Photo credit: Jamjam on Flickr

Things to do in Vancouver This Weekend

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

Friday, June 5, 2015
Anniversary Screening of JAWS at the Rio Theatre
Shipyards Night Market, North Vancouver
Newton Community Walk
Opening: We’re All Pretty Bizarre — Art Show Inspired by the Films of John Hughes
Surrey Night Market
International Night Market, Richmond
Italian Film Festival Summer Series
Vancouver Craft Beer Week
Vancouver International Bhangra Festival: City of Bhangra
Surrey Pop-Up Park Programming at Guildford Town Centre

Saturday, June 6, 2015
Sponsored by Miss604: Hats Off Day at Burnaby Heights
Vancouver Mini Maker Faire
Provence Rosé Wine for the Art of Living
World Oceans Day at Vancouver Aquarium
Free FIFA Women’s World Cup Fan Zone Downtown
Capital One Race For Kids
The 2015 Amazing Journey
Railtown Tailgate Summer BBQ Kickoff
Marpole Community Day
Zajac Nights at Terminal City Club
Doors Open Richmond
Vancouver Arts Lip Sync Battle
Foundation of Hope: STRUT at Sunset Beach
100 in a Day Vancouver
Contemporary Art Gallery: Feedback Series Tad Hozumi, Yoga Boogie w/ Gary Quon
“For Your Eyes Only” 11th Charity Dinner and Auction
RunForH2O at Riverfront Park
Oil Spills in Your Backyard & Opportunities for Citizen Engagement
Leanne Christie Solo Exhibition Opening
Goh Ballet: The Little Mermaid
Goh Ballet: The Quest of Don Quixote
Terminal City Roller Girls Game 4
BC Pole Fitness Championship
Burnaby Artisan Farmers Market
New West Artisan Fair
Trout Lake Farmers Market
West End Farmers Market
Richmond Night Market
Surrey Night Market
International Night Market, Richmond
Italian Film Festival Summer Series
Vancouver Craft Beer Week
Vancouver International Bhangra Festival: City of Bhangra
Surrey Pop-Up Park Programming at Guildford Town Centre

Sunday, June 7, 2015
Vancouver Mini Maker Faire
Whistler Water One Climb, Grouse Mountain
Walk to Fight Arthritis
Battle of the Barbers
Levitation Vancouver & Burger Records official Showcase
Music Waste 2015
Celebrating Mount Pleasant
Doors Open Richmond
Baker’s Market
Blueridge Good Neighbor Day, North Vancouver
Vancouver Heritage House Tour
VIFF Theatre: Welles 100: Radio Pictures (free event)
Willowbrook Park Family Fun Day
Koerner Quartet Summer Serenade
SOAR presents: Car wash for Nepal
Ambleside Artisan Farmers Market
Kitsilano Farmers Market
Richmond Night Market
Surrey Night Market
International Night Market, Richmond
East Side Block Party at the Waldorf
Vancouver Craft Beer Week
Surrey Pop-Up Park Programming at Guildford Town Centre

Check out the full June 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.

Worthy of a road trip for the Big Bang Theory characters, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics research, is located right here at UBC. TRIUMF is one of the world’s leading subatomic physics laboratories and it collaborates with other facilities around the world, including CERN in Switzerland. They are also home to the world’s largest cyclotron. Each year, TRIUMF receives hundreds of visitors locally and internationally, and they offer tours throughout the year with an expanded summer schedule for free public tours in the summer.

Image courtesy of TRIUMF

Free Public Tours of TRIUMF

In the summer, TRIUMF (at 4004 Wesbrook Mall) opens its doors to the public every single weekday, excluding holidays, for a free drop-in tour at 1:00pm – and children are welcome with accompanying adults.

Discover the advanced work that researchers are doing right in our back yard with particle physics, nuclear physics, materials science, nuclear medicine, astrophysics, and accelerator physics.

The laboratory is a working facility and so members of the public can come see and learn about the physics experiments they run and gain an idea of what it is like to be a scientist. It is a unique opportunity for the public to learn more about the applications of physics research, see what a physics experiment looks like, and see physicists at work.

Follow TRIUMF on Twitter and Facebook for more information.

TRIUMF was founded over 40 years ago by Simon Fraser University, UBC, and the University of Victoria to meet research needs that no single university could provide. The University of Alberta joined the TRIUMF consortium almost immediately. There are currently twelve full members and seven associate members from across Canada in the consortium that governs TRIUMF.

BC Place still had that new turf smell when I arrived this morning along with media from around the globe to preview some of the technology that will be used during the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The scene around the stadium was filled with hard hats, scaffolding, tents, fences, and new branding was all put in place to strip the stadium of its local team branding for the duration of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and replaced that of the tournament sponsors and rights holders.

The new turf’s premiere was at last Saturday’s Whitecaps FC match vs Real Salt Lake and it still looked perky and new today. I slipped off my shoes — as recommended by a FIFA official — and felt the bright green blades and dusty fibre infill between my toes. It didn’t smell like grass but it sure did feel like it.

FIFA Women’s World Cup Brings New Technology to BC Place

First up was a briefing about the turf, which is Polytan’s top of the line LigaTurf RS+CoolPlus surface. It will be used throughout the FIFA Women’s World Cup, next year’s 2016 World Rugby Seven Series, as well as for home teams Whitecaps FC and the BC Lions. This morning was all about the rigorous testing under which the turf went to be deemed suitable for FIFA play.

“The team is here to make sure meets highest possible standards,” Johannes Holzmüller, Group Leader FIFA Quality Programme told media this morning. The surface is certified to meet FIFA’s 2-Star rating and FIFA commissioned the independent UK-based company ProZone to put the turf to the test and ensure it was match-ready.

Niall McPhee of Sports Labs Ltd gave a few demos with the equipment used to test the surface, both in the lab and in the stadium. Niall rolled the ball down a slope to see how far it moved across the playing surface, tested how hard the surface was when the ball bounces, and held up a torque meter that tests traction. He emphasized that all tests are conducted with turf samples in the laboratory, including UV stabilization and accelerated aging, then also on the installed surface to ensure consistency.

They will continue to test the surface throughout this week, leading up to kick-off at BC Place for the first match here on June 8th.

Once the turf demos were complete, we walked around to the south side of the stadium for the Hawk-Eye goal line technology demonstration where six watches were handed out.

These watches will be worn by officials on the field during matches, and when the ball crossed the goal line they will vibrate and display a message “goal” using a wireless notification system. This will mark the first time that goal line technology has been featured in a pinnacle women’s football event, and the second time Hawk-Eye has been used by FIFA, it was previously used at the FIFA World Cup in Japan 2012.

There is no tech in the ball itself, it’s all about cameras. Hawk-Eye involves 14 cameras installed as high as possible within the stadium structure. In BC Place, they’re placed way up along the catwalk near the roof. According to the official FIFA press release: “Hawk-Eye is able to locate the ball at all times even if it is only found by two of the seven cameras. The system is millimetre-accurate and indicates whether or not a goal has been scored within one second by a vibration and visual signal on each match official’s watch.” This system will be tested many more times leading up to kick off and the goal line technology is also tested on game day by the match officials.

These are just a few of the state-of-the-art features that the FIFA Women’s World Cup is bringing to our stadium this summer, along with the other five host cities across Canada.

Be sure to get your tickets for the Vancouver matches and follow the global tags #FIFAWWC and #LiveYourGoals online. Fans can also share how they are watching and enjoying the tournament, using the dedicated hashtag #myFIFAWWC. For the first time ever at a FIFA competition, fans will see this hashtag on match days, on each stadium’s LED advertising boards.

Jennie was referred to Covenant House at the age of 19. “[It] was the first place I’ve ever lived that I was safe and nobody could hurt me here. It’s the first place that I’ve ever felt that kind of sense of belonging, it’s the first place I’ve ever had a home.” Covenant House Vancouver is sharing Jennie’s story this month as it announces its annual donating matching campaign.

“She had been living on and off the streets since she was 10, and had attended over 20 elementary schools by grade eight. When Jennie turned 19, she left the foster care system and had no place to go.”

Jennie stabilized in the Crisis Program and worked incredibly hard. Having such an interrupted education, she had difficulty reading, so one of Covenant House’s volunteers helped her learn. Jennie then moved to the transitional living program, Rights of Passage (“ROP”) where she found her voice.

Learning to self-advocate and assert herself were life-skills Jennie desperately needed and ROP was the perfect place for her to learn.

“I was scared; everybody had kinda turned away and I just figured they’d turn away too. I didn’t really expect help because I didn’t think anybody would be there or care, and I found the exact opposite, I found that they didn’t just open up their doors to me, but they opened up their hearts.”

It’s painful to even imagine the kind of childhood that Jennie had, let alone experience it – she was sexually abused, neglected and she never heard the words “I love you”. Coming to Covenant House marked the beginning of a whole new life for Jennie and she is grateful to donors, for your support of young people like herself.

Read all of Jennie’s story, and many others from Covenant House youth, to learn about the impact and services of Covenant House.

Covenant House June Matching Campaign

I have come to know, appreciate, and support the work of Covenant House, through fundraising events and participating in their annual Sleep Out in November. A quote that I jotted down at one of these events has stayed with me: “Many of the kids have lived with violence or the threat of violence for much of their young lives. Feeling safe is a right we all have but one these kids have not enjoyed.”

No child should be homeless. You can help by making a donation online today, before June 30th, and it will automatically be doubled at no extra charge to you. Follow Covenant House on Twitter and Facebook for more information.

Be a tourist in your own town and discover what Surrey has to offer during Surrey Doors Open! From City Centre to Bear Creek, Newton to Cloverdale, sites and attractions will be open to the public with free admission for the day on Saturday, June 27th.

In one day you can visit the Bear Creek Park Train, do a Historic Cloverdale Walking Tour, attend the Whalley’s Corner Festival, visit the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, and explore the BC Vintage Truck Museum. Guided tours, presentations, children’s activities, and entertainment will be offered a a variety of venues. Take the free hop-on hop-off trolley to experience as much as you can.

Surrey Doors Open

The 4th Annual Surrey Doors Open event will provide a unique opportunity for participants to experience Surrey’s rich culture, history, art and architecture for free. Over 40 locations will feature an exciting mix of historic sites, modern architecture, places of worship, public art, green spaces and unique food sites. Activities will include behind-the-scenes guided tours (many of which are not normally open to the public), presentations, children’s’ activities, entertainment, food and much more. Free trolley and shuttle services will make exploring a variety of Doors Open sites easy and fun.

Doors Open offers an opportunity for participants to develop a sense of inclusion and encourages community involvement. This sense of community is particularly important in a rapidly growing and diverse city such as Surrey. Last year saw attendance doubling to over 14,000 participants and with your generous support, we are looking forward to expanding participation.

The inspiration for Surrey’s Doors Open stems from origins in France where the first Doors Open event (La Journee Portes Ouvertes) took place in 1984. The idea soon spread to neighbouring countries and has since expanded around the globe.

Toronto was the first North American city to follow the European lead and launched a high profile event showcasing constructed heritage, architecture and design as a millennium project in 2000. The City of Richmond has hosted the event over the last 4 years, and has grown their community involvement to over 50 open sites throughout Richmond. [History of Doors Open]

Check out the full list of Doors Open Sites, the Doors Open Site Map, and find out how you can get to Doors Open locations on Saturday, June 27th from 11:00am to 4:00pm.

For more information, see the Doors Open 2015 Event Guide and follow the City of Surrey on Twitter and Facebook using the tag #SurreyDoorsOpen.