From our calendar to yours comes this carefully considered agenda of cool things we are doing, wishing we could do, or conspiring to do in Vancouver from August 1 to August 6, 2018. Please note that you can now get the Scout List – with a few extra pieces of intel included – sent to your inbox every Thursday. Sign up for your subscription in the sidebar.

SUPPER CLUB | There’s a new plant-based dinner series kicking off in Gastown this Thursday.  Facilitated by Meet vegetarian restaurant and Native Shoes, the Beast Free Supper Club offers a special one-night-only menu and a line-up of animal-loving speakers (nutritionist, athlete, animal rights lawyer, blogger) to be enjoyed in the casual environment of Meet. Find out more.

FESTIVAL | The Powell Street Festival goes down this weekend at Oppenheimer Park. The annual celebration of Japanese-Canadian arts, culture and heritage brings dance, music, martial arts demos, beautiful Japanese pottery and textiles, anime, and an all-out-awesome sumo tournament. Best of all, fill up on tasty treats like Osaka balls, squid teriyaki, bbq salmon, cold ramen, hot ramen, katsu sandwiches and matcha lattes. Note: this is a popular event so don’t drive. Parking will be a bitch. Hop on the bus. The #14 Hastings will get you there. Find out more.

FIREWORKS | The Celebration of Light continues this week. Wednesday sees a display of pyrotechnic amazingness put on by Sweden (Aug. 1) and South Korea will strut their stuff on Saturday (Aug. 4). There are many Vancouver beaches, hills, parks and bridges that will provide free and spectacular views of the fireworks. Best to travel by foot, bike or public transit. Whatever happens, don’t try to drive through the West End on either night. In fact, given the number of festivals and events going on this week, do yourself a favour and don’t try to get anywhere by car. Find out more about fireworks here.

PRIDE | Pride hits Vancouver this week. As always, the big ticket event is the parade, which starts at noon on Sunday and travels along Robson to Denman, down Denman to Beach Ave., ending at Sunset Beach where a proper pride party takes place. Make a point of taking a stroll through the Davie Street Party on Friday night. For all the juicy bits (dance parties, beer gardens, barbecues and live entrainment) leading up to the parade – as well as the full scoop on parade details – skip over to the Pride site here. This deal attracts an easy 700,000 people, so keep that in mind. Leave the car at home and take sunscreen and lots of good, respectful energy with you. Find out more.

CITY | Speaking about getting around on foot, Darren Davis (Transport & Land Use Integration Programme Manager at Auckland Council and lead instructor for the Next Generation Transportation Certificate program at Simon Fraser University) will be giving a free webinar about walking on Friday. Tune in to listen to Davis speak about the The Business Case for Walking — Counting Walking to Make Walking Count in Auckland City Centre and how lessons from Auckland might apply to Vancouver. Topics to be addressed include public places and walking routes, pedestrian safety, designing for walkability, and the future pedestrian and motor vehicle travel trends. The best part? It’s free. Find out more.

ANIME | If you’re walking around downtown this weekend and you notice an uptick in the number of adults kitted out in full-on anime costumes, that’s probably because Anime Revolution is on. The three day event will include exhibits, dancing, gaming, live musical performances, discussion panels, lots of wigs and a staggering amount of cosplay. Find out more.

FILM | There’s a kick ass Film Noir fest starting at The Cinematheque this week. From event organizers: “Join us for three sizzling weeks of crime, corruption, greed, cruelty, and despair; of dark city streets, double-crossing broads, doomed anti-heroes, cold-blooded killers, and two-bit heels — all served up with lavish helpings of menacing Expressionist style and marvelous hard-boiled dialogue.” Think Hitchcock’s 1951 classic Strangers on a Train, Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice, Fred MacMurray and Kim Novak in Pushover  — lots of dark, sexy drama! Full schedule and tickets can be found here.

DANCE At some point in time we’ve probably all watched a music video or commercial and wished that we possessed the grace, coordination, flexibility and bravery of the dancers on the screen (we may even have tried to teach ourselves in front of our mirrors). Although most of us have probably given up on our aspirational dance careers, there’s an entire community of devoted and talented “Street” dancers. They’ll be sweatin’ it out this weekend at Robson Square for the seventh annual Vancouver Street Dance Festival. Head downtown on Saturday for a day of good vibes, good music and some of the city’s best dancers flexing their skills for the public. You don’t need to breakdance or break a leg to get involved in this free event. Find out more.

SCIENCE | Head out to UBC and hit the Beaty Biodiversity Museum for their Way Cool Biodiversity series this Sunday. Expect a lecture about what makes The Albatross so cool (unless you already know). From the Museum: “Albatross, the great ocean wanderer, can have a wingspan of over three meters, but others in this diverse family of birds are the size of your hand. Spending most of their lives in the air, their flying abilities are efficient and specialized allowing them to roam the worlds’ oceans for years at a time. They’ve adapted unique mating and feeding behaviours to accommodate their roaming lifestyles.” Picking up a little extra knowledge about the natural world is only ever going to work to your advantage! Find out more.

RELAX | This is a long weekend. Your primary responsibility to yourself should be to find some time to kick back. After a little cloud on Friday, the sun is expected to return. Hit the trails out at the Endowment Lands; wander the seawall and catch the Pride Parade; spread a blanket on the grass at your local park, or take your taste buds on a tour of Vancouver’s best ice cream! The days of summer will start to slip away, so dig in.