Things to Do in Vancouver this Weekend: August 10, 2017

This Saturday is the peak of the annual Perseids meteor shower, so be sure to look up at the night sky in between all of the festivals this weekend, including the multi-faceted Queer Film Festival, giant neighbourhood art at the Mural Festival, and lululaemon’s huge seaside yoga marathon and party; Sea Wheeze.

Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Ongoing

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Friday August 11

Vancouver Mural Festival
Where: Various locations around Main Street
What: The creation of permanent large scale public murals, complemented by community events. Stroll the murals, look up, look down, look through alleyways and avenues to catch public art all around. There are tours, artist talks, shows, and a street party.
Runs until: Saturday August 12, 2017

Vancouver Queer Film Festival
Where: Various locations
What: This festival is ready to once again illuminate the transformative moments in the lives of queer people – telling stories of the journeys we have taken to find ourselves, each other and our place in the world. This year continues the movement of creating change through film, education and dialogue.
Runs until: Sunday August 20, 2017

Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival
Where: Roundhouse Community Centre
What: The inaugural Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival offers access to audiences, patrons, peers, community and learning to artists who do not currently have access to mainstream markets or cultural institutions.
Runs until: Saturday August 12, 2017

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: This revelatory documentary brings to light the profound and overlooked influence of Indigenous people on popular music in North America, focusing on music icons like Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Taboo (The Black Eyed Peas), Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Jesse Ed Davis, Robbie Robertson, and Randy Castillo.
Runs until: Thursday August 17, 2017

Sunset Blvd
Where: The Imperial
What: An urban art and dance exhibition inspired by a Havana night with island feels. There’ll be dance performances, aerialists, body-painted models, digital art, and vendors.

Story, Story, Lie: All Stars
Where: The Fox
What: The cities best performers share intimate, hilarious, often embarrassing, stories that seem to odd to be true.

East Side Flea
Where: 1024 Main
What: Over 50 local vendors, food trucks, a live DJ, artisan showrooms, seasonal drink specials, pinball and more.
Runs until: Sunday August 13, 2017

Work from the Art Studios
Where: The Cultch Gallery
What: Various works of art.
Runs until: Saturday September 2, 2017

Vancouver Gem & Mineral Show
Where: Kitsilano Ice Rink
What: Sixty gem, mineral and jewellery vendors from across Canada and abroad, bring you unique gems, fine minerals, rare fossils, hand made jewellery, fancy beads, lapidary art and more.

A Bawdy Night of Bardlesque Revelry
Where: The Rio
What: A highly-artistic literary journey through the world of William Shakespeare, just the way he wanted it — with bawdy wenches, obscure dick jokes, and terrible, terrible puns.

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Saturday August 12

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Sea Wheeze Half Marathon and Sunset Festival
Where: Starts at Thurlow and West Hastings
What: It’s a half marathon, but it’s also a party! Run along the water and take in the scenery, then bliss out with a sunset yoga practice, followed by an epic dance party and a beer (or two).

Blackout Night Sky Festival
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: Peer into telescopes, make your own star lantern and experience an experimental art installation that reimagines the constellations. Bring a chair or blanket and enjoy stargazing to a soundtrack of downtempo and ambient beats, punctuated by live music and throat singing.

Cedar Weaving Workshop
Where: Bill Reid Gallery
What: Learn how to weave with Haida weaver Todd DeVries.

Bio Blitz
Where: Stanley Park
What: Register for expert-led field surveys, interpretive walks, and family-fun activities.
Runs until: Saturday August 12, 2017

One Love West Coast
Where: Swangard Stadium
What: A festival of Afro, Latin and reggae music with a marketplace, kid zone, and food.
Runs until: Sunday August 13, 2017

Vancouver Fruit Festival
Where: Russian Hall
What: A “punk-rock farmers market” where you’ll listen to music and appreciate in season fruit and vegetables. Recipes, canning how-to’s, frozen fruit, jam, and music will be expected.

Saturday Night Fever 40th Anniversary Screening with Director, John Badham
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: Director John Badham will introduce this special 40th (yes, 40th) anniversary screening of his classic disco musical, the movie that made John Travolta a star and propelled The Bee Gees to the top of the charts.

Pink Floyd and Radiohead Laser Show
Where: BCIT Planetarium
What: Featuring an improved Fulldome 360 video projection system, multiple RGB Lasers, and Full Concert 360 sound.

Slide the City
Where: North Vancouver
What: A 1,000 foot long water slide returns along with Car Free Day, turning Lower Lonsdale into a pedestrian and slider zone filled with vendors, food trucks, live music, DJs & entertainment.
Runs until: Sunday August 13, 2017

Databending Workshop
Where: The James Black Gallery
What: Sonification databending is a common and versatile method used by glitch artists, and many other digital artists, to aestheticize distortions using sound-based processes. This event will be split into two parts: a short talk on databending with a focus on sonification, and an interactive workshop for both beginner and intermediate digital artists.

We Are The City
Where: The Biltmore
What: Locals doing indie, kinda electro, soft-singing kind of music.

Flash Tattoo Pop-Up
Where: Burrard Arts Foundation
What: Awesome tattoos by some off the best artists in town. Make sure to get there early to reserve your spot. First come, first served.

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Sunday August 13

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Pinoy Festival
Where: Memorial South Park
What: This one-day event showcases the energy and talent of the Filipino community. Head out to the party for a street parade and tons of tasty Filipino food. Browse Filipino crafts and goods, as well as watch performances by local and international artists.

Vancouver Waterfight
Where: Stanley Park
What: Show up with waterguns and be prepared to get soaked! Adults and kids welcome.

Freewheelin’ Folk Music on Film
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: Film scholar Michael van den Bos illuminates folk songs and icons as presented in the movies. Along with examples of traditional and contemporary folk music from dramas, comedies, bio-pics and documentaries, this program also embraces folk’s extended family in country, western, bluegrass and more, with a special tribute to Bob Dylan’s freewheelin’ film career.

Pakistan Festival
Where: Jack Poole Plaza
What: A place for the community to bring Pakistanis together and to introduce Pakistan to the greater Canadian community. This is a showcase of the cultural heritage, diversity, geography, music, dress, cuisine, customs and traditions of all corners of Pakistan.

Brian Ferry
Where: The Orpheum
What: You know him from the glamtastic days of Roxy Music in the 70s! Go see his crooning, mythic, and quirky style.

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Ongoing

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Vancouver Bach Festival
Where: Christ Church Cathedral
What: Fourteen concerts that features guest artists from all over the world. Highlight concerts include Matt Haimovitz’s new perspective on Bach’s Cello Suites in Overtures to Bach; the Vancouver premiere of The Fountains of Israel, a relatively unknown masterpiece by composer Johann Schein; and a stirring finale of Bach’s monumental St. John Passion.
Runs until: Friday August 11, 2017

Vancouver Mural Festival
Where: Various locations around Main Street
What: The creation of permanent large scale public murals, complemented by community events. Stroll the murals, look up, look down, look through alleyways and avenues to catch public art all around. There are tours, artist talks, shows, and a street party.
Runs until: Saturday August 12, 2017

Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival
Where: Roundhouse Community Centre
What: The inaugural Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival offers access to audiences, patrons, peers, community and learning to artists who do not currently have access to mainstream markets or cultural institutions.
Runs until: Saturday August 12, 2017

The Teen Shakespeare Program presents Romeo and Juliet
Where: Carousel Theatre
What: The annual Teen Shakespeare Program stages outdoor, all ages productions on Granville Island with a festival-style village, concession, and activities for the kids. Admission is free but seating is limited, with premium seating available in advance for $5 per seat.
Runs until: Saturday August 12, 2017

Bio Blitz
Where: Stanley Park
What: Register for expert-led field surveys, interpretive walks, and family-fun activities.
Runs until: Saturday August 12, 2017

Robson Square Salsa
Where: Robson Square
What: An annual series of free outdoor salsa dances. Learn, have fun, and show off your moves.
Runs until: Sunday August 13, 2017

East Side Flea
Where: 1024 Main
What: Over 50 local vendors, food trucks, a live DJ, artisan showrooms, seasonal drink specials, pinball and more.
Runs until: Sunday August 13, 2017

Harmony Arts Festival 
Where: Park Place Mall (North Vancouver)
What: A family-friendly festival that celebrates the arts with indoor and outdoor activities day and night including concerts and outdoor cinema. There’s a free shuttle departing from Canada Place at select times – see the website for details.
Runs until: Sunday August 13, 2017

Slide the City
Where: North Vancouver
What: A 1,000 foot long water slide returns along with Car Free Day, turning Lower Lonsdale into a pedestrian and slider zone filled with vendors, food trucks, live music, DJs & entertainment.
Runs until: Sunday August 13, 2017

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: This revelatory documentary brings to light the profound and overlooked influence of Indigenous people on popular music in North America, focusing on music icons like Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Taboo (The Black Eyed Peas), Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Jesse Ed Davis, Robbie Robertson, and Randy Castillo.
Runs until: Thursday August 17, 2017

Ensemble Theatre Festival
Where: Jericho Arts Centre
What: Featuring a cast of emerging and established actors performing In the Next Room, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and Master Class, by directors new and returning to the festival: Keltie Forsyth, Ian Farthing, and Evan Frayne.
Runs until: Friday August 18, 2017

Oh, Canada – The True North Strong and Funny
Where: The Improv Centre on Granville Island
What: Based on audience suggestions, the cast lampoon such Canadian ‘institutions’ as Heritage Minutes, the Mounties, winter, our hunky Prime Minister, hockey, and lumberjacks or other endless possibilities. As this is improv and the show is made up on the spot, no two shows are ever the same. Join us for some distinctively Canadian laughs. You’ll be nicer for it.
Runs until: Saturday August 19, 2017

Kitsilano Showboat
Where: Kits beach
What: Almost anything can happen at this family friendly showcase of amateur talent dating back to 1935.
Runs until: Saturday August 19, 2017

Vancouver Queer Film Festival
Where: Various locations
What: This festival is ready to once again illuminate the transformative moments in the lives of queer people – telling stories of the journeys we have taken to find ourselves, each other and our place in the world. This year continues the movement of creating change through film, education and dialogue.
Runs until: Sunday August 20, 2017

Live Carving of Stó:lō Welcome Figures
Where: Tourism Chilliwack Visitor Centre (Chilliwack, BC)
What: Terry Horne, artist and Chief from Yakweakwioose
band, is carving two Stó:lō Welcome Figures at the Chilliwack Visitor Centre.
Runs until: August 2017

Film Noir
Where: The Cinematheque
What: The Cinematheque’s annual foray into the dark, desperate world of American film noir returns with eleven lurid classics from noir’s hard-boiled heyday.
Runs until: Thursday August 24, 2017

Indigenous Plant Use
Where: Stanley Park
What: Walk through the forest with an experienced guide of Coast Salish descent and learn about the traditional and present-day Indigenous 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 August 25, 2017 (Fridays)

Theatre Under the Stars
Where: Stanley Park
What: Enjoy a delightful dose of entertainment this summer with two Broadway musicals. Mary Poppins and The Drowsy Chaperone will be performed live at the Malkin Bowl. A beloved Vancouver tradition since 1940, TUTS 2017 season promises song & dance in two family-friendly productions celebrating love and imagination.
Runs until: Saturday August 26, 2017

Story Walks
Where: The Shipyards and in Lynn Canyon Park
What: Free drop-in walks at The Shipyards are offered Saturdays and Sundays at 11 am and 1:30 pm. Meet at Lonsdale Ave. and Victory Ship Way. Free drop-in walks in Lynn Canyon Park are offered Wednesdays and Thursdays from July 6^th to August 24^th at 11 am and 1:30 pm. Meet across from the Lynn Canyon Café.
Runs until: Sunday August 27, 2017

Peak Yoga on Grouse Mountain
Where: Grouse Mountain
What: Enjoy 60 minute yoga classes led by YYoga instructors, every Saturday and Sunday from 10:00-11:00 am. Whether you need a great post-Grind cool down or would just love to experience a different yoga venue at one of the city’s most spectacular locations, these 60-minute class are bound to enhance your physical well-being and kick start your weekend.
Runs until: Sunday August 27, 2017

Social Sundays
Where: VanDusen Gardens
What: Summer sounds, signature cocktails, and lawn games.
Runs until: Sunday August 27, 2017

Dance in Transit
Where: Various outdoor locations
What: A continuous supply of dancing during the warm months —at no cost. Watch it, try it, and see if you love it.
Runs until: Sunday August 27th, 2017

Xi Xanya Dzam – Those Who Are Amazing At Making Things
Where: The Bill Reid Gallery
What: Xi Xanya Dzam (pronounced hee hun ya zam) is the Kwak’wala word describing incredibly talented and gifted people who create works of art. The exhibition is both a showcase and a critical exploration of ‘achievement’ and ‘excellence’ in traditional and contemporary First Nations art.
Runs until: Sunday September 4, 2017

Pictures From Here
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Featuring photographs and video works from the early 1960s to the present that capture the urban environment of the Greater Vancouver region, its citizens and the vast “natural” landscape of the province.
Runs until: Sunday September 4, 2017

 

Jaad Kuujus: Meghann O’Brien
Where: Bill Reid Gallery
What: Meghann takes materials from the natural world and transforms them into pieces of high-level human expression. Working with traditional materials such as mountain goat wool and cedar bark has given her a deep connection to the supernatural world, a connection to her ancestors. She describes working with cedar bark as, “travelling back in time” or “touching the cosmos”. Her creations have a profound impact within contemporary Northwest Coast art and beyond.
Runs until: September 2017

Sunday Art Market
Where: Jim Deva Plaza
What: Local artists, vendors and makers, largely from Vancouver’s West End, along with musical and other live performances and artist-led workshops to drop into.
Runs until: September 2017

Panda International Night Market
Where: Richmond, BC
What: A diverse market in Richmond, with shopping, food, beverages, and a game zone.
Runs until: Monday September 11, 2017

Flora and Fauna: A Summer Art Show
Where: The Fall Tattooing and Artist Studio
What: An artistic summer celebration of all vibrant, colourful, living things.
Runs until: Friday September 15, 2017

Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival
Where: Vanier Park
What: What do you say to watching a live production of Much Ado About Nothing, The Winter’s Tale, The Merchant of Venice or The Two Gentlemen of Verona in a custom-built tent on the beach while sipping wine, beer, and munching on a picnic lunch themed to the play? Yes! Right? After 28 years, this festival has hit a stride of near perfection (and don’t even get us started on the amazing costumes.)
Runs until: Saturday September 23, 2017

A Sublime Vernacular: The Landscape Paintings of Levine Flexhaug
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: The first overview of the extraordinary career of Levine Flexhaug (1918 – 1974), born in the Treelon area near Climax, Saskatchewan. It brings together approximately 450 of the artist’s paintings as well as several of his mural-sized works. An itinerant painter, he sold thousands of variations of essentially the same landscape painting in national parks, resorts, department stores and bars across western Canada from the late 1930s through the early 1960s.
Runs until: Sunday September 24, 2017

Unbelievable
Where: The Museum of Vancouver
What: This exhibition poses provocative questions about our perception of stories by assembling iconic artifacts, storied replicas, and contested objects for a mind-bending exploration of the role stories play in defining lives and communities – and what happens when we question the tales we’ve long relied upon. Unbelievable objects include the Thunderbird totem pole that appeared in controversial filmmaker Edward Curtis’ 1906 work In the Land of the Head Hunters; contemporary ‘totems’, each with contrasting stories about a point in time in Vancouver; and artifacts illustrating the complex narrative around Vancouver’s relationship with First Nations communities.
Runs until: Sunday September 24, 2017

Uninterrupted
Where: Under the Cambie Street Bridge
What: After dusk, audiences will witness the extraordinary migration of wild Pacific salmon in a 30-minute cinematic spectacle that explores the connection between nature and our urban environments.
Runs until: Sunday September 24, 2017

Be Polite
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Working closely with the Estate of Gordon Bennett and IMA Brisbane the exhibition will comprise a selection of rare works on paper including drawing, painting, watercolour, poetry, and essays from the early 1990s through to the early 2000s.
Runs until: Sunday September 24, 2017

Works by Anna Milton
Where: VanDusen Gardens
What: Anna has been exhibiting and selling her work internationally since her college years. She trained and worked as an art therapist for many years and is interested in symbols and metaphor that are present in visual art.
Runs until: Wednesday September 27, 2017

Shipyards Night Market
Where: Lonsdale, North Vancouver
What: Food, art, music, entertainment, shopping, a beer garden, and you can bring your dog!
Runs until: September 29, 2017

ZimCarvings
Where: VanDusen Botanical Garden
What: Patrick Sephani along with visiting artist Peter Kananji will be showcasing works from over 30 Zimbabwean stone sculptors on the beautiful garden grounds and carving stone sculptures on site.  All works will be available for purchase.
Runs until: Saturday September 30, 2017

Claude Monet’s Secret Garden
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: The most comprehensive exhibition of French painter Claude Monet’s work in Canada in two decades, Claude Monet’s Secret Garden will trace the career of this pivotal figure in Western art history. This exhibition will present thirty-eight paintings spanning the course of Monet’s long career from the unparalleled collection of the Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris.
Runs until: Sunday October 1, 2017

Stephen Shore: The Giverny Portfolio
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Twenty-five photographs by contemporary American photographer Stephen Shore produced during several visits to Impressionist painter Claude Monet’s famous gardens at Giverny, France. Showing concurrently with the exhibition Claude Monet’s Secret Garden, Stephen Shore: The Giverny Portfolio offers a contemporary perspective on the tranquility originally captured in Monet’s iconic paintings.
Runs until: Sunday October 1, 2017

Persistence
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Persistence draws together three recent contemporary installations to explore the surprising and creative ways that technologies, physical objects and natural processes endure and transform.
Runs until: October 1, 2017

Elad Lassry
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Investigating the nature of perception with a special focus on the photographic image within the digital era, the exhibition includes more than seventy works—films, photographs and sculpture—produced by Lassry over the last decade.
Runs until: Sunday October 1, 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

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

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

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)

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: Winter 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

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

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

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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