The main objective of this website is to scout out and promote the things that make Vancouver such a sweet place to be. We do this with an emphasis on the city’s independent spirit to foster a sense of connectedness within and between our communities, and to introduce our readers to the people who grow and cook our food, play the raddest tunes in our better venues, create our most interesting art, and design everything from what we wear to the spaces we inhabit.

The Scout List is our carefully considered, first rate agenda of super awesome things that we’re either doing, wishing that we could do, or conspiring to do this week. From our calendar to yours…

GOOD TIMES & GOOD KARMA

Sunday is Car Free Day! That’s four street festivals, four neighbourhoods and four tons of fun. Expect live music, spoken-word performances, dancing, hockey, live music, bike and skateboard demos, good food, locally made trinkets and generally happy people. Who doesn’t love Car Free Day? More information over here, but the short of is as follows: Commercial Drive between 1st and Venables | 12pm-6pm (streets closed from 10am to 8pm). Main  Street between 12th Ave. and 29th Ave | 12pm-8pm (streets closed from 10am to10pm). West End on Denman from Robson to Davie | 12pm-6pm | (streets closed from 10am to 8pm). Kits is doing something different. Instead of closing off a major street, people throughout are hosting individual block parties with their neighbours. Click here for the Google Map of parties.

Sunday is Fathers Day! Do something to recognize Dad today, because Dad’s are super important. In the wake of the riot clean-up, take yours to the International Surfing Day beach cleanup and family BBQ down on Spanish Banks this Sunday. Dads dig good karma. Details here.

Sunday, June 19 | 10am-5pm | Spanish Banks (last parking lot)

Recycle the stuff that the City doesn’t take! Take all of your plastics, foil lined bags, nasty styrofoam, suspect polystyrene food containers, useless electronics, CDs, milk and juice containers and much more over to Britannia Centre where Pacific Recycling Mobile Depot will take it and make sure it’s all properly dealt with (there is a small fee to cover the cost of trucking and to fund other sustainability projects at Britannia, but it’s nominal). Visit Pacific Recycling Mobile Depots for details and fees.
Saturday, June 18 | 9am – 12pm  | Britannia Centre Parking Lot (west of rink)

Cultivate and nurture sustainability. Head over to Olympic Village for a talk, discussion and walk focused on expanding notions of sustainability. Explore concepts and practices of conscious, creative, and connected living and how to cultivate and nurture sustainability.
Saturday June 18 | 1:30-3:00pm | Creekside Community Centre (main doors facing False Creek) | Free

Think about your repairing your community! Land artist, permaculture teacher, activist and writer Oliver Kellhammer will be at the Roundhouse in Yaletown next week to talk about his project: Botanical Interventions – Open Source Landscape and Community Repair.  More info here.
Wednesday, June 22 | 7-9 pm | Roundhouse Community Centre | Free

Check out An Intercultural Dialogue on Sustainability: Cultivating Awareness, Action & Leadership in Chinatown on Wednesday. Sounds like an an interesting gig: “The next generation of professionals, entrepreneurs and thinkers is being instilled with behavourial changes towards sustainability as a core value, and organizations & communities will need to adapt in order to stay relevant to these people today.” Program leaders are going to look at how sustainability relates to traditions and cultures and how communities can make changes to manage resources. RSVP is mandatory as seating is limited. Please RSVP your attendance to [email protected]. Find out more here.
Wednesday, June 22 | 6:30 – 8:30pm | Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese Gardens

MOVIES

Submarine is out. Looks brilliant in a, Anglo-Wes Andersonesque sort of way. Read the New Yorker Magazine review here.
Now-Thursday June 23 |  2, 4:45, 7:30 & 9:40  | Fifth Avenue

Tree of Life hits the big screen at the Park. Dying to see it. Directed by Terrence Malick, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. Malick is genius.
Now-Thursday June 23 |  12:50, 4:00, 7:00, 9:55 | Park Theatre (3440 Cambie) | $12.75

Outside the Law plays at Vancity. “Think The Godfather II as told through France vs. Algeria tensions, and you have the essence of Rachid Bouchareb’s vivid combo crime saga, action movie and historical drama.” Get the story here.
Saturday, June 18 | 6:30 | $11

Bill Cunningham New York is still playing. “It took director Richard Press eight years to get the street-style photographer to agree to be filmed and another month just to get him to wear a mike.”  Worth the wait – awesome film.
Denman Cinemas (1779 Comox) | 5pm daily

SHOP

Don’t miss the garage sale at PD’s this Saturday. Pick up skateboards, skimboards, bikes, clothing, accessories, books, records, household items, furniture, junk and treasures plus more.
PD’s Hot Shop and Skull Skates hosts this semi-annual event which is more like a flea market than a yard sale. Bring your bag of dough to get the good deals or pitch a table or throw down a blanket to sell your stuff.
Saturday, June 18 | 10am -4pm | PD’s Hot Shop (2868 W 4)

The core of the swap is the gigantic pile of free clothing sorted into categories such as pants, skirts, shirts, shoes etc. These piles are the collective total of each guest’s contribution of any size bag of unwanted clothes, so start cleaning your closets! Take as little or as much as you like! All remainders will go to local charities. For details on what to bring and what not to bring to Swap-O-Rama-Rama, click  here.
Saturday, June 18 | 11am-4pm| $5 plus bag of clothes

The Retro Design and Antiques Fair is on at the Croatian Cultural Centre. Slide by 175 tables and booths of mid-century modernist decor to score vintage & estate jewelry, pop culture classics, boho & shabby chic accents…you know the drill.
Sunday June 19 | 10am | Croatian Cultural Centre (3250 Commercial) | $4

CITY

Has Vancouver’s downtown benefitted or suffered due to failed plans? CBC Archives gives a snapshot of one of the more pivotal points in Vancouver’s urban planning history with three short films (‘A City’s Story’ 1967; ‘7 O’clock Show’ with Arthur Erickson 1966; and ‘City Patterns’ 1962). The panel, consisting of a historian, an architecture critic, a former Director of Planning and the current Director of Planning, will provide a lively discussion about failed plans in Vancouver’s downtown. Admission is free. Seating is limited. Co-sponsored by the CBC.
Monday June 20 | 7pm | Central Library (350 W. Georgia)  | Free

The next Pecha Kucha Night will revolve around the theme of Modernist architecture on the West Coast. The good folks at Cause + Affect have gathered an impressive line-up of speakers from varying backgrounds to share their stories about how our immediate geography has separated us from our colleagues down South with globally influential work that continues to define us to this day.  Cool thing about this volume: keep your ticket stub for free entry into the Penthouse Night Club after party.
Pecha Kucha Night volume 17 | Thursday, June 23 | 7pm | Vogue Theatre (918 Granville) | $15

MUSIC

Needles & Pins, Teenager and Dead Ghosts play at Antisocial Monday night.
Monday, June 20 | 8pm | Antisocial | free

Indie rock band from Austin, Texas Okkervil River are on the road promoting their latest album I Am Very Far (NME Review here). Okkervil River  plays the Vogue Monday night. Bonus: special guest Titus Andronicus.
Monday, June 20 |  9pm | Vogue Theatre | $25

The Intelligence, are playing at the Waldorf on Tuesday (they hook up with guests Sex Church and Manic Attracts). Have a listen to The Intelligence over here.
Tuesday, June 21 | 8pm | Waldorf Hotel | $13

The BellRays are at the Biltmore Wednesday night. Never heard of them? Have a look at their Infection video.  BellRays play with guests The Ford Pier Vengeance Trio and The Strugglers.
Wednesday, June 22 | 8pm | Biltmore Cabaret | $15

EAT LOCAL

Make sure to find your way to a Farmers Markets this week! Good places to buy locally grown produce from good people. Main Street on Wednesday rocks. Eli has the best Curry Brats, fresh pasta from Campagnolo and all sorts of fine produce. See you there.

Trout Lake Farmers Market | Saturday | 9am-2pm | Trout Lake | Free
Kitsilano Farmers Market | Sunday | 10am – 2pm | 2690 Larch @ 10th | Free
West End Farmers Market | Saturday | 9am-2pm | 1100 Block Comox | Free
Thornton Park | Wednesday | 3pm – 7pm | Main Street Station at Terminal | Free
Dundarave (West Van) Saturday | 9am – 2pm | Between 24 & 25 on Marine
UBC Farm Market: Saturday | 9-1 | UBC Farm
Oak Street Market | Wednesday | 3-7pm | Oak @ 49th (Unitarian Church) | Free

Say goodbye to spot prawn season! Maenam is plating a season wrap-up dinner served with cocktail pairings. That’s five courses served family style, with each dish paired with a drink. Think grilled spot prawn satays, hot and sour soup of spot prawn, grilled spot prawn salad, spot prawn stir fry, aromatic curry of spot prawns! Seating is limited. Reserve a table by calling 604-730-5579.
Monday, June 20 | 6pm | Maenam | $75

If you are involved in or know of an event that you think we should add to the Scout List, drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do. Keep in mind that we’re looking for cool, cheap and accessible events. Michelle [@] Scoutmagazine [dot] ca.

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Michelle Sproule grew up in Kitsilano and attended Bond University in Australia and the University of Victoria before receiving her graduate degree in Library Sciences from The University of Toronto. She lives in beautiful Strathcona and enjoys wandering aimlessly through the city’s shops and streets with her best friend – a beat up, sticky, grimy, and uncooperative camera.

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