Thank you for voting Miss604 the #1 Best Local Blog and #1 Best Twitter Feed in the Westender’s Best of the City! The 19th annual readers’ choice poll has asked Vancouverites to name their favourite neighbourhood, tourist attraction, brow bar, brewery, nail salon, sports team, and more.

Best of the City 2016

Here are just a few of the other Best of the City winners this year:

For the full list, check out the Westender online and in newsstands around Vancouver this week.

Tulip festivals are amazing. They get you outdoors, show you corners of the region you might rarely visit, and turn our green-and-blue landscape into a rainbow of colours sprouting up from the ground. Until recently, our options have been to cross the border to the Skagit Valley Festival or venture out to Agassiz for the Tulips of the Valley Festival. This year, there’s a new option in Abbotsford.

Inaugural Abbotsford Tulip Festival

This spring marks the first year of the Abbotsford Tulip Festival — the only tulip festival in BC and tulip celebration in Canada located on a farm. Guests will experience 10 acres of beautiful, vibrant colour, featuring over 50 varieties and 2.5 million bulbs, and ample parking for over 1000 vehicles.

• Dates: March 25 – May 1, 2016 from 9:00am to 6:00pm, seven days a week
• Location: 36737 North Parallel Road, Abbotsford
• Admission: $5.00 per person and complimentary parking Monday to Friday. Tour buses are welcome. Tickets can be purchased online.

The festival offers a covered picnic area, children’s play area, photo cut-out boards, fun food trucks (on weekends) and sections for friends and family to wander through the fields. Guests can pick their own flowers in the U- Pick field, purchase fresh cut tulips and order bulbs for planting in the fall.

To learn more, visit the Abbotsford Tulip Festival website, call (604) 751-6389 or follow the festival on Facebook and Instagram or Twitter using the tag #abbytulips.

Vancouver Brewery Tours invite you to slip on your jelly shoes, housecoat, and shades to join them for the inaugural Big Lebowski Brewery and Bowling Tour on Saturday, March 26th.

Big Lebowski Brewery and Bowling Tour

The BREW abides! This Lebowski-themed tour includes custom beer samples, costume and trivia contests at local breweries, and of course some bowling at Grandview Lanes.

Tour Times: 12:00pm to 3:30pm or 2:00pm to 5:30pm

About the Ride: Guests will be picked up and dropped off at Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver, and shuttled between stops in the Vancouver Brewery Tour’s 14-passenger van. During the ride, guests will enjoy a selection of songs culled from The Big Lebowski soundtrack — everything except The Eagles, of course.

Guests will vie for prizes in a Big Lebowski trivia contest guaranteed to test the knowledge of even the biggest fan before moving on to Storm Brewing to take part in a costume contest. The tour will end at Grandview Lanes Bowling Centre, where participants will forgo Walter Sobchak’s rule of never rolling when ‘shomer Shabbos’ and will avoid tossing ‘Gutterballs’.

“Whether you go by ‘His Dudeness’, ‘Duder’ or ‘El Duderino’ — ‘if you’re not into the whole brevity thing’ — this tour will put both your Big Lebowski knowledge and bowling skills to the test,” says Vancouver Brewery Tours founder Ryan Mackey, with a wink. “As an ardent Lebowski fan, I’m excited to offer a tour that not only highlights some of our amazing local craft breweries, but also pays tribute to a film loved by so many, ‘but that’s just, like, our opinion, man’.”

Tickets: A limited number of seats to the Big Lebowski Brewery and Bowling Tour are available for $85 plus tax per person. All beer and bowling is included in the cost of the tour and every guest will receive a Vancouver Brewery Tours beer glass. Seats may be booked online, by phone (604) 318-2280 or by e-mail to info(at)vancouverbrewerytours.com.

Follow Vancouver Brewery Tours on Facebook and Twitter for more information.

The cherry blossoms are popping and there are signs of spring around Vancouver as February comes to a close. Check out what’s happening in Vancouver this weekend as we head into a very busy season for performances, festivals, shows, and outdoor family activities.

Things to do in Vancouver This Weekend

Events that run for longer than three days in a row are highlighted in green.

Friday, February 26, 2016
VSO New Music Festival presents the Kronos Quartet
The Comic Strippers
Battle of the Brush: Season Opening Show Pop Art
Vancouver Giants: Hockey & Charity in One
University Singers and UBC Choral Union – Bach to Spring
The Arthritis Society’s 10th Annual Gala
Camilo the Magician: Supernatural
Metro Theatre: 5 Women Wearing the Same Dress
Opera Mariposa Presents Master Class with Terrence McNally
DanceHouse: Kidd Pivot and Electric Company Theatre
JFL NorthWest Comedy Fest
16th Annual Chutzpah! Festival
PostSecret: The Show
Vagabond Players: Over the River and Through the Woods
Pacific Theatre Society Presents: Bright Blue Future

Saturday, February 27, 2016
Monster Jam Vancouver
Boardroom Snowboard Demo at Cypress Mountain
VSO New Music Festival: Sacred and Profane
Redfish Kids Grand Opening in Dundarave
Western Front: Anniversary Gala Dinner & Art Auction
Sculptors’ Society of BC Outreach Exhibition & Reception
Learn to Square Dance with Paul Silveria & ArtStarts
Crazy8s 2016 Gala Screening & Afterparty
Watershed Snowshoe Tour at Mount Seymour
The Gentlemen Hecklers Present Road House
Camilo the Magician: Supernatural
Carousel Theatre: Go Dog. Go!
Vancouver Pet Lover Show
Nat Bailey Farmers Market
Metro Theatre: 5 Women Wearing the Same Dress
Opera Mariposa Presents Master Class with Terrence McNally
DanceHouse: Kidd Pivot and Electric Company Theatre
JFL NorthWest Comedy Fest
16th Annual Chutzpah! Festival
PostSecret: The Show
Vagabond Players: Over the River and Through the Woods
Pacific Theatre Society Presents: Bright Blue Future

Sunday, February 28, 2016
The Oscars Live at the Rio Theatre
Raincity Oscar Party at the VIFF/Vancity Theatre
Learn to Square Dance with Paul Silveria & ArtStarts
A Wedding Affair, Richmond
Vancouver International Dance Festival
VSO New Music Festival Presents City of Angels
Vancouver Recital Society: Richard Goode
Vancouver Pet Lover Show
Hastings Park Farmers Market
Metro Theatre: 5 Women Wearing the Same Dress
Opera Mariposa Presents Master Class with Terrence McNally
Carousel Theatre: Go Dog. Go!
16th Annual Chutzpah! Festival
PostSecret: The Show
Pacific Theatre Society Presents: Bright Blue Future
Vancouver International Dance Festival

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Check out the full February event listings here and if you have an event to include, please send it in by email for a free listing. Follow Miss604 on Twitter for more daily updates.

Hollyburn to Fromme, The Needles to The Lions, our rugged North Shore mountains provide recreation and stunning views all throughout the year. In winter, they give the city a snowy-white backdrop, even when it’s 15C in February, and they remind us how close to the vast wilderness our city lies.

Thanks to those who shared their photos with the Miss604 Flickr Pool, I have put together 12 Photos That Show How Awesome The North Shore Mountains Are in Winter:

You can see the city, but not be in the city

Evergreens with a blanket of snow

Snowshoe for fitness or for fondue

Ice skating at the top

Rain of fog in the city = Snow on the hills

Photo courtesy of Grouse Mountain

Photo courtesy of Grouse Mountain

A reminder, especially as we approach the shoulder season, to always be prepared for the terrain and weather conditions and obey all warnings, signs, and instructions for walking trails and snowshoe routes. Follow the advice of North Shore Rescue and stay informed by following them on Twitter.

Related: Where to Snowshoe on the North Shore, Photos of Vancouver from the North Shore in Winter, 10 Vintage Ski Photos From Local Vancouver Mountains.