The Vancouver International Wine Festival, presented by The Vancouver Sun, runs February 24th until March 2nd, 2014 taking place at venues across downtown Vancouver.
From the Acura International Festival Tasting Room and Gold Pass Tasting Lounge to the Bacchanalia Gala, wine seminars, minglers, winery dinners, lunches, brunches, and grazings, it’s the schedule is packed and almost everything is already sold out. There are a few tickets left to some of the lunches and tastings but you had better act fast!
The Vancouver International Wine Festival is Canada’s premier food & wine event and it has three mandates: to provide an informative, educational and entertaining wine experience for public and trade; to be a premier marketing opportunity for the wine industry and festival partners; and to raise funds for the Bard on the Beach Theatre Society.
Vancouver International Wine Festival Contest
Thanks to Acura Canada as well as Wine Australia I have two pairs of coveted tickets to give away to the following events. Leave a comment on this post or copy/paste the text below to enter to win ticket to the event of your choice via Twitter.
Acura International Festival Tasting Room
Where: Vancouver Convention Centre West (1055 Canada Place)
What: Acura International Festival Tasting Room: If you attend only one of the festival’s 54 events, make it an International Festival Tasting. The Vancouver International Wine Festival is widely regarded as the best consumer wine show on the continent, and the Acura International Festival Tasting Room is the heart of it. You’ll find 780+ wines organized by 14 countries, starting with featured country France.
When: Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7:00pm to 10:00pm
Tickets: $89 for Thursday, February 27th from 7:00pm to 10:00pm (Friday and Saturday nights sold out)
When: Saturday, March 1, 2014 from 3:00pm to 5:00pm (contest prize is for this event)
Tickets: $68 for Saturday afternoon
RT to enter to win tix to @vanwinefest Int’l Tasting Room from @AcuraCanada + @Miss604 http://ow.ly/tRsk3
Life of Pie: Grazing Lunch
Where: Loungeworks (130 West 4th Ave)
What: Life of Pie: Take your taste buds on a trip Down Under with Australia’s favourite exports: wine and pie! Sample the delights of a national food staple, the hearty meat pie (vegetarian too), and pair it with Australia’s top drops. Expect a healthy dose of Aussie humour from wine personalities while they keep your glass full.
When: Saturday, March 1st, 2014 from 12:00pm to 2:00pm
Tickets: Buy tickets online or call (604) 873-3311
RT to enter to win tix to @vanwinefest Life of Pie from @wine_australia + @Miss604 http://ow.ly/tRsk3
I will draw two winners (1 for Saturday afternoon Life of Pie and 1 for Saturday afternoon Acura International Tasting Room) at 5:00pm on Tuesday, February 25, 2014. Must be legal drinking age to enter, win, and attend. Please enjoy responsibly.
Update The winners are @LynIsIn (Acura Tasting Room) + Brent (Life of Pie)
From BC History on YouTube: Robson Street Stores (B&W, sil.) aired on the CBUT (CBC Vancouver) show Town Crier, July 1964. “When I was a kid in Vancouver Robson Street west of Howe was full of shops run by German immigrants and called Robsonstrasse. I often went there on Saturdays with my grandmother after having been at Stanley Park.”
The most reproduced Canadian photograph from World War II will soon be immortalized in New Westminster. Wait For Me, Daddy was captured by Claude P. Dettloff on October 1, 1940 as troops headed off to war with the BC Regiment. Recently the CBC met up with Warren (Whitey) Bernard, the little boy in the photo broke free from his mother’s grasp and ran towards his father, Pte. Jack Bernard as he marched down 8th Street.
Wait For Me, Daddy
1940: Claude P. Dettloff, Vancouver Daily Province. Archives# CVA LP-109.
Bernard, now aged 79, lives in Tofino but returned to New Westminster for a dinner in his honour. Revisiting the scene, he says he can still recall the day he made a break for it — and his mother’s emotions. “She was pretty upset because I guess over here the soldiers were all milling around and everybody was saying goodbye — and then they were heading for the ship.”
The photo made the next day’s morning paper, but not long after it was featured across North America, including an October issue of Life magazine. It was eventually hung in every school in B.C. during the war. Although it will always be a touching statement on war and family, for the young boy, it became much more than that.
While his father’s regiment ended up being stationed in Nanaimo, BC, for more training before eventually heading off to fight in Europe, Bernard and his mother got by on a modest income in their rented Vancouver home. During the summers of 1943 and 1944, the young boy joined a touring group that travelled the province encouraging people to buy war bonds to support the soldiers fighting abroad. [Source: CBC Vancouver]
Bernard told the CBC that for him, the war ended when his dad came home safely, but he wants to ensure the memory of it is never forgotten by generations to come so he is donating memorabilia to the local museum.
Monument to be Installed in New Westminster
Two sculptors, the husband-and-wife team of Edwin and Veronica Dam de Nogales, have been commissioned to memorialize the famous photograph. A bronze monument, with three figures, representing the boy, his mother, and his father, will stand near 8th and Columbia in New Westminster. The city plans an unveiling later this year, followed by a re-enactment of the soldiers’ march in 2015 to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
Disney Live! Mickey’s Rockin’ Road Show is coming to the Pacific Coliseum, bringing Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and many more beloved characters to Vancouver from February 21st to February 23rd.
Photo courtesy of Feld Entertainment
Disney Live! Mickey’s Rockin’ Road Show
Produced by Feld Entertainment, this stage spectacular features classic Disney characters in an all-new adventure with an original storyline that will delight the entire family. Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy set out on a zany road trip where audiences join in and help find the coolest acts around. Along the way, hit a high note with Cinderella; get your bounce on with Tigger; and shout out your loudest “yee-haw” at a hoedown with Woody, Jessie and Buzz Lightyear from Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story! Grab your family for a fun-filled getaway at this live, show-stopping adventure jam-packed with unexpected twists, turns and hijinks — right in your hometown!
The show will run Friday, February 21st at 7:00pm; Saturday, February 22nd at 12:00pm and 3:00pm; and Sunday, February 23rd at 12:00pm and 3:00pm. Ticket prices range from $26, $32, $55 (VIP Floor Seats) and $80 (Front Row) plus fees. Opening night discount tickets are available for only $20 each for select seating. Tickets available for purchase online via Ticketleader, by phone at (604) 757-0345 or at the Pacific Coliseum box office.
The new Surrey City Hall is open for business, 10.8km north of its previous location and now in the heart of Downtown Surrey. To put that into perspective, it would be like moving from South West Marine Drive up to Canada Place in Vancouver. The new Surrey City Hall has plenty of bells and whistles, including the new City Hall Plaza area around Surrey Central, a theatre/performing arts venue, meeting rooms, public daycare, public art, and more.
Source: City of Surrey.
The Surrey Leader has given us a first look at the $97-million LEED GOLD certified building on 104th Avenue and University Drive (formerly West Whalley Ring Road):
Black marble walls reach up eight metres inside the foyer of Surrey’s new city hall, while six storeys of window panes offer a view of a public plaza, the city’s new library and Central City tower. The open atrium, with stone tile floors, spans the full six floors of the building, with a 20-metre-long artwork centerpiece – a metal flock of birds – flying toward the large window.
A wide staircase on the north side ascends, and at each landing, serves as a bridge between the east and west sides of the building. On Thursday, workers were still scrambling to put the finishing touches on the structure, sanding down surfaces, covering exposed wire, and screwing banisters into stairwells.
Much of the back areas of the hall are constructed as one would expect, with typical hub-style workstations separated by thick white dividers. The outermost offices, for managers and city councillors, have floor-to-ceiling windows and gracious views.
The councillors’ offices are located on the fifth level. The mayor’s office, with adjoining balcony facing south, is on the top floor, which was closed during The Leader’s visit on Thursday.
The new 180,000-sq.-ft. building is touted as being more than just a city hall, with its council chambers also serving as a performing arts venue and meeting place. [Source: Surrey Leader]
Surrey Place Mall, Whalley, and the Ring Roads are terms on the brink of extinction. I was born and raised in Surrey, grew up in Whalley, and attended West Whalley Junior High. I would have never thought that this area would build up as much as it has, starting with the renovation of Central City Shopping Centre at the turn of the century and looking ahead to dozens of new towers including the 52-storey Marriott at 3 Civic Plaza.
Surrey is a work in progress and you can’t deny that Vancouver is also ever-changing. A new crane, a fresh excavation, a road dug up here, another public hearing. When I visit family or attend a free cultural or music festival in Surrey I don’t find myself longing for the ‘old days’ and missing what is now gone or replaced. My hometown is growing, moving forward, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it shapes itself over the next decade.
Council meetings will begin at the new facility on March 31st, once all the audio-video work is complete. The official City Hall Grand Opening for the community will be held on Saturday April 26, 2014 in conjunction with the city’s Party for the Planet festival.
The Vancouver International Wine Festival, presented by The Vancouver Sun, runs February 24th until March 2nd, 2014 taking place at venues across downtown Vancouver. 
Where: Vancouver Convention Centre West (1055 Canada Place)
Where: Loungeworks (130 West 4th Ave)
