatty Biodiversity Museum, 1:00pm
What: PhD candidate Simon Valdez will tell you about the challenges small birds face in a big world. The bird in the picture, taken by Simon, is 3 years old and in his lifetime, he has traveled over 30,000 km.

The Monkees
Where: The Fair at the PNE
What: Hey hey it’s the Monkees! Before “beleibers” there were daydream believers. No need to take the last train to Clarksville, you can take the Sytrain and or a bus to the PNE. (OK, that was really bad, but hey, sometimes in the morning I make myself laugh with good clean fun. *cue excessive groaning, if you got any of that*)

Victory Square Block Party
Where: Victory Square
What: By Music Waste, there’ll be music, food, local music, and a raffle.

Kits Chicken Fight
Where: Bimini Public House
What: The rules are as simple as the competition is intense: the night before the contest, each team is given 20lbs of wings and a bottle of Jim Beam Bourbon to use in their recipe. They’re then sent away to work on their creations which are live grilled during the competition, then unveiled and served up for eating and judging starting at 5pm. Along with a panel of expert judges, the public is invited to sample and vote for their favourites.

Anderson .Paak and the Free Nationals
Where: The Vogue
What: An American recording artist and music producer from Oxnard, California.

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Ongoing

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Summer Watershed Tours (ends this weekend)
Where: Metro Vancouver
What: Discover the treasures of the watersheds, where ancient trees tower in steep mountain valleys, wildlife abounds and water flows through natural landscapes to our drinking waters supply system.
Runs until: Friday September 2, 2016

Americas Masters Games (ends this weekend)
Where: Venues across Vancouver
What: Miss the Olympics already? Want to keep cheering on athletes? The Masters Games are about promoting an active and healthy lifestyle by encouraging any and all participants aged 30 to 100+ to continue to strive towards sporting success, and have fun in the process.
Runs until: Sunday September 4, 2016

The Book of Mormon (ends this weekend)
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
What: From the creators of South Park, this musical comedy follows the misadventures of a mismatched pair of missionaries, sent halfway across the world to spread the Good Word.
Runs until: Sunday September 4, 2016

From Meadows Woodlands Far and Near (ends this weekend)
Where: Beaty Biodiversity Museum
What: Delicate watercolours and striking woodcuts inspired by plants from the landscapes of Germany and Canada. Art by Brigitte Potter-Mael.
Runs until: Sunday September 4, 2016

An Agreeable State of Uncertainty (ends this week)
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Comprised of photographs, drawings, prints and paintings by artists such as Weegee, Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Leon Golub, Lewis Hine, Cindy Sherman, Nancy Spero, Jack Shadbolt and Fred Herzog, these works were selected from the Vancouver Art Gallery’s collection by artist Stephen Waddell.
Runs until: Monday September 5, 2016

Harry Callahan: The Street (ends this week)
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Harry Callahan (1912–1999) was one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. In 2013, the Vancouver Art Gallery received the extraordinary gift of almost 600 Callahan photographs from the Larry and Cookie Rossy Family Foundation.
Runs until: Monday September 5, 2016

Stephen Waddell: Dark Matter Atlas (ends this week)
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Over the past two decades the Vancouver-based artist Stephen Waddell has become widely known for his photographs and paintings that address urban space, particularly his depictions of the human figure in the modern city. This exhibition will feature a recent body of photographs in which Waddell has departed dramatically from the subject matter of his previous work by focusing on underground caverns in the United States, Canada and Lebanon—spaces once inaccessible that are now open to tourists.
Runs until: Sunday September 5, 2016

The Fair at the PNE (ends this week)
Where: 2910 E Hastings St
What: Superdogs, vendors, farm animals, win a house, win a car, carnival rides, games, weird foods, nightly concerts, and all the carnival experience you take in!
Runs until: Monday September 5, 2016

TaiwanFest (this weekend only)
Where: Various Vancouver locations
What: Celebrate Taiwanese culture during this weekend festival that takes place in both Vancouver and Toronto.
Runs until: Monday September 5, 2016

Summer at the Fort Langley Historic Site (ends this week)
Where: Fort Langley Historic Site
What: Leave it all behind as you explore an 1827 Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading post. Watch live demonstrations throughout the day and satisfy your curiosity with our audio tour. Stop for coffee or lunch at the fort café. Pan for gold, visit the bunnies and goats, and then rest on a bench while the children build the walls of the playhouse.
Runs until: Monday September 5, 2016

Mirage (ends this week)
Where: Metropolis at Metrotown
What: A visual, audio and digital experience that has been custom designed for Metropolis at Metrotown using state of the art projection technology and a mirrored ceiling and floor. This digital art installation that offers a 2-minute walkthrough experience for customers.
Runs until: Monday September 5, 2016

Miss Sharon Jones (ends this week)
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: “They said I was too fat, too black, too short and too old,” said Sharon Jones. “Well look at me now!” The “100 Days, 100 Nights” R&B and soul star has been compared to James Brown, Mavis Staples, and a human dynamo. She’s been strutting her stuff for more than 20 years (and before that, working blue collar jobs – she was a corrections officer on Rikers Island), but she only started getting her due in the last five or six years. And then, when she finally seemed to have cracked the big time at the age of 57, Jones was diagnosed with stage II pancreatic cancer. Directed by legendary documentarian Barbara Kopple, this is part music film, part cancer survival story, and 100% soul.
Runs until: Wednesday September 7, 2016

Panda Night Market
Where: 12631 Vulcan Way (Richmond)
What: Market-goers can expect to taste dishes from around the globe with the multitude of food and beverage booths on display, as well as shop for unique knick knacks, exclusive local merchandise, and enjoy diverse entertainment every night.
Runs until: Sunday September 11, 2016

Sunset Music Series
Where: Sea to Sky Gondola, 6:00pm
What: A Summit Lodge Restaurant barbeque and musical performances that offer a variety of musical guests ranging from ranging from Classic Rock, European Folk, Indie Soul, Modern-Acoustic, R&B and World Fusion every Friday.
Runs until: Friday September 16, 2016

Disciples of Maui
Where: The Beamont
What: Postmodern tiki sculptures with raw materials sourced and re-purposed from vintage furniture.
Runs until: Saturday September 17, 2016

Playland at the PNE
Where: Hastings Park
What: The smell of Mini Donuts and the screams of the rickety wooden coaster are in the air! In addition to carnival games, a ton of rides for all ages, the newest ride – added last year is Canada’s most extreme pendulum ride. The Beast, which boats a one-armed pendulum, swinging 120 degrees in either direction, reaches heights of over 125 feet and speeds of more than 90 km/h.
Runs until: September 18th, 2016

Bard on the Beach: Pericles
Where: Vanier Park
What: Directed by Lois Anderson, this fast-paced, thrilling tale set in an ancient mythical world follows a prince’s arduous quest to find love and the meaning of life.
Runs until: Sunday September 18, 2016

Bard on the Beach: Romeo and Juliet
Where: Vanier Park
What: A romantic, tragic Shakespeare in a tent on the beach. Two young people who fall deeply in love in spite of the bitter feud that divides their families. The story of Romeo and Juliet has been captivating audiences for centuries because it moves and inspires us even though it breaks our hearts. This classical, sensuous production is a salute to its timeless power.
Runs until: Friday September 23, 2016

The Nature of Art
Where: Van Dusen Botanical Gardens
What: BC based artists Fran Alexander, AFCA, and Susie Cipolla, SFCA, invite you to an exhibit of their art.
Runs until: Thursday September 28, 2016

Shipyards Night Market
Where: Shipbuilders’ Square
What: Over 100 vendors selling fresh foods, locally-made products, crafts, and other wares. There is also a beer garden, food trucks, and boozy lemonade.
Runs until: September 30, 2016 (Fridays)

Indigenous Plant Use
Where: Stanley Park, 10:00am
What: Walk through the forest with YUXWELUPTUN’ AAT (Lauraleigh) of Coast Salish, Interior Salish, and Carrier First Nations descent and learn about the traditional and present-day Coast Salish relationships with local flora and fauna. While there will be no collecting on these tours, Stanley Park offers a perfect setting to learn about sustainable harvesting.
Runs until: Friday September 30, 2016

Surreal
Where: Gastown
What: An interactive, roaming theatre experience that takes place in the backstreets and alleys of Gastown. Audience members follow the story and characters wherever it goes, engaging with them to help progress the story. Unlike conventional stage theatre, Surreal brings the audience face-to-face with the story and characters, creating a wholly engaging experience.
Runs until: Friday September 30, 2016 (Fridays)

Picasso: The Artist and His Muses
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Known for his enormous contribution to the canon of great art in the 20th century, Pablo Ruiz y Picasso (1881—1973) is one of the masters of Modernism. Picasso: The Artist and His Muses will examine the significance of the six women who were most important to Picasso’s artistic development: Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot and Jacqueline Roque.
Runs until: Sunday October 2, 2016

The Seriousness of Play
Where: The Bill Reid Gallery
What: Haida Manga is a contemporary art form that offers a playful way of viewing and engaging with social issues as it seeks participation, dialogue, reflection and action. Influenced by both the tradition of Haida iconography and contemporary Asian visual culture, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas has created an artistic practice celebrated for its vitality and originality by an international audience engaged in issues of ethnicity, identity and relationships.
Runs until: Sunday October 2, 2016

Isabel Nolan: The Weakened Eye of Day
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Taking its title from the English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy’s The Darkling Thrush (1899), the exhibition examines how the light of the sun, physically and symbolically, manifests or resonates in our thoughts, preoccupations and pursuits. In Hardy’s poem, the sun, described as “the weakening eye of day” is a dismal star drained of its force by a gloomy pre-centennial winter afternoon.
Runs until: Sunday October 2, 2016

Bharti Kher Matter
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: The first major retrospective of New Delhi-based artist Bharti Kher’s work in North America, this exhibition explores issues around identity, aiming to bring together works that speak especially to the perceptions and realities of being female today, implicating personal, cultural and political readings put forward in various aspects of the far-reaching practice of Bharti Kher.
Runs until: Monday October 10, 2016

Richmond Night Market
Where: 8351 River Road (Richmond, BC)
What: Touted as the largest night market in North America since 2000, find all kinds of foods, trinkets, entertainment and more all weekend.
Runs until: Monday October 10, 2016

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Unceded Territories
Where: Museum of Anthropology
What: Vancouver artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, of Coast Salish and Okanagan descent, is showcased in this provocative exhibition of works that confront the colonialist suppression of First Nations peoples and the ongoing struggle for Indigenous rights to lands, resources, and sovereignty.
Runs until: Sunday October 16, 2016

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 and preserves, stock up on free-range and organic eggs and meats, get the freshest, hard-to-find heirloom vegetables and taste the first Okanagan cherries and peaches of the season.
Runs until: Saturday October 22, 2016 (Saturdays)

West End Farmers Market
Where: Comox Street, 9:00am
What: Local produce, prepared foods and crafts, hot food and coffee. Take the dog for a walk and enjoy a market in your urban backyard.
Runs until: Saturday October 22, 2016 (Saturdays)

Kits Market
Where: Kitsilano Community Centre
What: Each week the parking lot of Kits Community Centre fills with organic and conventional product, meat, cheese, seafood and plants as well as tasty baked goods, beautiful crafts and musical entertainment by local musicians. Kids can enjoy the playground and waterpark nearby and parents will find the best selection of organic produce around. Hot coffee and hot food available on site each week.
Runs until: Sunday October 23, 2016 (Sundays)

Prohibition City Walking Tour
Where: Chinatown
What: Delve into Vancouver’s dirtiest secrets on this scandal fuelled walking tour. Starting in the world of the saloon, you trace the story of prohibition in Vancouver while winding along the city’s most storied streets. You’ll hear tales of blind pigs, corrupt mayors, and enterprising bootleggers. Plus you’ll see first hand evidence of opium dens and walk down an alleyway once teeming with over 40 “bawdy houses.”
Runs until: Saturday October 29, 2016

Across The Top: The Quest for the Northwest Passage
Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum
What: This exhibit will transport you to the Arctic where you will learn about its environment and people; the many voyages of discovery; the search for John Franklin’s lost expedition (both historical and modern), and the ultimate discovery of HMS Erebus by Parks Canada.
Runs until: November 2016

Fall for Arts
Where: Whistler, BC
What: Festivals, art shows, markets, movie nights, and arts events all over the city.
Runs until: December 2016

All Together Now: Vancouver Collectors and Their Worlds
Where: The Museum of Vancouver
What: 20 beautiful, rare, and unconventional collections, with something for everyone including corsets, prosthetics, pinball machines, taxidermy, toys, and much more. In this exhibition both collector and collected are objects of study, interaction, and delight.
Runs until: Sunday January 8, 2016

In the Footprint of the Crocodile Man
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: The Sepik River of Papua New Guinea is one of the largest river systems in the world, extraordinarily beautiful, but seldom visited. It is here that the Iatmul people, who live along its banks, have created internationally renowned works of art primarily inspired by stories of the majestic crocodile as the primordial creator. This unique exhibition will showcase the most comprehensive collection of contemporary Sepik art in North America for the first time. In addition to highlighting the exquisite carvings of Papua New Guinea’s latmul people, the exhibition will delve into their economic, cultural, and spiritual connections to the river system, drawing urgent attention to the logging and mining operations that pose environmental threats to the region.
Runs until: January 31, 2017

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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