Vancouver Craft Beer Week is heading into its 5th year and to celebrate the best in local brewing, they’re hosting 9 Signature Events, 12 Feature Events, and some weeklong specials.
VCBW allows you to get to some exciting venues, try new or familiar favourites, and enjoy all the facets of craft beer’s goodness right here in Vancouver. Here are just a few of the Signature Events on the VCBW schedule this year, from May 30th until June 7th.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
What: Cicerone vs Sommelier
Where: ARC Restaurant at the Fairmont Waterfront, 900 Canada Pl, Vancouver
Tickets: Available now for $115 (plus fees/taxes)
Thursday, June 5, 2014
What: Brothers in Hip-Hops
Where: The Butcher & Bullock, 911 West Pender Street, Vancouver
Tickets: Available now for $49 (plus fees/taxes)
In celebration of BC’s largest craft beer festival, the province’s finest breweries banded together to brew “PrevAle” the 2014 VCBW charity beer.
Last year the VCBW charity beer produced a cheque for $3,500 to Mark Brand’s A Better Life Foundation in support of the Save On Meats Meal Token Program. This year, the Music Heals Foundation, a charity close to the heart of VCBW 2014 host Prevail (Swollen Members), will benefit from the sale of this beer with a purpose, which will be released prior to the start of this year’s festival.
The beer, a double California Common-style ale, is a unique brew that Gary Lohin (Central City Brewers + Distillers) and Matt Phillips (Phillips Brewing Company) dreamt up while attending the inaugural Victoria Beer Week earlier this month. With these two brewmasters at the helm, expect a balanced full-bodied beer rich in flavour that is sure to be talked about for years to come.
For more information about these events and the lineup of feature events, follow Vancouver Craft Beer Week on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. All events are 19+. Please enjoy responsibly.
Woman2Warrior, an obstacle adventure race in support of BC Easter Seals Camps, is happening on May 25th at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby.
About Woman2Warrior
Woman2Warrior is a non-timed run covering about 5km of trails, track, and grass around Burnaby Central Park and Swangard Stadium. The course features obstacles to test your strength, agility, balance, and sense of adventure. You may enter as an individual or as a team, but each person must raise a minimum $300 to participate. There will be awards and prizes for the top overall fundraisers and finishers. Recruit the support of friends, family and coworkers to help you reach your fundraising goal.
By participating in Woman2Warrior you’ll be helping to send over 900 kids and young adults with disabilities throughout BC for a week long camping experience at one of three Easter Seals accessible camps. Easter Seals Camps give BC children and young adults with disabilities the chance to discover their individual abilities. Camp sessions are carefully planned and designed to encourage these kids to gain new skills, develop new friendships, gain confidence and independence – skills that will help them to live lasting and fulfilling lives. Campers are encouraged to try new things, take risks in a safe and supportive environment, but most importantly have fun!
It is because of fundraising events like the Woman2Warrior and the Easter Seals 24 Hour Relay that the BC Lions Society is able to operate the camping program at a minimal cost to the families, many of whom are already financially burdened by the costs associated with raising children with special needs.
You can register for Woman2Warrior online today by selecting your preferred start time for the event on Sunday, May 25, 2014. 10:15am through 11:00am are sold out but 10:00am, 11:15am, 11:30am, 12:00pm, 12:15pm, and 12:30pm still have a few spots open.
Woman2Warrior Prize Pack
To raise registration and awareness around this worthy cause, I have been offered the following prize pack to give away to one lucky Miss604 reader:
$50 gift card to Subway
$25 gift card to Nesters Market
One box of Clif Bars
One 6-pack of Formula Four Water
One Woman2Warrior shirt from Firstar Apparel
One Luna Bars T-Shirt
One free registration to Woman2Warrior ($35 value)
Here’s how you can enter to win:
Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
RT to enter to win a @W2Wvan prize pack from @Miss604 http://ow.ly/wDhHY
Follow Woman2Warrior on Facebook and Twitter for more information. I’ll draw one winner at random from all entries at 5:00pm on Sunday, May 11, 2014.
Soon after I completed my online order of “Flint and Feather” the biography of E. Pauline Johnson by Charlotte Gray, I called Composer Tobin Stokes who mentioned that he had a copy of the book sitting by him as we chatted. Stokes was tasked with composing Margaret Atwood‘s libretto for PAULINE, a chamber opera about Canadian writer-actress Pauline Johnson that will have its world premiere with City Opera Vancouver this month.
Stokes submitted music for a piece of text for the opera and, after a juried selection process, he was commissioned to take on PAULINE. The first thing he did was buy every book sold by Chiefswood in Ontario (where Pauline was born) and have it all shipped to where he was working in the Netherlands at the time. “I just sat there reading, and learned. It was great.”
“The main thing is, for opera to be successful and for it to grow — which it currently is in leaps and bounds — it simply has to reflect society. Tell a good story, be entertaining, but be art.”
When it came time for Stokes to create the opera’s music, Atwood had already brought her work together with Pauline’s, transforming poems into arias and other writings into dialogue. He told me that when you read through the libretto, you’re not always sure whose words you’re reading but everything has been connected so well by Atwood. “The poems have been taken apart and edited, she’ll use a verse here and a line here, it’s great what she’s done.”
The layers created by an acclaimed author, a talented composer, and the life of Canada’s first coast-to-coast celebrity will come together with PAULINE. “That’s what opera is, it’s a collaboration of all these different art forms.”
Based in BC, Stokes has been a freelance composer for twenty years and has written for film, opera, television, theatre, dance, chamber ensembles, soloists, and large events. He feels that all of the different styles he’s been working on for so many years have all led him to opera.
“My theatrical experience, working with other people, and my film experience trying to help the music tell a story, and then the more hands-on vocal, orchestral and choir work, it just all has this trajectory that just leads to this one thing which is opera. I didn’t know it at the time, as I was pursuing all these different things.”
With opera companies working hard over the last few years to update their branding, bring in fresh faces, and appeal to the social media crowd (I’ve done Blogger Nights and Tweet Seats before), it’s exciting to watch the genre’s revival unfold right here in Vancouver. “I think opera, if it’s relevant and interesting, then more people will come,” added Stokes.
Pauline Johnson Opera
Already being a fan of Pauline Johnson’s writing, I cannot wait to see how Margaret Atwood wove a story with her words and how Tobin Stokes has put it all to music.
Pauline Johnson (1861-1913) traveled through North America and Great Britain giving readings of her own work during a time when such independence for women was rare and remarkable. The child of a Mohawk chief and a Quaker Englishwoman, Pauline was driven toward paradoxical goals of loyalty to both of her cultures and to her own ambition.
PAULINE is set at Vancouver in March 1913. Pauline is dying of breast cancer, and views her life through the fog of morphine. Torn by dual identity as both Mohawk and white, she confronts her past as her doctor tries to control her pain and her sister tries to control the story that will be told.
The opera will star Rose-Ellen Nichols as Pauline Johnson, Sarah Vardy as Eva Johnson and Adam Fisher as the tenor. PAULINE also features John Minágro, Edward Moran, Diane Speirs, Eleonora Higginson, and Cathleen Gingrich.
Tickets are on sale today for this highly-anticipated production that is sure to sell out. Opening Night Gala tickets are $100, which includes a $60 ticket to PAULINE and an invitation to a reception with special guests Ms. Atwood and Mr. Stokes, and the stars of PAULINE. Performance-only tickets are $60, $40, and $22 for those holding student IDs. Tickets are only available through The Cultch online, by phone (604) 251-1363, or in person at the box office located at 1895 Venables at Victoria Drive.
The opera will take place at the York Theatre, 639 Commercial Drive at East Georgia) on Friday, May 23rd at 8:00pm (world premiere); Sunday, May 25th at 2:00pm; Tuesday May 27th at 8:00pm; Thursday May 29th at 8:00pm; and Saturday May 31st at 8:00pm. The first performance at the York Theatre on May 23, 2014 will be celebrated with a gala attended by Margaret Atwood and Tobin Stokes.
Follow City Opera Vancouver on Facebook and Twitter for more information.
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by Guest AuthorDisclosure: Sponsored Post — This is a paid post in partnership with Translink's Buzzer Blog. Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
#WhatsTheLink is a series about all that TransLink, Metro Vancouver’s transportation authority, is responsible for in the region. Join the conversation on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. These guest posts are written by Robert Willis.
#WhatsTheLink: The Canada Line Pedestrian-Bicycle Bridge
Did you know that there are 200,000 crossings by trucks, cars, and buses over the Fraser River on TransLink bridges each day? Let me back up. Did you know that TransLink had bridges? And did you know that in addition to the 200,000 crossings by motor vehicles over the Fraser River, roughly 100,000 crossings a year happen by bike on one of these bridges! Yup, it’s true.
Besides being responsible for transit, the Major Road Network as well as cycling and pedestrian options in Metro Vancouver, TransLink is also responsible for five bridges: Knight Street, Golden Ears, Pattullo, Westham Island and the Canada Line Pedestrian-Bicycle bridges.
Have you used all five bridges? Since I’ve used all but the Canada Line Pedestrian-Bicycle Bridge before, I thought I’d pay it a visit to learn more about it.
It’s amazing who you meet when you stand at the foot of a bridge, smile and ask for a few minutes of busy commuters’ time. That’s exactly what I did when I parked myself at the bottom of the ramp on the Vancouver end of the bridge in order to learn more about the bridge by asking people who use it.
Cycling Commuters
Photo: Robert Willis
Josef is originally from the Czech Republic. A regular cyclist who doesn’t drive and seldom takes the bus, Josef tells me he has been riding across the bridge nearly every day since it opened. I caught him commuting to work from Vancouver to Richmond.
Photo: Robert Willis
Karen, like Josef, has been using the bridge since it opened. She recently started working in Richmond, so she has just started taking the bridge from Vancouver more frequently. A fair-weather cyclist, Karen will drive over the Oak Street Bridge when the rain pours but prefers cycling to driving, stating, “I’m in front of a computer all day, and cycling is my chance to enjoy the outdoors.“
Photo: Robert Willis
Heiror was using the bridge for the first time when he pulled up riding a borrowed, foldable bike. Living in Richmond for the last nine months on a scholarship in graphic design, Heiror was leisurely riding and taking photos along the bridge while he was making his way to his first day interning at a Vancouver studio.
One commonality between these three commuters was that they each told me that they enjoyed taking the bridge to work and found it to be a relatively easy ride.
In fact, commuting by bike between Vancouver and Richmond has been a whole lot easier since August 19, 2009, when the Canada Line Pedestrian-Bicycle Bridge officially opened. Connected to the side of the North Arm Bridge, the bridge carrying the Canada Line over the Fraser River, Canada Line Pedestrian-Bicycle Bridge has separated bike and pedestrian lanes. The bike lane also connects to cycling infrastructure in both municipalities making for a comfortable and picturesque ride.
Looking back at what these three commuters told me and what I already knew about the bridge before visiting it, I realized that over the nearly five years that the bridge has been open, it’s become a permanent fixture in the lives of many Metro Vancouverites. It’s also become a way for people visiting our beautiful piece of the world to get to know the region better.
Looking at the bridge in the larger context of our region, the Canada Line Pedestrian-Bicycle Bridge has become an important link to a larger TransLink enabled transportation network that connects cycling and walking to roads, bridges, transit, people and goods around Metro Vancouver.
This summer you can catch The Fray in Vancouver at Malkin Bowl as a part of Live Nation’s Concerts in the Park series on June 18th.
Photo courtesy of Live Nation Canada.
The Fray be playing with guests Barcelona and Oh Honey. Doors at 5:30pm and the show starting at 7:00pm — just as the sun starts to set in this beautiful outdoor venue in our city’s crown jewel. Rock out to your favourite tunes, then grab your sweetheart and slow dance under the canopy.
The Fray is Slade, Joe King (guitar, vocals), Dave Welsh (guitar), and Ben Wysocki (drums). The Denver-based foursome formed in 2002 after high school friends Slade and King bumped into each other at a local guitar shop. The group achieved national success with their 2005 debut, featuring the hit singles “Over My Head (Cable Car)” and “How to Save a Life,” which went double-platinum. The band also earned a 2010 Grammy nomination for their self-titled release.
The fourth album Helios from critically acclaimed Denver-based foursome The Fray was released February 25 on Epic Records. The band premiered the lead single “Love Don’t Die” on the “Today Show,” kicked off the first night of late night television sweeps performing on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” rang in the New Year as part the global TV celebration “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2014,” and recently performance on the outdoor stage at Jimmy Kimmel Live! The new music has received early critical acclaim from Denver Post as well as Billboard hailing its “bare emotion bolstered by echoing backing vocals and unexpected twang.”
All ages/general admission tickets are currently on sale for $45.00 (plus FMF & service charges). Charge by phone 1-855-985-5000, book online, or visit you nearest Ticketmaster outlet.
Win Tickets to The Fray in Vancouver
I have a pair of tickets to give away to see The Fray in Vancouver at Malkin Bowl, here’s how you can enter to win:
Leave a comment with your favourite song by The Fray (1 entry)
Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
RT to enter to win tickets to @TheFray from @LiveNationWest + @Miss604 http://ow.ly/wAQ0M
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Tuesday, May 13, 2014. Follow Live Nation on Facebook and Twitter for more show information.
In celebration of BC’s largest craft beer festival, the province’s finest breweries banded together to brew “PrevAle” the 2014 VCBW charity beer. 
$50 gift card to Subway
#WhatsTheLink is a series about all that TransLink, Metro Vancouver’s transportation authority, is responsible for in the region. Join the conversation on 
