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!

TOP DROP | Vancouver’s newest (and possibly coolest) wine event goes down next week. Co-founded by wine consultant Kurtis Kolt and Jeff Curry of The Wine Syndicate, Top Drop “looks to shine a brighter light on wineries who focus on producing wines with minimal intervention, paying particular attention to expressing an honest sense of time and place in the glass, the epitome of the term terroir.” The Main Event ($59) is a walk-around, grazing-style tasting of wines from 33 wineries as well as pours from like-minded craft breweries and perfectly paired bites from food purveyors such as Nelson The Seagull, Benton Brothers Fine Cheese and Two Rivers Specialty Meats. It goes down on Friday, September 11 and tickets are going fast. Bonus: there are a series of sit-down winemaker dinners happening Thursday night (September 10).
September 10 & 11 | Various locations, times and prices | DETAILS

OPENING | Hot Art Wet City Gallery and Catalog Creative present “Receipt”, an art exhibition that aims to examine the relationship between art, value, and cost by juxtaposing it with money spent on consumables like dining and drinking. From show organizers: “We’re fascinated by the disconnect between things we value and what we readily spend on a weekend. Every show we have is met with a price barrier conversation but our consumption of food, drugs and alcohol has never been higher. We want to draw that direct line and have people support the incredible artists in our city before they move away to more embracing cities.” To that end, price tags on works in this show are paired with actual receipts from dinners and weekend benders. Expect art by local talents such as Ali Bruce, Jeff Wilson, Jay Senetchko, Arleigh Wood, Jeremiah Birnbaum, Sean Karemaker, Andrea Hooge, Ilya Viryachev, James Knight, Colin Moore, Drew Young, and Caroline Weaver. Opening night (Friday) will be a party.
Fri, Sept 11 | 7-11pm | Hot Art Wet City Gallery (2206 Main St) | Free | DETAILS

PARTY | This is it, folks. We’re headed in to the last days of summer, so go big with a secret summer send-off party! Brought to you by Here There Studio (the same people who take care to fix you up with good times at events such as Sensory Cinema, The Golden Dumpling Cook Off, and the legendary Round-The-World Ping Pong Showdown), “One Night Fruit Stand” brings Vancouverites an evening of seriously unconventional yoga fuelled by great music and a collab punch from Odd Society Spirits & The Juice Truck. Add some laid back summer vibes and a Banana Split Shack (brought to you by Brown Paper Packages Ice Cream) and who knows where the night will take you! Somewhere good, that’s for sure!
Sat, Sept 12 | 7pm-1am | Secret location announced days before the event | $12.99 | DETAILS

FARM | If you can’t get far out of town, you can still make it as far as Westham Island to feel like you did. This weekend, the Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust throws down with a day of hay-wagon rides and the chance to learn about chickens and crops grown on the island and in the region. You can also milk a cow and dig up a handful of your own potatoes. The aim of the day is to give us city slickers a chance to reconnect with the land that feeds us. We think that’s a great way to spend a piece of your weekend! Come join us!
Sat, Sept 12 | 10am-4pm | Westham Island Herb Farm | Free admission | DETAILS

WILD EDIBLES | Head to Stanley Park on Saturday morning and take part in a hands-on edible plant identification workshop. Learn about the tasty (as well as not so tasty, and down right poisonous) plants and berries that grow in the forest of the park. Sometimes the concession stand line-ups get pretty long and it’s the really clever ones who know they can bounce into the forest for some sustenance. Be one of the clever ones; know your plants!
Sat, Sept 12 | 10am-2:30pm | Stanley Park Dining Pavilion | $25 non-members | DETAILS

SWARM | Vancouver’s artist-run centre programming season is about to kick-off. What does that mean for you? A jam packed weekend of openings and events at a bunch of Vancouver’s coolest independent, non-profit, and artist-run galleries! On Thursday night you can catch openings at The Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery, Cineworks, Grunt Gallery, Malaspina Printmakers on Granville Island, VIVO Media Arts on Main Street and The Western Front in Mount Pleasant. On Friday, hit 221A, Access Gallery, Artspeak, Fillip, Gallery Gachet, Gam Gallery, Or Gallery, UNIT/PITT Gallery. Check out the full line-up of Swarm events at www.paarc.ca.
Sept. 10 + 11 | Various times and locations | DETAILS

MUSIC | The 8th Annual Accordion Noir Festival takes happens this weekend. This year, the theme is ‘Born To Squeeze’ and the line-up of events includes ‘Tentacles’ composer night at The Western Front (303 East 8th), a ‘Deep Squeeze’ multi-media showcase at The Wise Hall on Friday, ‘Davy Jones’ Dance Hall’ on Saturday (again, at the Wise), and ‘Diver’s Bell Lounge’ at Spartacus Books (3378 Findlay Street). The latter boasts an all-day repair booth, workshops, and a parade. Folk, punk, indie rock, blue grass, punk – even hip-hop – the accordion can handle it all. Expect performances by Wendy McNeill, Angélica Negrón and Shayna Dunkelman, Kate and Rich Duo, Ana Bonbon, Rattletrap Ruckus, Compassion Gorilla, Elliot Vaughan, Elysse Cheadle, and Geoff Berner.
Sept 10-13 | Various locations, times and prices | DETAILS

HISTORY | Head to the Museum of Anthropology this Sunday for a screening of Werner Herzog’s award-winning documentary, Cave of Forgotten Dreams. From The MOA “In the award-winning documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams, filmmaker Werner Herzog and a small crew are given a rare chance to film inside France’s Chauvet Cave, where the walls are covered with the world’s oldest surviving paintings. To preserve the art, people are allowed to enter the site for only two weeks a year. Examining the 30,000-year-old drawings, Herzog discusses how the artwork represents humanity’s earliest dreams with scientists and art scholars conducting research at Chauvet.” Stick around after the film for a free public lecture with paleontologist Jean-Michel Geneste (Chief of Scientific Studies of the Lascaux and Chauvet Caves in France — he is featured in Herzog’s film). Film Screening (3-4:30pm), Lecture (6-7pm), Reception 7-9pm. These events are Free with museum admission.
Sep 13 | 3-9pm | Museum of Anthropology (6393 NW Marine Dr) | $16.75 | DETAILS

FEAST | This Sunday is the 21st annual Feast of Fields. This year, Farm Folk City Folk presents their super delicious annual fundraising event at UBC Farm. FoF organizers work hard to bring fresh ingredients that are produced, grown, caught, and harvested by the region’s best farmers and fishers together with talented chefs from some of the most amazing restaurants in the city. They do this in order to showcase why we are so lucky to live – and, very specifically, eat – in the Lower Mainland. It’s always seriously good times, plus the money raised goes to Farm Folk City Folk. This event is close to sold out but it’s rumoured that last minute tickets might be available via Whole Foods Market on Cambie or the Organic Grocer in Surrey.
Sun, Sept 13 | 1-5pm | UBC Farm (3461 Ross Dr, UBC) | $95 | DETAILS

COMMUNITY | Get ready for the Autumn Shift Festival on Main Street! The idea of this street festival is to celebrate the shift in seasons and the growing shift in attitudes towards sustainability, eating foods that are produced locally, and growing some of your own. Expect the usual wickedness that comes with any Main Street festival: great music, some sausage BBQing, an artisan market, gardening booths, interesting demos and – fingers crossed – a few alley-way pakoras from Chutney Villa. Note that Main Street between Broadway and E. 7th Ave, and the laneways west of Main Street and 8th Ave to Quebec, will be closed to traffic so that pedestrians can wander and enjoy.
Sun, Sept. 13 | 12pm to 6pm | Main Street between Broadway and 7th | DETAILS