Things To Do In Vancouver This Weekend

Happy Hallowmonth, Thanksgiving weekend, and last weekend of Navaratri! This weekend sees the beginning of even more spooky events, such as Fright Nights, the Ghost Train and, a little further out, a haunted house and a beer garden corn maze! The Vancouver International Film Fest continues to show movies you may not get a chance to see anywhere else across the city’s many cinemas, and these are the last days of the Richmond Night Market.

Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Ongoing

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Friday October 7

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: Monday October 31, 2016

Zombie Syndrome: Dead in the Water
Where: Granville Island
What: The Virtual Stage presents an all-new, immersive theatrical outdoor adventure. The fifth annual installment in the company’s hit series will challenge audiences to travel by land and sea as they race to confront a monstrous hybrid of zombies and vampires.
Runs until: Monday October 31, 2016

James and Jamesy in the Dark
Where: Waterfront Theatre
What: Pixar meets Waiting for Godot in a daring, hilarious British comedy about creation. Comedians and 13-time Best-of-Fest winners James & Jamesy conjure an adventure around creation itself. Through their unique brand of British comedy, they inspire audiences to celebrate the beauty and richness of friendship.
Runs until: Sunday October 16, 2016

Festival Music House Pacific
Where: The Imperial
What: Coinciding with the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), the intimate concert provides a platform for established and up-and-coming Canadian acts to perform for festival delegates. This year’s performers include multi-genre (hybrid live/electronic act and global music pioneers) Delhi 2 Dublin, critically acclaimed indie rock outfit Yukon Blonde, Victoria’s indie-folk roots rockers Current Swell and unsigned bluesy rock n rollers Band of Rascals.

Vancouver International Improv Festival
Where: Performanceworks
What: Now in its 17th year, this festival returns, showcasing the best of improvisational comedy from Vancouver and the world.
Runs until: Saturday October 8, 2016

Motherload
Where: The Cultch Historic Theatre
What: An intimate account of parenting in the modern age. Four prominent Canadian theatre artists and mothers bare their personal stories about what it takes to be a member of the world’s biggest club.
Runs until: Saturday October 15, 2016

The 4th Annual Boobies and Wieners Show
Where: Hot Art Wet City
What: The annual dirty and immature nude art show returns for a fourth year. “Four Play” features Serena Bon-Binky, Gwen D’arcy, Vince Hemingson, Erica Lapadat-Janzen, Gordana Ristic, Aleshia St Cyr, Pandora Young and Nikki Pecasso.
Runs until: Saturday October 29, 2016

54-40
Where: The Commodore
What: Sing along with these Vancouverites who made it big in the early 90s with hits like Ocean Pearl and I Go Blind.
Runs until: Saturday October 8, 2016

Return to the Cotton Club
Where: The Orpheum
What: Fan favourite Byron Stripling, the modern-day Louis Armstrong, takes you to the Cotton Club in an swingin’ program of old-time jazz, blues and big band, with favourites by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, and more.
Runs until: Saturday October 8, 2016

East Side Flea
Where: 1024 Main
What: Spend Thanksgiving weekend mingling with friends, sipping hot toddys, enjoying delicious food, checking out community art, and shopping local.
Runs until: Sunday October 9, 2016

Potter’s House of Horrors
Where: Surrey, BC
What: Get scared at this all-out haunted house.
Runs until: Monday October 31, 2016

Eat! Vancouver
Where: Vancouver
What: Now, in its 14th year EAT! Vancouver, Canada’s most successful food festival brand, continues to evolve into a high end premium food Festival. This year’s Festival event’s will be for charity and in support of the Vancouver Food Bank.

Roadside Harvest Festival
Where: Abbotsford, BC
What: There’s a beer-tasting 19+ corn maze. And if just that isn’t good enough for you, there’s also a kid friendly one, there are food trucks, and dogs are welcome and encouraged.
Runs until: Sunday October 23, 2016

Sticky Fingers
Where: The Vogue
What: A melting pot of reggae, psych, pop and bourbon.

Marlon Williams & The Yarra Benders
Where: The Biltmore
What: From New Zealand folk-rock musician, on tour to support his debut self-titled release.

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Saturday October 8

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Stanley Park Ghost Train
Where: Stanley Park
What: Each year, the Stanley Park Ghost Train takes riders of all ages on a journey through a mystical Halloween world. This year, the “Day of the Dead” theme encourages you to gather friends and family to remember loved ones and celebrate the festival of life. Visitors will be serenaded by a mariachi band of cockroaches and ride through a tunnel of flames presided over by the Aztec Lord and Lady of Death.
Runs until: Monday October 31, 2016

Fort Langley Cranberry Festival
Where: Fort Langley
What: Unique vendors, free entertainment, pancake breakfast, and family activities await everyone for what is always a great day in the centre of Fort Langley.

Teen Angst Night
Where: The Fox Cabaret, 10:00pm
What: Teen Angst Night is a comedic reading series where readers can share anything (poetry, songs, letters, journals, diaries, essays, stories, plays, lists, etc) so long as it follows these rules: The work must be your own, you must have written it between the ages of 10-19, and you cannot be proud of the work you share. It’s best if you’re super embarrassed.

Halloween Mystery Nights
Where: Downtown Vancouver
What: Use your superpowers for good to save the planet on a heroic adventure with your friends in Vancouver Mysteries’ newest game, Heroes and Villains, a comic book style adventure.
Runs until: Monday October 31, 2016

Psych Fest III
Where: Fortune Sound Club
What: Music, art, and general mayhem.

Colonia
Where: Venue (881 Granville)
What: A dance music duo from Vinkovci, Croatia.

Kataplexis and Cadaveric Lividity
Where: Hindenburg (23 West Cordova)
What: A metal show.

Mild High Club
Where: The Biltmore
What: Based in Los Angeles, Alex Brettin of Mild High Club has recorded and performed with the likes of Ariel Pink, R Stevie Moore and Silk Rhodes (Run DMT/Salvia Plath).

The Adventure Club
Where: Cineplex Theatres
What: Three ten-year-old friends who discover a “wishbox”, an ancient artifact with the ability to grant wishes. The three decide to use the box to save their local science centre from bankruptcy, but in doing so they discover that there are some shady characters who are also after the box and who will stop at nothing to get it. The film’s proceeds will be donated to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada.

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Sunday October 9

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Gojira
Where: The Vogue
What: A French heavy metal band from Bayonne.

Second Sunday Concert
Where: Roedde House Museum
What: A classical concert, tea and tour.

Octoburlesque 2
Where: The Biltmore
What: Kitty Nights Burlesque kicks off their 9th Anniversary season with a long weekend burlesque party featuring eight burlesque performers, an intermission go-go dancer and a post-show dance party.

 

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Ongoing

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Absence: David Wilson (ends this weekend)
Where: Kimoto Gallery
What: Wilson’s newest body of work explores a number of repeated images that reference specific meaningful images and symbols as he searches for new opportunities to unravel his thoughts on a given subject. Most noticeable in this exhibition is the repetitive use of umbrella imagery.
Runs until: Saturday October 8, 2016

Helen and Edgar (ends this weekend)
Where: The York Theatre
What: An experiment in long-form storytelling a tale of Oliver and his sister Helen’s strange childhood in Savannah, and their mother’s struggle with madness.
Runs until: Saturday October 8, 2016

Return to the Cotton Club (ends this weekend)
Where: The Orpheum
What: Fan favourite Byron Stripling, the modern-day Louis Armstrong, takes you to the Cotton Club in an swingin’ program of old-time jazz, blues and big band, with favourites by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, and more.
Runs until: Saturday October 8, 2016

East Side Flea (ends this weekend)
Where: 1024 Main
What: Spend Thanksgiving weekend mingling with friends, sipping hot toddys, enjoying delicious food, checking out community art, and shopping local.
Runs until: Sunday October 9, 2016

Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery (ends this weekend)
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: Five actors play over 40 comical characters, filling the stage with suspects, allies, and heirs in this zany whodunit based on the Arthur Conan Doyle classic. When the wealthy Henry Baskerville is threatened by the fable of a bloodthirsty hound on the moors, Holmes and Watson are on the case to sniff out the culprit.
Runs until: Sunday October 9, 2016

Bharti Kher Matter (ends this week)
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 (ends this week)
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

Vancouver International Film Festival
Where: Various locations
What:  In its 35th year, VIFF expands the frame to create multi-experiential streams that include some of the best cinema from around the world fused with related talks and events, giving audiences and creators a chance to discover, discuss and connect.
Runs until: Friday October 14, 2016

A Good Way Out
Where: Pacific Theatre
What: Joey is a hardworking mechanic who operates as the front man for a biker gang. He joined for protection, but a few bad decisions have him looking for an escape that may not exist. The world premiere of a fierce, compelling look into the precarious world of crime and compromise.
Runs until: Saturday October 15, 2016

Motherload
Where: The Cultch Historic Theatre
What: An intimate account of parenting in the modern age. Four prominent Canadian theatre artists and mothers bare their personal stories about what it takes to be a member of the world’s biggest club.
Runs until: Saturday October 15, 2016

Mean Time
Where: Centre A
What: Featuring a pair of works, The Remnant of My Volition (Force Majeure) (2014) and Frustration of Having More than Two Choices to Make in Life (2013). Artist Morgan Wong currently lives and works in Hong Kong. Shortlisted for the Sovereign Art Prize and featured in Hong Kong Basel Encounters, Wong has exhibited extensively in Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Australia and Europe, but this exhibition marks Wong’s North American debut.
Runs until: Saturday October 15, 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

James and Jamesy in the Dark
Where: Waterfront Theatre
What: Pixar meets Waiting for Godot in a daring, hilarious British comedy about creation. Comedians and 13-time Best-of-Fest winners James & Jamesy conjure an adventure around creation itself. Through their unique brand of British comedy, they inspire audiences to celebrate the beauty and richness of friendship.
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)

Roadside Harvest Festival
Where: Abbotsford, BC
What: There’s a beer-tasting 19+ corn maze. And if just that isn’t good enough for you, there’s also a kid friendly one, there are food trucks, and dogs are welcome and encouraged.
Runs until: Sunday October 23, 2016

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

The Flick
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: Set in a run-down movie theatre, this Pulitzer Prize–winning comic drama follows three underpaid ushers who’ll do anything to keep the beloved and endangered local landmark running. As they share their hidden hopes for the future, an intimacy forms among these outsiders who at first glance have only one thing in common.
Runs until: Saturday October 29, 2016

The 4th Annual Boobies and Wieners Show
Where: Hot Art Wet City
What: The annual dirty and immature nude art show returns for a fourth year. “Four Play” features Serena Bon-Binky, Gwen D’arcy, Vince Hemingson, Erica Lapadat-Janzen, Gordana Ristic, Aleshia St Cyr, Pandora Young and Nikki Pecasso.
Runs until: Saturday October 29, 2016

An Agreeable State of Uncertainty
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: Sunday October 30, 2016

Harry Callahan: The Street
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: Sunday October 30, 2016

Stephen Waddell: Dark Matter Atlas
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 October 30, 2016

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: Monday October 31, 2016

Stanley Park Ghost Train
Where: Stanley Park
What: Each year, the Stanley Park Ghost Train takes riders of all ages on a journey through a mystical Halloween world. This year, the “Day of the Dead” theme encourages you to gather friends and family to remember loved ones and celebrate the festival of life. Visitors will be serenaded by a mariachi band of cockroaches and ride through a tunnel of flames presided over by the Aztec Lord and Lady of Death.
Runs until: Monday October 31, 2016

Zombie Syndrome: Dead in the Water
Where: Granville Island
What: The Virtual Stage presents an all-new, immersive theatrical outdoor adventure. The fifth annual installment in the company’s hit series will challenge audiences to travel by land and sea as they race to confront a monstrous hybrid of zombies and vampires.
Runs until: Monday October 31, 2016

Halloween Mystery Nights
Where: Downtown Vancouver
What: Use your superpowers for good to save the planet on a heroic adventure with your friends in Vancouver Mysteries’ newest game, Heroes and Villains, a comic book style adventure.
Runs until: Monday October 31, 2016

Potter’s House of Horrors
Where: Surrey, BC
What: Get scared at this all-out haunted house.
Runs until: Monday October 31, 2016

The Signature of All Things
Where: VanDusen Gardens
What: Original artwork created by the Open Book Art Collective and inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel, The Signature of All Things.
Runs until: Monday October 31, 2016

Trump Card Winner Takes All
Where: The Improv Centre
What: From now through November, everyone’s attention will be glued to a high-stakes game that will affect the world for generations to come – the US election. Vancouver TheatreSports League ups the ante with its own improvised election interpretation.
Runs until: Saturday November 19, 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

White, Steel, Slice, Mask
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Working together for over a decade, the duo’s interdisciplinary practice typically instigates community-based models of participation in order to re-imagine a material record of the present. They investigate tactics of cultural representation while utilizing the methods of anthropology to examine various forms of collecting, interpretation and display.
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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