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

Ten Things That You Should Absolutely Do Between Now And Next Week

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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 theirs…and yours!

DESTROYER | Vancouver indie-folk hero Dan Bejar of Destroyer plays The Rickshaw on Thursday night. The gig is in support of his latest EP Five Spanish Songs. If side projects from successful musicians are rare, EPs of the results of said side projects are even rarer, which makes shows in support of said side projects almost unheard of. So get on it!
Thu, June 12 | Doors 8pm | Rickshaw Theatre (254 E Hastings St) | $20 | DETAILS

THE FAT BADGER | The new gastropub from Espana chef Neil Taylor and Ed Perrow is now open in the old Le Gavroche location (West End). They’ve done a sweet job on the renovation and the food is predictably excellent. Must have: three miniature Yorkshire puddings with slices of perfect roast beef soaked in gravy and licked with horseradish. Bonus: the soundtrack is British to the bone.
The Fat Badger | 1616 Alberni St. | 5pm to close, 7 days a week | DETAILS

FULL BLAST | How about Chinese tacos, a tiki bar with a Tom Selleck Shrine and a little bit of ping pong this Saturday night? Even if you have some of those cool little drink umbrellas and an old Magnum PI poster in the closet and think you could pull some version of that scenario off in your own living room, you need to trust us — it’ll be way more fun (and less cleaning up on your part) if you hit the Full Blast party in East Van this weekend. Brought to you by the same team of people that came up with events like Das Lexicon and Cafeteria – expect Full Blast to involve quality food and drink, a sense of humour, and several unexpected twists. From event organizers: “You can feel it – longer nights, the thirst for beer, shorter shorts. Summer is just around the bend, and what better way to make room for it than with a summer party with a stacked lineup?” There will be music, dancing, and Chen Wei Lee (Blacktail Florist), Alain Chow (ex-Bao Bei), and Stanley Yung (Dirty Apron) will be setting up a Night Market-style hawker stand with Chinese Tacos and popsicles. There will be drinks, too, as Caroline Balhorn and Jenny Craig of Tin Can Studio will be on hand with their travelling art studio transformed into a Tin Can Tiki Bar. And there will be action, as The Biltmore Ping Pong Club will be on site to mediate casual Ping Pong battles. Bring cash, as this isn’t a commercial venue with a bank machine in the corner.
Sat, June 14 | Location disclosed upon RSVP | $5 | DETAILS

CONCERT | The CBC Music Festival goes down Saturday and the line-up is amazing: Chad VanGaalen, the Belle Game, Wake Owl, Tegan and Sara, Dan Mangan, Arkells, Hannah Georgas. The ticket price might be a little steep ($60-$75), but the talent is seriously solid and the setting – with two stages – is lovely. Gates open at 1pm and shows are staggered throughout the day (ending with Tegan and Sara’s set at 8:45pm).
Sat, June 14 | Deer Lake Park, 6450 Deer Lake Ave) | DETAILS

PARK THE CAR | 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, more live music, bike and skateboard demos, good food, a little bit of roller disco, some locally made trinkets, and generally happy people. Who doesn’t love Car Free Day, seriously? More information over here, but the short version is as follows:
COMMERCIAL | Sun | Venables to North Grandview | 12pm-7pm | DETAILS
MAIN STREET | Sun | between Broadway & 30th | 12pm-7pm | DETAILS
WEST END | Sun | Denman from Robson to Davie | 12pm-6pm | DETAILS
KITS | Kits likes the idea of Car Free Day too, but rather than shut down 4th Ave, expect individual block parties in the hood on Saturday & Sunday| DETAILS

FOOTIE | Flat screens have been mounted, beer orders have been appropriately adjusted and temporary licences have been issued to jersey and flag-selling vendors. Commercial Drive is ready for the World Cup. The 20th World Cup “kicks off” kicks off at 1pm on Thursday (Croatia vs Brazil) and unless you’re brave enough and flush enough to be headed to Brazil to take it all in, The Drive is where you’ll want to be. Matches run June 13 through to Thursday June 26 with the finals taking place on June 28-July 13 (The Commercial Drive BIA website has a handy World Cup schedule here). This weekend, we’re betting that the highest level of energy will be coursing through The Drive starting at 3pm on Saturday when England steps on the field to take on Italy. Unless you’re fan enough to claim a seat early on Saturday morning and hold that seat throughout the day, this is going to be a standing room-only gig – and latecomers can count on that standing room being out in the street.
Now through Sunday, July 13 | Brasil & Commercial Drive | Free – just ask FIFA | DETAILS

RIDE | Velopalooza continues this week. The two week-long community-run bike fun fest has close to 70 events (rides, tours meet-ups) planned, so this is a good time to get your bike out of hibernation and back on the road. This week the big ticket has got to be the Vancouver contingent of World Naked Bike Ride, which goes down on the seawall. Brave souls will begin to congregate at Sunset Beach around noon (body painting artists will be on hand to decorate participants – as if that makes it any easier) and then streak the city starting at 2pm. Following the ride there will be a picnic, hosted by niftynude.org (who, as it turns out, also hosts a $1 nude swim at Templeton Pool on Saturday night, but that’s a whole other entry).
Now through June 22 | Various times and locations | Free | DETAILS

RESPECT | Some of the oldest trees in the city grow in Stanley Park. A few of those dudes are close to 700 years old! Just imagine the challenges they’ve survived (lightning, fire, wind storms, logging), not to mention the things they’ve seen (Royal visits, hippie concerts, murders, secret trysts). Head down to the Lost Lagoon Nature House this Sunday to join a guided tour given by the Stanley Park Ecology Society that will familiarize participants with locations and individual histories of some of our ‘great-grandfather trees’.
Sun, June 15 | 1:30-3:30pm | Lost Lagoon Nature House, Stanley Park | DETAILS

DRAW DOWN | Get your pencils ready because this weekend welcomes the Vancouver Draw Down. On Saturday, from Marpole straight down to Crab Park and Dunbar clear across to East Van, 50 free hands-on drawing workshops are set to pop-up at community centres, galleries, museums, and parks around the city. It will be difficult to avoid all the doodling, so why not join in? Draw Down isn’t about getting it perfect, it’s about the fun that can be had with a blank piece of paper and a crayon, pencil, pen, piece of chalk, or paintbrush. Take part in a fascinating ‘Talking Hands‘ workshop in the Celebration Hall at Mountain View Cemetery (5455 Fraser St) in which local artist Shirley Wiebe reveals how to combine personal hand gestures and handwritten words to create a beautiful image; hit Collage Collage (621 Kingsway) for the Draw Me A Story workshop; make your way to the West End Community Centre (870 Denman St) to experiment with drawing blindfolded; or check out the Dead or Alive: Still Life & Life Drawing event at the Emily Carr Concourse Gallery.
Sat, June 14 | Various times and locations | Free | DETAILS

FOREST TO FARM | There’s a day of adventure planned by the The British Columbia Institute of Agrologists this Saturday. Open to the public, “From the Forest to the Farm: A Day of Exploring at UBC” starts with a walk on the super cool Greenheart Canopy Walkway at the UBC Botanical Garden where you can take in the coastal temperate rainforest from a unique perspective. The exploration then moves along to UBC Farm for lunch (think organic field greens, red wine braised beef short ribs, wild BC mushrooms, baked wild salmon, smoked tofu, herbed potatoes) and a guided tour of the various areas of the farm, from apple orchard and medicinal plant gardens to The Children’s Learning Garden and The Indigenous Food Hub garden (you’ll get a real sense of the scope and depth of what the farm offers and how it enriches our city). Bonus: Snacks and refreshments will also be provided along the way.
Saturday, June 14 | 9:30am-4pm | Meet at The UBC Botanical Garden Gift Shop | DETAILS

EAT LOCAL | Grab locally grown produce from good people at your neighbourhood farmer’s market while you still can. You won’t want to look back and wish that you had made it to more markets!
Main Street Thornton Park | Wednesday | 3pm–7pm | Main Street Station at Terminal | DETAILS
Oak Street | Wednesdays | 3-7pm | Oak and 49th | DETAILS
Yaletown | Thursdays | 2-6pm | Mainland between Davie & Helmcken | DETAILS
Trout Lake | Saturdays | 9am-2pm | North Parking Lot, John Hendry Park | DETAILS
West End | Saturdays | 9am-2pm | 1100 Block of Comox (across from Nelson Park) | DETAILS
Kits | Sundays | 10am-2pm | 2690 Larch @ 10th | DETAILS
Main Street | June 4 | 3pm-7pm | 1100 Block Main (Thornton Park) | DETAILS
Lonsdale Quay | Saturdays | 10am-3pm | East Plaza 123 Carrie Cates Court, North Van | DETAILS
Ambleside | Sundays | 10am-3pm | 1500 Bellevue (between 15th & 16th), West Van | DETAILS

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

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late-may-2009-169Michelle 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 streets with her best friend – a beat up, sticky, grimy (but faithful) camera.

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There are 4 comments

  1. Hi There,

    The BCIA event (“Forest to Farm”) at UBC is a members event and is not open to the public. I apologize for the miss reported information on this website and any inconveniences this may cause to individuals hoping to attend. Please do not contact UBC or BCIA regarding attending the event.

    Thank you for your understanding.

    Sincerely,

    Jenny Beugeling, A.Ag
    Executive Committee Director
    Vancouver Branch
    British Columbia Institute of Agrologists

  2. Non-members are usually family and friends of members instead of the general public. If you are interested in posting information regarding an event please don’t hesitate to contact us in the future so we can avoid any confusion.

    I did not want to offend you, I just did not want someone to come and find out that they could not participate. No one unexpected came, so it all worked out.

    I hope that you can understand my original concern.

  3. COST: BCIA members – $20*

    BCIA student members – $10*

    Family and friends of members – $77*

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