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

SCOUT LIST: 10 Things That You Should Absolutely Do Between Now & Next Week

4389746019_82c729d58c_b

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!

CRAFT NIGHT | Part store, part workshop, Collage Collage in the Fraserhood encourages imagination and creativity and arms you with the glue stick to pull it all together. This week they’re holding an Easter-themed grown-up craft night. The shop’s resident craft experts have combed through Pinterest to develop a fantastic line-up of artsy creations that will blow the typical Easter Bunny stuff out of the water. Don’t resort to cheap, store-bought trinkets. Grab a friend and get crafty! Register online.
Tues, March 18 | 7-9pm | Collage Collage (621 Kingsway @ 15th + Fraser) | $30 | DETAILS

BACH | American baroque specialist Tanya Tomkins is playing the complete cello suites of J.S. Bach at the Orpheum this week and it’s going to be pretty amazing. Tuesday evening’s show is already sold out but there are still tickets available for Wednesday night when Tomkins will play Suites 2, 3 & 6. This concert is presented by Music on Main and Early Music Vancouver – two local organizations with a passion for good classical music. Get in on the action here.
Wed, March 19 | Bar opens 7pm | Concert 8pm | Orpheum Annex (823 Seymour) | DETAILS

ART | Presentation House Gallery is having an opening reception for a new Stan Douglas show this Thursday night. Stan Douglas: Synthetic Pictures will feature new works that include large format photographs (of the sort Douglas is famous for) as well as a series of abstract imagery (Corrupt Files) that are “…photographic scans extracted from Douglas’ film works, reduced to patterns of data.” The big draw will be a massive panorama that reconstructs postwar Hogan’s Alley in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood. “The digitally reconstructed scene, rendered with intricate historical accuracy, is translated into a black and white photograph, and thus confuses distinctions between artifice and realism.” Hogan’s Alley was an ethnically diverse area with a strong black community in postwar Vancouver that was destroyed in the ’70’s in order to make way for the construction of the Georgia Viaduct. Douglas reconstructs a sense of time and place with his work, giving us a detailed look in to Vancouver of the past. Stan Douglas: Synthetic Pictures continues to May 25th.
Thurs, March 20 | 7pm | Presentation House Gallery 333 Chesterfield, N Van | Free | DETAILS

PECHA KUCHA | Pecha Kucha Night goes down this week. As per usual, the gathering of local creatives will be presenting 20 images for 20 seconds each on what inspires/drive/tickles them. This month’s line-up includes Malcolm Levy (New Forms Festival), Grant Lawrence (author and CBC Radio personality), Nikolas Badminton (DesignCulutreMind), Erin Ireland (To Die For Banana Bread), and several others. It’s always inspiring, and it has a habit of selling out, so don’t wait on it! Scoop tickets while there are still some available.
Thurs March 20 | Doors 6:30 | Vogue Theatre (918 Granville) | $15 | DETAILS

GROW | The Society Promoting Environmental Conservation is holding a gardening workshop this week that will focus on increasing the food producing capacity of your home garden. Participants will learn about everything from smart garden design (including factors to consider when making your site selection and planning garden layout) to yield estimates, methods for calculating seed needs and how much space you’ll need to establish between rows. This is a hands-on planning workshop, so it’s a good idea to come with the approximate dimensions of your garden area as well as an understanding of your household’s weekly veggie consumption. Spring is here, folks. Get planting!
Thurs, March 20 | 6-9pm | SPEC 2060 Pine St. | $49 | DETAILS

LAUGH | Order a grilled cheese sandwich and a beer from the concession and settle in for a movie at the Rio this Friday night. The ‘Midnight Movie’ is Monty Python & the Holy Grail. Brilliant dialogue and side-splitting humour abound. “I don’t want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.” If you’re feeling inspired, dress up in a film-related (read: grab some coconuts) costume and take $2 off of the admission price.
Fri, March 21 | 11:30pm | Rio Theatre (1660 E Broadway) | $8/$6 | DETAILS

SAUSAGE PARTY | Rain City Chronicles has joined forces with Bestie (hooray for sausages!) to present a German-themed storytelling evening that is at the top of our list of things to do this week. Das Lexikon is a fun-filled night of German themed storytelling (inspired by German vocabulary handpicked by Rain City Chronicles)  German beer and a delicious bratwurst dinner by Bestie (vegetarian options also available). And what better place to have it unfold than the Vancouver Alpen Club, an institution with a century’s worth of local German history. Rain City Chronicles believes that everyone has a great personal story to tell and they make it their business to create opportunities for our communities to share them. So get into it! This is going to be priceless stuff. Get sorted with tickets here.
Sat, March 22 | Doors 6:30pm | Vancouver Alpen Club (4875 Victoria Dr.) | $38 | DETAILS

NIGHT FOREST | Shadows, noises, animal calls and the sound of snapping branches – walking through Pacific Spirit Regional Park at night can be an intimidating prospect! It’s best to do it in a group. Follow a guide and add more than a few cheerful lanterns and all of a sudden you have a pretty magical Saturday night. That opportunity presents itself this weekend when The Pacific Spirit Regional Park Society hosts Night Quest. It’s a gentle 2km walk along a lantern-lit trail; an outdoor evening of storytelling, campfire music and a bit of wildlife education. Wear your gumboots, pack a flashlight and bring a travel mug as well as a pocket full of change to use at the pop-up Girl Guide concession. This is a really great event appropriate for anyone interested in the mystery of the forest at night (geared toward kids but highly recommended!).
Sat, Mar. 22 | 7-10pm | Pacific Spirit Regional Park, 16th Ave Park Entrance | DETAILS

BUY LOCAL | The Winter Farmers Market fills the Nat Bailey Stadium parking lot on Saturday. Stinging nettles are just coming in to season and there are usually some kicking around the market. Full of iron and tasting like spring, pick them up and feast upon them while you can. Also hook yourself up with hearty root vegetables, fresh bread, dried fruits and scores of other locally-grown goodies.
Sat, Mar. 22 | 10am – 2pm | East Parking Lot of Nat Bailey Stadium 4601 Ontario St | DETAILS

FRESH AIR | A wander around Stanley Park is always inspiring. This Sunday, hit it with a purpose by taking part in a naturalist-led walking tour and learn a little more about the life of the plants and animals of the park as you go. The Stanley Park Ecology Centre will guide you through trails and hidden pockets of the forest to explore the variety of ways in which plants and animals use dead or dying trees to support rich worlds of forest life. This relaxed walking tour meets at the Stanley Park Nature House (located on the south-east shore of Lost Lagoon – just below the viewing plaza at the north end of Alberni Street) and will cost $10.
Sunday, March 23 | 1:30pm – 3:30pm | Stanley Park Nature House | $10 | DETAILS  

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

——————————————————————————————-

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 shops and streets with her best friend – a beat up, sticky, grimy, and uncooperative camera.

——————————————————————————————–

Transition Into 2024 with Some Quality Downtime

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 now until January 8th, 2024.

Scout List, Vol. 601

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, right now.

Scout List, Vol. 600

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 March 30th to April 5th, 2023.

Scout List, Vol. 599

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 over the days and weeks ahead.