Presented by Pemberton Music Festival
Festival season is upon us and while you get excited to see our favourite artists on stage in unbelievable venues and settings, you also have to be prepared for several days of bone-shaking music, unpredictable weather, and inevitable portable toilet lineups. Here are a few of my recommendations to get you through multi-day extravaganzas of summer fun so that you can focus on having the time of your life.
1. Battery Pack
No matter how hard you’ll try to disconnect, you know you’re going to be using your phone while you’re at a festival for looking up the lineup on an app, locating friend, taking pictures, and showing the outside world just how much fun you’re having. Portable battery chargers come in all shapes and sizes (good ones range in price from $20 to $50), some are packed with AA batteries and others are rechargeable. You can plug in almost any mobile phone via USB and have hours (sometime days) of extra power at your finger tips. Pemberton Music Festival has charging stations, to top up our phone or to refill your portable battery back on the fly.
2. Hand Sanitizer
Readily available outside (or inside) portable toilets, you’ll want to give your hands a wipe quite often at a festival where the main food source come from a truck parked in a field and you’re most likely sitting in dirt. It’s a basic step, but every bit helps to make sure you stay healthy to enjoy the rest of the ‘fest.
3. Ear Plugs
I know it sounds like I’m aging myself but as someone who has attended 100+ concerts and festivals over the years, I can tell you that it’s worth protecting your hearing AND that you do not miss out on sound quality if you have the proper hearing protection. If you can feel the bass vibrating the hairs on your arm, just imagine what it’s doing to your ear drums. Quality ear plugs run at about $15-$20 from your local drug store and provide hearing protection without taking away from the live sound experience of the show. Sometimes they even make the sound better!
4. Key Pieces of Clothing
The rain won’t stop you from having a great time at a festival, it often encourages even more dancing and jubilation in the summer heat, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. A top layer that you can remove (and sit on if need be) and a hat are at the top of my list, then sensible shoes so that you can skip across the grounds from one stage to the other with ease.
5. Water Bottles
Bring your empty, re-usable bottle to the festival grounds and fill it up throughout the day at water stations. Staying hydrated is key when you’re outdoors all day having fun (and perhaps enjoying some adult beverages in designated area) and many festivals, like Pemberton Music Festival, have free filling stations so there’s no excuse not to have delicious, refreshing water by your side throughout the day and night.
Whatever you decide to bring with you, be sure to read the list of what NOT to pack (aka banned items) which is usually readily available on your favourite festival’s FAQ section.
It’s the time of year when casual social conversations revolve around digging, planting, watering, and awaiting growth from seeds. Spring garden fever has hit Real Canadian Superstore and President’s Choice want to help you develop your green thumb with an edible garden kit, that tastes as good as it looks:
PC® Goji Berry
Considered both a fruit and an herb, sweet Goji berries are full of antioxidants. They’re usually sold dried but the shiny red berries are also wonderful fresh, adding a pop of colour to both your garden and your meals.
PC® Mint Strawberry Herb
It’s unbelievable how much this herb tastes like fresh strawberries and refreshing mint! A creative culinary touch for garnishing summer beverages and desserts.
PC® San Marzano Plum Tomatoes
Developed in Italy and considered by some to be the ultimate plum tomato. A garden must if you make your own pasta sauces, and the perfect pairing to a ricotta crostini.
You can enter to win all of these plants in a quick giveaway starting today, and ending tomorrow so that you can get these into your hands, and into your garden, as soon as possible. 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 8:00am on Thursday, May 14, 2015. Must be a resident of Greater Vancouver to enter/win. Visit your local Real Canadian Superstore in Vancouver and North Vancouver for more information about edible gardens this season.
Update The winner is Amanda!
Mount Pleasant, waiting for the street car, 1908. Timms Photographic Co.
Photograph shows Westminster Avenue (Main Street) between 8th and 9th Avenues.
Source: City of Vancouver Archives #Dist P144.
The Museum of Anthropology out at UBC houses one of the world’s finest collections of Northwest Coast First People’s art, and it’s been my favourite museum ever since I visited with an elementary school class almost thirty years ago. I am fascinated by the collections within its walls but the building itself is worthy of a close-up.
Designed by Arthur Erickson in 1976, it is made primarily out of concrete, and its great hall displays huge totem poles, feast dishes, and canoes from the Kwakwaka’wakw, Nisga’a, Gitxsan, Haida, and Coast Salish peoples, while smaller pieces in gold, silver, argillite, wood, and other materials are exhibited elsewhere in the galleries. The grounds around the museum were designed by landscape architect Cornelia Oberlander. [Source] This award-winning structure is today’s Vancouver Icons photo feature:
Museum of Anthropology
The museum’s latest exhibit, that just opened in May, is “Heaven, Hell and Somewhere In Between: Portuguese Popular Art“. Follow along on Facebook and Twitter for more information and to plan your visit.
Other Vancouver Icons posts: Fort Langley Community Hall, Christ Church Cathedral, Waterfront Station, Pacific Central Station, Randall Building Mural, East Van Cross, Robert Burns Statue in Stanley Park, Vancouver Maritime Museum, Flack Block, The Drop, Prospect Point Lighthouse, Engagement, Ovaltine Cafe, The English Bay Slide, Freezing Water #7, Cleveland Dam, Heritage Hall, School of Theology Building at UBC, Gate to the Northwest Passage, St Paul’s Hospital, Capilano Lake, Stawamus Chief, Nine O’Clock Gun, Malkin Bowl, Search, Vancouver Rowing Club, Echoes, Point Atkinson Lighthouse, English Bay Inukshuk, Hollow Tree, Hotel Europe, Lions Gate Bridge Lions, LightShed, Granville Bridge, 217.5 Arc x 13′, Canoe Bridge, Vancouver Block, Bloedel Conservatory, Centennial Rocket, Canada Place, Old Courthouse/Vancouver Art Gallery, Dominion Building, Science World, Gastown Steam Clock, SFU Burnaby, Commodore Lanes, Siwash Rock, Kitsilano Pool, White Rock Pier, Main Post Office, Planetarium Building, Lord Stanley Statue, Vancouver Library Central Branch, Victory Square, Digital Orca, The Crab Sculpture, Girl in Wetsuit, The Sun Tower, The Hotel Vancouver, The Gassy Jack Statue, The Marine Building, and The Angel of Victory. Should you have a suggestion for the Vancouver Icons series please feel free to leave a note in the comments. It should be a thing, statue, or place that is very visible and recognizable to the public.
Victoria Day is coming up bringing with it high temperatures, beach days, picnics, forest walks, family getaways, and the highly anticipated May Long Weekend. If you’re sticking around town this weekend, here are just a few events and activities to enjoy.
Things to do in Vancouver May Long Weekend
Events that run for longer than three days in a row are highlighted in green below.
Friday, May 15, 2015
Sponsored by Miss604 Friday Night Late Night Movies at the Rio Theatre
GO Fest Whistler
18th Annual Cloverdale Chili Cook-Off
Carl Bessai Premieres BAD CITY at the Rio Theatre
VSO Pops: Ella and Louis
Walk With Your Doc Week, Vancouver Events
The West Fine Art Show
Shipyards Night Market, North Vancouver
International Night Market, Richmond
Final Weekend of Cézanne/Vancouver Art Gallery Extended Hours
Power Of My People Pop-Up Shop at Scott Landon’s Antiques
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Kitsilano Pool + Vancouver Outdoor Pools Opening Weekend
Playland Opening Day
Opera Mariposa: Tour de Force
Genesis Theatre Presents: The Rockingbyrds!
BCSPCA: A Fetching Affair at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery
Maker’s Market
Truvelle Bridal Gastown Pop-Up Shop
Red Bull Tour Bus: Gastown
Burnaby City Hall Farmers Market
Vesak 2015 for World Peace
Arts and Crafts Family Show
New West Artisan Fair
Trout Lake Farmers Market
Richmond Night Market
Fort Langley Village Farmer’s Market
International Night Market, Richmond
Final Weekend of Cézanne/Vancouver Art Gallery Extended Hours
GO Fest Whistler
Walk With Your Doc Week, Vancouver Events
Power Of My People Pop-Up Shop at Scott Landon’s Antiques
The West Fine Art Show
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Kitsilano Pool + Vancouver Outdoor Pools Opening Weekend
Old Money: West of Denman Historical Walking Tour
Arts and Crafts Family Show
Whitecaps FC2 Match at Thunderbird Stadium
Hershe Bar – Where the Girls Are
Baker’s Market Spring 2015
Kitsilano Farmers Market
Richmond Night Market
International Night Market, Richmond
Final Weekend of Cézanne/Vancouver Art Gallery Extended Hours
GO Fest Whistler
Walk With Your Doc Week, Vancouver Events
Power Of My People Pop-Up Shop at Scott Landon’s Antiques
The West Fine Art Show
Playland Opening Weekend
Monday, May 18, 2015 ~ Victoria Day
Kitsilano Pool + Vancouver Outdoor Pools Opening Weekend
Victoria Day at Burnaby Village Museum
Victoria Day at Fort Langley
Jericho Arts Centre: James & Jamesy in High Tea
Richmond Night Market
Final Weekend of Cézanne/Vancouver Art Gallery Extended Hours
GO Fest Whistler
The West Fine Art Show
Playland Opening Weekend
Check out the full May 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.
