If you’ve been to a local liquor store, pub, restaurant, or even Whitecaps game in Vancouver in recent years, you’ve been fortunate enough to have a selection of great local beer like the Filthy Dirty IPA, Craft Lager and Gypsy Tears Ruby Ale. Parallel 49 Brewing Company is an East Vancouver microbrewery brewing up some of the most unique and high quality craft beers around, and I’m giving away a unique opportunity for one Miss604 reader (and beer lover) to experience how their creativity gets into each bottle.
Win a Tour of Parallel 49 Brewing Company
Three of Parallel 49 Brewing Company’s owners grew up in East Vancouver just minutes away from where the tasting room is located. Before opening, they partnered with Graham With, head brewer and mastermind behind brewery’s the delicious beers.
You have the chance to win a one-on-one brewery tour at Parallel 49 Brewing Company, led by Graham With. The lucky contest winner will get a behind the scenes tour of the brewery and find out what goes into the making of each brew. The tour will wrap up with a tasting of Parallel 49 Brewing Company’s year-round and seasonal brews at their flagship tasting room (1950 Triumph Street in Vancouver).
Here’s how you can enter to win:
- Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
- Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on March 1, 2016. The tour is valid within one year of winning. Must be 19+. Follow Parallel 49 Brewing Company on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more information.
Update The winner is James!
Ever wonder what it was like to be a tourist in Vancouver 100 years ago? Now you can get a small glimpse at the experience with these vintage photos of sightseeing in Vancouver from 1900-1950.
Sightseeing in Vancouver
Last week was Vancouver Heritage Week, a part of a national campaign with the tourism theme of “Distinctive Destinations: Experience Historic Places”. These days, you can take a float plane, trolley bus, double-decker, bike, or boat to see the sights, and in 2015 alone Vancouver welcomed 805,000 passengers, on 32 cruise ships, making 228 voyages.
Vancouver has been welcoming visitors to its attractions, parks, and shores since its infancy as a city. Here’s a glimpse at what the tourist and visitor experience has been like over the last century:
Vintage Photos
1900. Sightseeing car operated by Vancouver Transfer Company in front of the Hollow Tree in Stanley Park. Archives# St Pk P326.
1902-1904. “Tally-ho” a horse-drawn sightseeing wagon on Stanley Park Road. Archives# Trans P22.
1909. An open sightseeing bus outside the Post Office. Archives# Trans P149.11.
1911: Sightseeing in Stanley Park at Hollow Tree. Archives# St Pk P229.
1920s. Photographer: Stuart Thomson. Archives# CVA 99-5413.
1938. BC Electric Railway Company observation car, “Teddy” Lyons, conductor. Photographer: Harry Bullen. Archives# CVA 677-40.
1950. BC Electric Railway Company observation car. Archives# CVA 447-1652.
Related Posts: Vancouver Visitor Guide from 1925, English Bay Pier, Brockton History, Siwash Rock, Kitsilano Pool.
Tales for the Telling, Stories for Adults, is delighted to present Kathie Kompass and Mary Wiggin, who will be touring BC with their show which played to rave reviews at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa: “The Game’s Afoot: Stories from Sherlock Holmes“.
The Game’s Afoot: Stories from Sherlock Holmes
Tales for the Telling, Stories for Adults takes place at the McMillan Arts Centre in Parksville but they’ll be bringing their Sherlock Holmes presentation to Vancouver for one night only!
Where: The Emerald Supper Club (555 Gore Ave, Vancouver)
When: Thursday, March 3, 2016 from 8:00pm to 10:00pm
Tickets: Just $10. Available online now.
Step out of the shadows and plunge into the fog-dampened streets of Holmesian London. Holmes’ very existence is threatened, but Watson is determined to help his dear friend in any way he can. And don’t imagine that sortie to the bucolic countryside will provide a safe haven, especially for the former captain of an Arctic whaler whose past has come back to haunt him.
Kathie Kompass has 30 years of experience as a storyteller and when she is not accompanying Holmes and Watson across the moors or into the Sussex countryside, is leading storytelling workshops, coordinating two storytelling series in Ottawa, and telling stories on the stage, in schools, at festivals, in summer camps, and wherever anyone would like a story told.
Mary Wiggin is renowned for her exquisite sense of language and her flashes of quicksilver humour and delights audiences with her well-honed tales. As a devoted follower of the Great Detective, Mary is delighted to share one of his deliciously twisted tales.
Win Tickets
If you would like to see to “The Game’s Afoot” in Vancouver on March 3rd at The Emerald Supper Club, I have a pair of tickets to give away. Here’s how you can enter to win:
- Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
- Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
Interested in learning, sharing, and experiencing more Sherlock Holmes in Vancouver? Contact our local Sherlock Holmes Society, The Stormy Petrels about their monthly meetings and events. I will draw one contest winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Monday, February 29, 2016.
Upate The winner is Elyse!
The CiTR Fundrive is on now, appealing to listeners to raise $40,000 to grow more media producers. The theme for this year’s Fundrive, for independent broadcaster and publisher CiTR 101.9FM, is ‘Growing Our Cultures’, which asks listeners, family and friends to support training and development opportunities at CiTR and Discorder Magazine.
Until 9:30 pm on March 3rd, CiTR DJs will be urging listeners day and night to call in or visit the website to donate. You can also support the campaign by attending the Fundrive Finale on Friday, March 4, 2016 which doubles as a release party for the CiTR Pop Alliance Compilation, Vol. 4 LP.
CiTR Fundrive
“With so many communities and cultures represented on our radio, whether it’s language or genre, CiTR is already supporting the multitude of niches that exist in Vancouver,” explains Brenda Grunau, Station Manager. Through this year’s Fundrive, we want to invest more in training and development to grow more writers, more broadcasters, and improve the quality of our on-air programming.”
Every day, CiTR signs up new members, teaches them how to use microphones, edit audio, write about music and cover topics vital to the local community. Last year, CiTR offered 386 hours of training and 7 workshops to 450 students and community members interested in sharing their music, stories and local perspectives. More training and support means better programs – better research, better audio, deeper analysis, more informative and entertaining — all from an independent, local perspective.
Local, independent media is so important to our culture as a city, and as someone who married a college radio personality and engineer ten years ago, I know the positive, lasting impact this type of organization can have on someone.
You can donate to CiTR’s Fundrive online or by calling 604-822-8648 (UBC-UNIT). Donors will receive Fundrive swag, including CiTR & Discorder growlers, notebooks and tote bags, and special show prizes.
Fundrive Finale
CiTR also teamed up with Mint Records to release another record on Friday, February 26th – the CiTR Pop Alliance Compilation, Vol. 4. The fourth instalment of the Pop Alliance series, this compilation was curated by a team of CiTR DJs who picked 11 Vancouver bands to fill the album’s waxy grooves. Only 500 of these vinyl LPs will be pressed, available during and after CiTR’s annual Fundrive for $15, with proceeds going to the Fundrive total. Order an LP or digital download here.
This year’s Fundrive Finale will be the release party for the Pop Alliance Vol. 4 LP, with performances by bands on the compilation including Mourning Coup, Stefana Fratila, Late Spring, Ora Cogan, Ace Martens, Jerk Jails and Cult Babies. The Fundrive Finale will also feature CiTR DJs and a silent auction at the Hindenburg, 23 West Cordova, on Friday, March 4. Tickets are $10 online and $12 at the door.
On the first sunny morning after a string of rainy days, my sister and I set out for a brisk morning hike from our home base at Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort in Parksville. Little Qualicum Falls was our destination, just 20 minutes away up Inland Island Highway with a turn onto Highway 4 towards Port Alberni, we arrived at the Provincial Park.
Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park
Little Qualicum Falls, flowing from the southern shore of Cameron Lake, was established as a Provincial Park in 1940 to protect the old-growth Douglas Firs that stand tall within its boundaries. There are campgrounds, day-use picnic areas, and 6km worth of trails from the Lower Falls to the Upper Falls area.
We parked in the gravel lot and took a quick look at the information board, since neither my sister or I had ever been to the park before. We began at the bottom part of the trail loop, walking down towards the Lower Falls area.
The trail network consists of wooden stairs, sharply angled stone stairs, mulch, and some gravel. There are many places to veer off the main trail and follow a beaten path along a chain-link fence in some areas. These secondary trails end when the fences loop around to a dead end but they provide some beautiful vantage points from where you can watch the cascading falls at various stages.
Old man’s beard (beard lichen) drips from the hefty branches of sturdy Douglas Firs. Bark peels from Arbutus trees, leaving shavings on the damp ground. Moss carpets the area that is wet from the morning dew, recent rains, and mist from the multi-tired falls.
We continued from the Lower Falls to the Upper Falls viewpoint, passing hikers and several dogs on leash, which are allowed the in park. Camping is closed (its 93 sites are open May to September) but the trails are fairly busy for a bright Saturday morning.
Reaching the upper falls area, the water was rushing so furiously after so much rain that the falls didn’t quite look like the pictures I had seen before. Instead of pools connected by cascades, like filling a slightly tilted ice cube tray, it was a single rushing stream that speckled lenses and rosy cheeks with mist from the overlooking trails.
We were out for almost two hours, traipsing through mud puddles, navigating around exposed root systems, and trying to take in (and photograph) the seemingly endless shades of green in the rainforest. It was a lovely way to kick off a sunny day before returning to the shores of the Salish Sea.
From Nanaimo, Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park is 30 minutes north along the Inland Island Highway then 10 minutes west on Highway 4. View my full photo set from this excursion on Flickr.
