by Michelle Sproule | 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. You can also check it out in the Globe & Mail, from our calendar to yours…

GRINGO | Slip inside Shoel Davidson and Christina Cottel’s new Gringo this week and have yourself a Mexi-Cali style taco and a Michelada. The brand new 28 seat eatery in Blood Alley was delayed a few days (soft opening was supposed to be this weekend), but it should be good to go right about now.
Lunch & Dinner | Blood Alley (look for the hot pink signage) | DETAILS

ENGAGE | There’s a Built City lecture going down at the Museum of Vancouver this week. As explained by the MOV, these lectures are a series of talks aimed at engaging “city thinkers from all disciplines and areas of interest to make connections between community, policy and governance, to the ideals and economics of architectural theory and practice.” Thursday’s talk will focus on the issue of whether or not Vancouver has grown too expensive to support a creative class of artists, designers, entrepreneurs. Local filmmaker Michele Smolkin will be there (and she’ll bring along her film on Vancouver’s creative spaces called “Out of It? Reboot the City”). Architect Brian Wakelin will also be there to present a case in cultural and creative place-making. In short, it will be a thought-provoking evening, the outcome of which has the potential to contribute to encouraging and protecting a strong creative community in Vancouver.
Thurs, Oct. 10 | 7pm | Museum of Vancouver | $12 | DETAILS

ART | Robots & Monsters is opening at the Ayden Gallery. From the looks of it, Ayden has lined up close to 50 artists to contribute to the show. That’s a lot of freaky! There will also be live music, $4 Steamwhistles and a big crowd of artists. If you can’t make it down on Friday night, no worries: the exhibition stays on the walls until November 3rd.
Fri. Oct. 11 | 7-11pm | 2nd Floor, International Village (AKA Tinseltown) 88 West Pender St | DETAILS

BEER | The beer is finally flowing at the highly anticipated Brassneck Brewery. Check out our preview of it here. The hours are Monday—Thursday 2pm—11pm, Friday: 12pm—11pm, and Saturday & Sunday: 11am—11pm.
7 days a week | 2148 Main St. | DETAILS

GREEN | Aimed at taking important terms like ‘sustainability’, ‘eating locally’ and ‘environment footprint’ from concept to realistic action, Sustenance Festival is about connecting experts with community members to brainstorm, experiment, and invent ways to further incorporate these concepts into everyday life. Expect workshops, storytelling, lectures and feasting. Many events will take site at the Roundhouse, but there will also be pop-ups around town (This week: Backyard Chickens at the Strathcona Community Centre, and The World In A Garden ‘Eating Green’ workshop at Choices Market).
Oct 9 – 21 | Roundhouse Rec Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews) | DETAILS

GHOST TRAIN | The Stanley Park Ghost Train rides again. This year, the train is featuring frightening fiends from the silver screen. From Stanley Park: “Awake Dracula! Awake Wolfman, the Mummy, and the Phantom of the Opera. Crawl out from your coffins, slither from your slabs, and ooze out from your tombs! These October nights summon you from darkness.” Oooh. Departures begin on Friday night and keep chugging through to November 2nd (closed Thanksgiving Monday).
Oct 11 – Nov 2 | 6-10pm | Stanley Park Miniature Train | Grown-ups $11 / kids (3-17) $7 | DETAILS

PHOTOGRAPHY | Hit up Chinatown on Friday night. There are three fantastic photography shows holding opening nights within steps of one another. Start out with “Asleep in your Branches” at Positive Negative Gallery (the beautiful images by Tristan Casey will blow you away), then head next door for “India on an Enfield” at The Shop (Photographers Ola Cholewa and Shea Pollard explore Northern India on a Royal Enfield – and take amazing photos along the way) and finish off with a wander around the Gam Gallery to take in “Perimeter”, works by David Semeniuk (Semeniuk captured his images as he walked the perimeter of the city over 9 walks).
Fri, Oct. 11 | Gam Gallery (110 E Hastings St @ Columbia)| DETAILS
Fri, Oct. 11 | Positive Negative Gallery (436 Columbia) | DETAILS
Fri, Oct. 11 | The Shop (432 Columbia St) | DETAILS

HOMECOMING | Take some time this weekend to make your way to North Vancouver for a tour of The Rainbow Warrior. Although this isn’t the original Greenpeace Flagship (this vessel, built in 2011, is the third incarnation), the fact that Greenpeace was born in Vancouver makes a trip to see and appreciate this ship an activity that we are feel honour bound to do. Not only is this is an opportunity to touch and experience a bit of BC’s connection to the environmental movement, but the ship itself sounds pretty rad. From Greenpeace: “the Rainbow Warrior is Greenpeace’s first purpose-built campaigning vessel, capable of sending images from the high seas to people all around the world. She is also equipped with unique features, like water treatment facilities, that make her one of the most environmentally-friendly ships at sea.”
Fri, Oct. 11 + Sat, Oct. 12 | 10am-6pm | Burrard Dry Dock Pier at Londsdale Quay) | Free | DETAILS

FARM | Celebrate the last market of the 2013 farming season at the UBC Harvest Festival this Saturday. Head out to the UBC Farm to stock up on apples, squash and fresh greens, canned goods, artisan baked goods and beautiful Cinderella pumpkins from the pumpkin patch (basically everything that you need for a Thanksgiving feast other than the Turkey). Stick around for a little while to participate in the annual pumpkin carving competition. You can also sit in on seed-saving or harvest-themed chef demos and wander the farm grounds to take in the beautiful autumn colours.
Sat, Oct 12 | 9am–1pm | UBC Farm (3461 Ross Drive) | DETAILS

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL | Got kids? Grab ’em and scoot over to Van Dusen Gardens for a super-cool ‘Incredible Edibles’ program that will walk you and your 5–11 year-old buddies through hows of identifying fruits, berries and edible leaves. The program will take a look at the parts of plants that we can eat as well as some that we shouldn’t and will talk about both native and introduced edibles. Bonus: participants get to make an edible vegetable pet to take home. Woot! Pre-registration required by calling 604-718-5898 or [email protected]
Sun, Oct. 13 | 10:30am or 1:30pm | VanDusen  (37th & Oak St.) | Family $25 | DETAILS

Check the Globe & Mail every Thursday for our Special Weekend Edition of the Scout List

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Michelle Sproule grew up in Kitsilano and attended 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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