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 July 16 to July 22, 2020. 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.

image credit: Edward Fu-Chen Juan’s “Howe Sound”

SWIM | The City of Vancouver opened a few outdoor public pools this week! Kits, New Brighton, and Second Beach – all three are good to go and Maple Grove joins in on July 20th. There are, of course, a few hoops to jump through. In addition to meeting a few carefully considered safety guidelines, would-be swimmers will have to buy tickets online for a time slot on the following day (and then cross their fingers the forecast doesn’t change). Still, with clear skies and temperatures in the mid 20’s expected this week, things are looking promising. Lovely, deep, cool water is waiting for you. Click here for information on swimming schedules and admission procedures.

MID CENTURY MODERN | Modern in the Making: Post-War Craft and Design in British Columbia opens at the Vancouver Art Gallery this Friday. This exhibition celebrates West Coast Modernism in BC with over 300 works (art, textiles, ceramics, furniture and jewellery) spanning the years 1945-1975. This show aims to reveal the “multiple ways modernism was interpreted in British Columbia, with the inflection of local histories, materials and knowledge with a recognition of the rich Indigenous cultures that predated the arrival of settler cultures.” Info and tickets here.

DINNER | Miss Wildebeest? Us too! Here’s a hot tip: Wildebeest is popping up in two locations this week. Location #1 is Dachi in the Hasting-Sunrise neighbourhood for a one night collaborative dinner tonight (Thursday, July 16, 5:30pm-9:30pm). Wildebeest will be bringing some of their greatest hits, which means those addictive Smoked Castelvetrano Olives and the famous Bone Marrow Luge, as well as dishes that feature lots of locally grown vegetables alongside wagyu tartare, Ribeye steaks and steelhead. No tickets required, folks. This is a first come, first serve gig, and it’s worth mentioning that Dachi has a sweet patio spread for all to safely stretch out on. Can’t make dinner tonight? No worries, you can also catch up with Wildebeest at location #2, The Diamond, this Saturday, July 18th for a 90’s Retro Sausage & Rosé dinner (Social Distancing Edition). Tickets for that, which you can expect to sell out, are a mere $40. DETAILS

OPEN | Potluck Hawker Eatery is now open in the Cambie Village. Grab a socially distanced table in the colourful and laidback restaurant or order a take-out feast and hightail it to the gentle shade of a tree in a nearby park. This tasty south-east Asian street food can be eaten just about anywhere. We recommend sweet and salty Malaysian-inspired shaker fries, cool beet carpaccio, some roti, the green papaya salad, Sambal eggplant, an order of Char Kway Teow (Chinese sausage, shrimp and rice noodles) with the chicken wings to start. This is opening week for the Potluck team, so show up with patience and congratulations. DETAILS 

WATCH | The Rio Theatre has a little bit of everything hitting their screen this weekend. Kick off with a classic by grabbing a seat for Thursday evening’s screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (Grace Kelley and Jimmy Stewart). Both Back To The Future and The Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense play on Friday night (7:30 and 10:30 respectively). Dosed plays on Saturday at 1:30pm and includes a filmmaker Q&A. Academy Award-winner Parasite takes to the screen on Saturday at 4:15pm, and to take things to a divinely gritty place, The Warriors plays on Saturday night (10:30). Bonus: The Rio has all sorts of safety protocols worked out. DETAILS 

PICK | It’s blueberry season! Farmer’s markets and local grocery stores are loaded with them, but picking your own is a fun summer activity. Head toward Ladner/Delta and hit Westham Island. Once you cross the wood planked bridge to the soft roads lined by long grass and foxgloves, you’ll find fantastic u-pick berry farms as well as roadside egg and vegetable stands. To pick your own blueberries, hit Emma Lea Farms. Keep in mind that customers cannot bring their own personal containers this year, bucket sizes available at Emma Lea range from $7 to $45 and hours for U-Pick are 8am-6pm daily. DETAILS

ART | Local artist Edward Fu-Chen Juan has a show on at Malaspina Printmakers on Granville Island and I’m loving the colour palettes (see image at top). Juan’s recent works are simple layered landscapes of the southern coast of British Columbia and the central highlands of Oaxaca, Mexico. They have a vaguely retro (70’s?) vibe to them, which is made even cooler by the fact that the artist’s process involves ink pastes made from wild plants. Get this: “Juan’s concept was cultivated from an ongoing working relationship with a Zapotecan artisan weaving community in Teotitlan del Valle. There, the Oaxaqueño weavers forage native local plants and insects to extract pigments for their dye colours. These traditional techniques motivated Edward to develop a personal art practice in print media on paper.” Edward Fu-Chen Juan’s beautiful exhibition, Mapping Colours, continues until July 31. Stick your finely masked head in and check it out! DETAILS

MAKE | Speaking of plant dyes… you might want to know that the fine and talented folks at Still Moon Arts Society are hosting drop-in natural dye workshops this summer. Learn about local plants and how to use them to make natural dyes; catch a dye demonstration or a mini-lesson; and then roll up your sleeves to apply your knowledge to all the unsuspecting white t-shirts in your closet! Get serious by registering for one of their official workshops, or keep it casual with a drop-in every second Wednesday (5:30-7:00pm July 22, August 5, September 2) DETAILS

FARMERS | Fill your shopping bag with awesome summer produce at a Farmer’s Market this week. Load up on berries, carrots, beans, beets and mushrooms as well as apricots, lovely eggs from happy chickens, leafy greens, fresh bread, sticky honey and other locally-grown and harvested goodies. Don’t be discouraged by any queues you encounter. They moves quick and fresh, local food grown by cool as heck farmers are always worth the wait! Find out more.