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!

GET INVOLVED | The new St. Paul’s Hospital and ‘Health Campus’ slated for the “Flats” (1002 Station St. between National and Prior / Station and Malkin) is a pretty big project that will have a massive impact on our city. Hit the information session being held at the Creekside Community Recreation Centre tonight to “explore emerging principles for open spaces, mobility and connections, site planning and design, and sustainability” as they relate to this project. If you can’t make it to Olympic Village tonight, a questionnaire will be available online from March 8th to March 20th – check that business out here.
Tue, March 8 | 4:30-7:30 pm | Creekside Community Recreation Centre (1 Athletes Way) | DETAILS

BEER | The 4th Annual East Side Beer Fest goes down this Wednesday night. Hustle yourself over to The WISE Hall to enjoy sample after sample of tasty beer paired with food from Commercial Drive eateries. The line-up is sweet; expect to see pours from the likes of Four Winds, Powell Street, Moody Ales, Driftwood, Parallel 49, Bridge, Strange Fellows, Steel & Oak, Daderaad, Bomber, Postmark, Off The Rail, and others. Take along a non-perishable food donation, as proceeds from the evening (sponsored by the good peeps at Liberty Merchant Co.) support the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society. Good beer, good karma — not bad for a Wednesday!
Mar 9 | 7-9pm | WISE Hall (1882 Adanac St) | $25 | DETAILS

ART | Phantoms in the Front Yard is a Vancouver-based art collective united by a desire to challenge the contemporary Canadian art scene. Members of the collective create art inspired by the human figure and have pulled together shows with themes like drugs, memory, longing, bloodlines, and story. This month the collective asks the questions: “On what scales do we map our daily experience? How do the individual spaces we inhabit sit and intersect within our larger geography? How do we affect the space around us, and how does it affect us?”  Take a day trip out to Deep Cove to catch the results at the Seymour Gallery. Art by Jeremiah Birnbaum, James Knight, Paul Morstad, Jay Senetchko, Jonathan Sutton, and David Vegt.
Mar 9–Apr 2, | 10 am–5 pm | Seymour Art Gallery (4360 Gallant Ave, North Van) | DETAILS

ADULTS ONLY | The Vancouver Aquarium is pretty sweet at night, so check out After Hours, an evening of engaging awesomeness. Guests can enjoy wine, beer and some food during the grown-up evening, the educational focus of which is on The Secret Sex Lives of Aquatic Animals. Oh my! Expect a scientific talk from the staff veterinarian about underwater sex; a chance to listen to the hissing cockroach’s mating call; and learn how sharks can reproduce four different ways.
Thu, March 10 | 6-10pm | Vancouver Aquarium (845 Avison Way), Stanley Park | $21 (members) $29 non-members | DETAILS

DARK MOUNTAINS | Local artist Dina González Mascaró will be at Vancouver Special this Friday night to show her latest artistic triumph, a series of large scale charcoal and graphite drawings exploring the concepts of structure, rubble, architecture, and loss. Hit the opening reception to meet the artist and mingle with a glass of something good. Vancouver Special aways does a good job of gathering an interesting and engaged crowd. Plus, Don’t Argue Pizza is only a short walk down the hill and when was post-art show pizza and a beer a bad idea?
Fri, March 11 | 6-9pm | Vancouver Special (3612 Main St.) | DETAILS

HISTORY | The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival doesn’t officially begin until March 24, but their “Tree Talks & Walks” program is in full swing. Tag along with arborist David Tracey on a wander through Oppenheimer Park this Sunday to learn about the special history of the cherry blossom trees in this DTES park. “Legacy Sakura” were planted here by “first-generation immigrant Japanese elders in 1977 to commemorate the 100th year anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant to BC shores. The trees also marked the symbolic return of the Japanese Canadian community to the Powell Street area in 1970s after their forced removal in 1942. (source)” It’s cool to think about all the things a single tree has been witness to. No need to register – just show up with your boots and umbrella.
Sun, March 13 | 1-2:30pm | Oppenheimer Park (400 Powell St.) | DETAILS

MOZART | How is your Sunday looking? Got some time in the late afternoon? How about zoning out to a bit of classical music? Check out the The Vivaldi Chamber Choir and a chamber orchestra performance of choral works by Mozart and Salieri. Choir, organ, strings and brass? You really can’t go wrong. Get the full scoop here.
Sun, Mar 13 | 3-4:30pm | St. Helen’s Anglican Church ( 4405 West 8th Ave) | $22 | DETAILS

FILM | Saturday is a fine day to take a seat at The Rio and settle in for the long haul. Screenings begin at 5pm with Space Odyssey, grow increasingly unsettling with Full Metal Jacket at 8:15pm, and reaches peak creepy at 11pm with a late night viewing of A Clockwork Orange.
Sat, March 12 | 9:15 | Rio Theatre (1660 East Broadway) | $12 | DETAILS

DINE | The young and innovative chefs of Elementa are at it again. If you’re unfamiliar, they’re a group of toques who have worked (or are still working) in some of Vancouver’s better restaurants (eg. Bao Bei, Bishop’s, Savio Volpe, Wildebeest, etc). From time to time they flex their creative muscles by putting together special dinners showcasing local ingredients. Their 5th dinner is coming up next Sunday in East Vancouver: a final taste of winter melding with the onset of spring. “This dinner will focus on pristine shellfish and crustaceans from the frigid winter waters as well as the last of vegetables from the root cellar mingling with the first wild and cultivated spring edibles”. Ticket price includes 7 course tasting menu with beverage pairings, canapes, and petit fours. Seats are limited, buy tickets before they’re all gone!
Sun, March 13 | 7pm | Harkness & Co. Butchers (666 E Broadway) | $120 | TICKETS

OPERA |  Puccini’s Madama Butterfly continues at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Love, betrayal, heartbreak, a clash of cultures – it’s got all the juicy stuff! Need a refresher? From Vancouver Opera: “In Nagasaki at the turn of the 20th century, a pleasure-seeking American naval officer named Pinkerton leases a house and marries a young geisha. He is only briefly enchanted with his “Butterfly”, but she is totally and forever committed to the marriage. When he abandons her and then, years later, returns to claim their child, Butterfly is devastated and makes a supreme sacrifice, in devotion to her ancestors.” Do it.
Now – March 13 | Various times + prices | Queen Elizabeth Theatre ( 630 Hamilton St.) | DETAILS

SPRING FORWARD | March is that turning point on the calendar when we can begin to remember longer days and hold on tight to the knowledge that the warmth of summer is well on its way. Thankfully, that momentous point (Daylight Savings Time) comes this week. Late on Saturday night – or more accurately, at about 2am on Sunday morning – our clocks will spring forward, making room for the extra daylight that will help put down the doldrums.
Sun, March 13 | 2am | DETAILS