Yoga on the Beach

Get your gear and head for Kits tonight as Lululemon hosts an evening of Yoga on the beach. Don’t forget to bring a mat, a water bottle and friends.
June 25 | 6-7pm | Meet at the corner of Vine and Cornwall | FREE

BenchMark

BenchMark is “a community-involved public art project that will result in the creation of a permanent Hastings-Sunrise community legacy by transforming an underused pocket of green-space on East Hastings Street into a social gathering place and a public community story archive. The project involves the creation of three major events to generate excitement about our community history and to highlight the neighbourhood as a host to the upcoming history-making event of the 2010 Olympics that will occur in our community.” I was totally excited about the “transforming an underused pocket of green-space on East Hastings Street into a social gathering place and a public community story archive” part. The “blah blah blah” part about the Olympics sort of sounded like an obligatory add-on to please whomever gave them a grant for the project – but money doesn’t grow on trees and if you have to pacify VANOC in order to transform underused pockets of your community – I guess that’s what you have to do. Still, I like the transformation aspect and I hope to attend with my camera.
June 27 | 1 – 4 pm | 2400 Block Hastings Street (Hastings and Kamloops) | FREE

Bavarian Beerfest

The beer-loving gang at the Alpen Club are hosting Bavarian Beerfest this weekend so make your way over to Victoria Drive for cold steins and traditional German food. 15 beans gets you in the door with a complimentary beverage. Look forward to live music by Al Pichler (and lots of beer). Someone from Scout is definitely going, so be sure to check back for photos the next day.
June 27 | 7pm | Alpen Club (4875 Victoria Dr) | $15

Little Mountain Festival

Little Mountain Neighbourhood House and Riley Park Community Centre are hosting their annual festival today. With a forecast for sun, this should be a pretty solid way to spend a Sunday. “The festival is a family event with activities and entertainment for all ages at little or no charge to the public. The theme this year is “A Family of Communities – come experience the world in your neighbourhood”. Expect the following: Face Painting; Story Tent; Craft Tables; Carnival Games; Dunk Tank; Outdoor Volleyball; Ethnic Food; Live Local Bands; Gardening Workshops; Popcorn & Cotton Candy; Gymnastics Tumbling Area; BC Wrestling Workshops. Consider public transit – you won’t be the only one there and parking could get tight.
June 28 | 11 am – 4pm | Riley Park Community Centre | FREE

Portobello West

Looking for that perfect summer frock to wear to an outdoor dinner party? Why not buy locally? Portobello West market is the perfect venue. Head down to the Rocky Mountaineer Station (1755 Cottrell Street) to see some of the hot new fashion items and art created by your Vancouver brethren. Scout is looking forward to checking out bags by Patina Designs, stationary by Note and Emote and Jewelery by Papaya Blue.
June 28th | 12pm to 6pm | Rocky Mountaineer Station | 2 bucks

Architectural Wonkery

Tonight, Granville Island’s Light House Sustainable Building Centre presents Danish architect Jan Gudmand-Høyer and Californian architect Charles Durrett. They are speaking on the development of cohousing. “Cohousing describes intentional communities that combine both the autonomy of private dwellings with the benefits of shared resources and community living.” Presenters will “reflect on the development of cohousing as an architectural and social model, and suggest future directions, approaches, and applications.” Sounds like a pretty worthwhile way to spend your Monday night if you ask me (I rsvp’d).
June 29th | 6 – 8pm | Emily Carr University of Art and Design | Light House Sustainable Building Centre

Know your greenspaces

If you nip in to the main branch of the VPL tonight you can catch a lecture that recaps (just in time for summer) the many parks and greenspacesin the Greater Vancouver area (as well as many important, environmentally sensitive areas worth a visit).
June 29 | 7 -9 pm | Vancouver Public Library | FREE

Jazz Fest

Like you haven’t heard that the Vancouver Jazz Festival is taking over every venue in town this week – Scout picks would be Sea and Cake at the Biltmore (July 1st, $30 – that’s their video for “Weekend” above), the not very Jazzy sounding Acres of Lions at the Media Club (June 30, $10) or Ndidi Onukwulu (July 4 on Granville Island, $15 ).
For the whole story and details, click here.

Eat Local

Here are some good places to buy locally grown produce from really good people. In season this month are luscious salad greens, green onions, radishes, shallots, spinach, sprouts, sunchokes, tomatoes, Apples, delectable rhubarb, fresh strawberries. You’ll also find bay leaves, chervil, rosemary, sage, savoury goat and cow’s milk cheeses, yogurt, eggs, beef, chicken, lamb, pork, cod, sablefish, shrimp, salmon, tuna, and an inspiring array of bedding plants.
East Side: June 27 | 9am – 2pm | Trout Lake | FREE
West End: June 27 | 9am – 2pm | 1100 Block of Comox | FREE
Kits: June 28 | 10am – 2pm | Parking Lot of Kits Community Centre | FREE
DTES: July 1 | 3pm – 7pm | Thornton Park | FREE
UBC: June 27| 9-1 | UBC Farm

Canada Day

A little Wiki on our National Day: “Canada Day (French: Fête du Canada), formerly Dominion Day (French: Le Jour de la Confédération), is Canada’s national day, a federal statutory holiday, celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867 enactment of the British North America Act of 1867, which united Canada as a single country of four provinces. Canada Day observances take place throughout Canada as well as internationally….Frequently referred to as “Canada’s birthday,” particularly in the popular press,[1][2][3] the occasion marks the joining of the British colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada into a federation of four provinces (the Province of Canada being divided, in the process, into Ontario and Quebec) on July 1, 1867.”

Canada Day Fireworks

“For the third consecutive year, the Burrard Inlet Fireworks Society is proud to bring fireworks back to Canada Day! The Burrard Inlet Fireworks Show is a unique multi-community event drawing hundreds of thousands of people and numerous communities together to celebrate Canada. This unique two barge simultaneous pyrotechnic extravaganza will be visible from numerous locations in Downtown Vancouver, West Vancouver, North Vancouver and Vancouver’s West Side.” This year, they are shaking things up with a parade. It starts at 7:00pm on the corner of Georgia and Broughton Streets. Fireworks begin at 10:30 pm. Super crazy traffic jam begins at 11:30 pm. Pointless stabbings and random fights between suburban tools are free.

Print Culture

Sounds awesome. I lifted the following from the Malispina Printmakers website: “Curators, Artists and Researchers are invited to submit project proposals for Malaspina Printmakers‘ 2010 programming season, which will be based on the theme of Print Culture in Vancouver. Encompassing all forms of printed text and printed visual communication, Print Culture extends to and includes all cultural effects on society created by printing technology and printed communication. Print is intrinsically tied to culture; politics, economy, and meaning-making are all intertwined with printing in its various forms. The current shift between a materially-print-based and electronic-based information society — and the many claims that print culture is in its demise — posits print media in a unique position to comment upon contemporary cultural, economic and political issues. Malaspina Printmakers welcomes diverse interpretations of how we may envision the theme of Print Culture within Vancouver’s rich history and contemporary life.”