A no messing around guide to the coolest things to eat, drink and do in Vancouver and beyond. Community. Not clickbait.

Scout List: Our Eclectic Agenda For Discerning Vancouverites…

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…

CITY

Enjoy a commercial laneway turned into an area of activity and creativity as the Livable Laneway project (in collaboration with Vancouver Design Nerds) will transform the atmosphere and pedestrian experience of the laneway west of Main between Broadway and 8th Ave. Forget dumpsters and sketchy parking spots. Instead, expect an artist’s market, street food (last year Chutney Village was serving up some beautiful pakoras), live music, public art and a crowd of cool people. Go Livable Laneways!
Saturday, July 16 | 5-9pm

Delamont: Kitsilano’s Oldest City Block of Houses! Join local historian Bruce MacDonald for a fascinating exploration of Delamont Park (now Kitsilano).
Sunday, July 17 | 10am | Meet in the small park/northeast corner of Arbutus and 7th | $15

Sounds like a few people want to have a waterfight this weekend. Over 7000 people claim (Facebook style) to be attending a Saturday afternoon waterfight in Stanley Park. Be there or be square. For details and Code of Conduct check the event FB page here.
Saturday, July 16 | 1pm | Lumbermans Arch/Kids Waterpark in Stanley Park

Heads up: “The Vancouver Park Board has approved the development of a public park located in front of the new development at 3333 Main Street. This new park location, approximately 0.09ha in size, is currently bound by 18th Avenue, Main Street, and a slip-lane on the western boundary.” The project is scheduled to begin this Fall with an anticipated completion of park construction in early 2012. Head to an open house to discuss the vision for the development of this new park.
Tuesday, July 19 | 4-7pm | Grimmett Park | 19th Ave, just west of Main Street | Free

CULTURE

Mobileography opens at PhotoHaus. It’s an exhibit of photos taken exclusively with phones. Might be interesting.
Friday, July 15 | 7pm | PhotoHaus Gallery (14 W 7 Ave) | FREE

The opening reception for Too Busy to Die goes down at the Ayden Gallery Friday night. It showcases new works and installations from one of the most prevalent international graffiti crews, RWK (Robots Will Kill)
July 15 | 7-11pm | Ayden Gallery, International Village | FREE

Rain City Chronicles gets Harder, Better, Faster and Stronger
“A night of storytelling and song with friends you haven’t met in one of Vancouver’s greatest spaces, the Museum of Vancouver.” Check out the Bhangra.me exhibit before the show and stick around afterward to have drink or two.
Friday, July 15 | Doors 6pm /Show 7pm | Museum of Vancouver (1100 Chestnut) | $12

The CBC is holding a book club at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden on Sunday afternoon. The sun is rumoured to be out by then, so it could make quite a nice afternoon. CBC has author Lisa See (New York Times best-selling author of Shanghai Girls, Peony in Love, and Snow Flower & the Secret Fan) lined-up to discuss her latest novel, Dreams of Joy. To win tickets. Click here.
Sunday, July 17 | Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden | FREE

The Vancouver Tool Library opens this weekend and Vancouver is going to be that much cooler for it. The cooperative tool-lending library is setting up to lend out a stupendous variety of tools for your borrowing pleasure. They’ve got gadgets galore: dandelion weeders, leaf blowers, hedge shearers, ladders, glue guns, soldering irons…the list is long. Once you’re a member you can borrow whatever you want for free. This weekend is the big launch. They have mini-workshops planned (planter box building, bike maintenance, and gardening), and they’ll also be doing shop tours, signing up new members, and collecting tool donations. Oh, and there will be live music and a$5 BBQ lunch. Who doesn’t want to share a little BBQ love with a bunch of people who say: “We are motivated by a vision of our community empowered by the tools and skills needed to transform their homes and communities into vibrant spaces that reflect a commitment to sustainability. To get there, we are creating a community resource that will reduce the costs of improving and greening the places in which we live, work, and play.”
Saturday, July 16 | 11am-4pm | 3448 Commercial | Free (except the $5 BBQ)

Learn to make your very own baby moccasins out of recycled leather in Chinatown this Sunday. BC Elders (a new not-for-profit group of First Nations seniors who get together on a regular basis to make native crafts) will teach you how to construct a proper moccasin in the Blim studio. Call 604-872-8180 or email [email protected] to register.
Sunday, July 17 | 1-5pm | Blim (115 East Pender)

Emily Con! | The Art of Comics! Hit Emily Carr on Granville Island for a one-of-a-kind comic book convention on Saturday. They’re calling it “The Con’ and it will be jam-packed with comics, zines, and comic-esque artwork (curated by Robin Thompson). The Emily Carr Library will also be hosting a graphic novel reading room in the Concourse Gallery, as well as a series of short discussions and demonstrations.

Saturday, July 16 | 11am-4pm | Emily Carr Concourse Gallery
12:30pm-1:30pm | Lecture by Dave McCaig, professional comic book colourist
1:30pm – 2:30pm | Panel of independent comic book publishers
2:30pm – 3:30pm | Demonstration by Robin Thompson, graphic novelist and educator

FILM

Fresh air flicks are conveniently scheduled for what the weather man tells us will be sunny days this week. What a delightful way to while away a summer evening. Bring your own blanket and snacks. It’s free and fun. This week:
Ghostbusters – July 18 | Dusk | Robson Square (across from the VAG) | Free
Top Gun July 19 | Dusk | Stanley Park (near Second Beach Pool) | Free

I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You is playing at Vancity. At first, I wasn’t sure if the title wasn’t a bit too sucky, but by the time I reached the end of the synopsis I wanted to buy tickets. “A mellifluous Portuguese-spoken semi-soliloquy on hard roads and heart ache, I Travel presents as the video-log of a 35-year-old geologist on a 30-day surveillance trip in northeastern Brazil. Ostensibly he’s charting the planned route for a canal, but his thoughts are more preoccupied with the woman he’s left behind, and the snapshots, video fragments and memories he collects along the way take on the residue of longing and regret. Little by little, though, what starts out as a love letter mutates into something else, something more confessional and pained. Culled from photographs, video and super-8, this intrepid pseudo non-fiction film becomes a lament for lost people and places, the long, empty road.” Details.
Friday, July 15 | 8:45pm | Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour) | $11

Double feature of Ahrnie at the Rio on Friday night. Both Predator and Commando are playing!
Friday, July 15 | 11:55pm | Rio Theatre | $8

MUSIC

Memphis is playing the Media Club and you don’t want to miss it.
Thursday, July 14 | 9pm | Media Club (695 Cambie) | $14

Buy, sell, trade and drool over new and used vinyl at the Main Street Record Fair this Sunday. Admire curiosities like seven inchers, LPs, and cassettes. Purchase long lost faves. Chat with other vinyl obsessed Vancouverites. More information.
July 17 | 12-5pm | The Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward) | $2

Folk Fest speads across Jericho Park this weekend and everything points to it being a pretty amazing gig. There’s something quintessentially Vancouver about this three day event. Even if you’re not into folk music, a summer evening at Jericho with music flowing, patchouli and weed in the air, and a little sand between your toes is flat out awesome. This year is the 33rd annual Vancouver Folk Festival. Expect the best. C.R. Avery will be there. So will Joel Plaskett, Gillian Welch, Justin Townes Earle, Elliott Brood, Beats Antique and a whole whack of fantastic bands.
July 15, 16, 17 | Jericho Beach | $45 – 150 depending on your commitment

Over on the Island, the Kulth Festival (pronounced coolth) goes down this weekend. Billed as “The Folk Festival with an Edge”, Kulth has gathered a pretty impressive group of talented musicians to entertain, including Ron Sexsmith, Piper Davis, Headwater. Find out more about the festival here.
The Kulth Festival: July 16 + 17 | Rodeo Ground, Coombs, Vancouver Island

There is a free outdoor concert series going on at North Vancouver’s Cates Park every Saturday from now until the end of August. Can’t tell you who is on the stage this week, but why not roll the dice? Free music in a park, so what’s not to like?
Saturday July 16 | 4-7pm | Cates Park, North Vancouver | Free

FYI, don’t make any plans for next Saturday night. Kitsilano is throwing a music and art festival along West 4th Ave that will blow your mind. There will be 5 stages of FREE live music from 23 of Vancouver’s hottest acts including Yukon Blonde, Jon and Roy, Aidan Knight, Sun Wizard, Veda Hille, No Gold, The Evaporators, Mode Moderne, Frog Eyes, Louise Burns, David Vertesi, The Shilohs, B-LINES, Defektors, our buddy Rich Hope and many, many more! Khatsahlano is one big-ass street party that you won’t want to miss.
Saturday July 23 | 11am to 6pm | between Burrard & MacDonald

Oh, and TV On the Radio play the Commodore. Hell yes to that. Their first show sold out but they added a second. Grab tickets while you can.

GLUTTONY

Those in tune with Belgian history will recognize this national holiday as the day that Leopold I took the constitutional oath as the first King of Belgium on July 21st, 1831. I think I am safe in saying that if you are looking for a Medieval Feast to attend in celebration of National Belgian Day – Chambar is the only place in the city that is going to be able to accommodate you. But move on it, because many other Belgian enthusiasts will be racing you to your seat. From Chambar: “A feast fit for kings, the evening will see 15 different dishes served family style, including a spit roast pig cooked just outside Chambar’s doors on Beatty Street, meters of Chambar Ale, decadent meat platters, friendly, communal tables and no-fuss, hands-on dining. Costumes and furs are deemed festive, but not essential. Please note that due to the traditional nature of the celebration, vegetarian options and cutlery will not be available (neither were orthodox in 1831). Points for best use of imagination! Scout plans to attend. Score tickets here.
July 21 | 6pm | Chambar | $70

Hot damn, Salt Spring Island Ales come to the Salt Cellar on Tuesday night. “Brewed and bottled entirely by hand at Gulf Islands Brewing, Salt Spring Island Ales are made in small batches using traditional, unhurried methods. This is a brewery that takes pride in making quality natural beers with no preservatives or chemicals.” Naturally, the beers will be paired Salt’s hand selected artisan cheeses and charcuterie.
Tuesday July 19 | 7pm | Salt Cellar (45 Blood Alley) | $40

Old Faithful brings a little nourishment to the cobblestone streets of Gastown. Pick up locally-grown fruits, vegetables, preserves, pastries & baked goods.
Sunday, July 13 | Old Faithful Shop

Learn all about backyard chickens with experienced backyard farmer, entrepreneur and all around cool chicken dude Duncan Martin (Scout Interview here) at a workshop put on at the The World In A Garden site.
Wednesday, July 20 | 6:30-8:30pm | W. 57th & E. Blvd.

Grab locally grown produce from good people at your neighbourhood farmer’s market. Main Street on Wednesday rocks.

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
Oak Street Market | Wednesday | 3-7pm | Oak @ 49th (Unitarian Church) | Free
Westside Pocket Markets | Thursdays | 3 pm-7pm | Kits Neighborhood House, 2325 W 7 | Free

Lastly, I’m pretty sure there’s a weiner dog race on at Hasting Racetrack this weekend. But that shouldn’t be classified under Gluttony.

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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late-may-2009-169Michelle 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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