After Hours at Vancouver Aquarium: Jelly Invasion

Comments 147 by Rebecca Bollwitt

The next Vancouver Aquarium “After Hours” adults-only event will take place Thursday, June 6, 2013 giving grown-ups the opportunity to explore galleries and exhibits without having kids in tow.

AfterHours_ShowboardPrePromote_130502

Jelly Invasion features over 15 species of jellyfishes hailing from various parts of the globe. These beautiful marine animals are more complex than you might think. Through our new exhibits and interactive displays, visitors can learn how jellyfish hunt, eat, protect themselves and reproduce without having hearts, brains, bones and eyes.

In addition to new exhibits, animals and interactive displays, the June After Hours event will feature Jelly Factor, a fun game show style interpretive program that will allow you to put your jelly knowledge to the test, and a Jelly Deli where the truly adventurous may even get the chance to snack on some jelly delicacies.

Get your hands wet in the Wet Lab, immerse yourself in a 4-D experience: BBC Earth’s The Great Salmon Run, and test your knowledge with Jelly Factor, a game show style interpretive program that puts your jelly knowledge to the test. There will also be a Jelly Deli, where the adventurous may get the chance to snack on jelly delicacies, and other food, beer, and wine* will be available for purchase throughout the evening.

Stingy-sting-sting

After Hours takes place from 6:00pm to 10:00pm on Thursday, June 6th and from 7:30pm to 8:30pm you can enjoy a presentation of Culturing Jellies, a biologist’s perspective, which provides visitors with a deeper look inside the world of jellies. A full schedule of activities for the night is posted online.

Tickets are only available in advance, not at the door, and they’re selling quickly for $18 (members) and $25 (non-member). This is a 19+ event and photo ID is required for entry.

If you would like to see what After Hours is all about, and have a grown-up night out in a fascinating and unique location, I have two ticket to give away thanks to the Vancouver Aquarium. 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 your way into #AfterHoursJellyInvasion at @VancouverAqua from @Miss604 http://ow.ly/loqQh

I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 10:00am on Sunday, June 2, 2013. *Alcohol available only with the purchase of food. Must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsible and plan a safe trip home. Follow the Vancouver Aquarium on Facebook and Twitter for more information.

Update The winner is Aaron!

Mumford & Sons in Surrey Photos

Comments 3 by Rebecca Bollwitt

Mumford & Sons — one of the biggest bands in the world today — drew a sold-out crowd of 25,000 to Holland Park in Surrey last night. This stop in Live Nation’s Concerts in the Park series hosted food trucks, beer gardens, and thousands of dancing and singing fans. In fact the band said that it was the largest headlining gig they have ever played.

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Concert-goers starting pouring in when the gates opened at 5:00pm and the area filled up quickly for Mystery Jets followed by Michael Kiwanuka. Several people tried to bring in blankets but they were all confiscated at the door as sitting down in such a crowd could have been hazardous (and very soggy in some places). Some still found a spot to squat over to the sides of the stage where kettle corn and poutine fulfilled the appetites of those who skipped dinner.

Mumford and Sons @ Holland Park, Surrey, B.C.

Mumford and Sons @ Holland Park, Surrey, B.C. Mumford and Sons @ Holland Park, Surrey, B.C.

Mumford and Sons @ Holland Park, Surrey, B.C.
Photo credit: John Bollwitt for Miss604.com.

By the time Winston Marshall, Marcus Mumford, Ted Dwane and Ben Lovet of Mumford & Sons hit the stage the park was packed and you could barely see the grass below your feet. Fans were up on their feet, dancing arm-to-arm with friends while singing along at the top of their lungs especially with hits like I Will Wait and Little Lion Man early in the set.

Mumford and Sons @ Holland Park, Surrey, B.C. Mumford and Sons @ Holland Park, Surrey, B.C.

Mumford and Sons @ Holland Park, Surrey, B.C.

Mumford and Sons @ Holland Park, Surrey, B.C. Mumford and Sons @ Holland Park, Surrey, B.C.

Mumford and Sons @ Holland Park, Surrey, B.C.John Bollwitt for Miss604.com.

The British group played their hearts out, as you would expect if you’ve seen any of their concert footage before, for close to two hours and gave the crowd warm fuzzy feelings by complimenting our gorgeous city and the good time they have had here. A full moon hung in the sky above by the time the encore was complete and every artist from the night returned to the stage.

Mumford and Sons @ Holland Park, Surrey, B.C.
Photo credit: John Bollwitt for Miss604.com.

By the end of the show it was hard to tell who had bigger smiles, the stomping and clapping fans who were completely elated by the show they had just witnessed or the bandmates on stage. Mumford & Sons are now heading down to the Sasquatch Festival in Washington State then onto Portland, a couple of stops in California, Texas, Louisiana, and Colorado before returning to the UK.

Upcoming Live Nation Concerts in the Park include The Sheepdogs at Malkin Bowl on August 30th followed by Tegan and Sara with Fun. at Ambleside in West Vancouver on August 31st.

Portuguese Joe Sculpture Coming to Stanley Park

Add a Comment by Rebecca Bollwitt

There will soon a be new sculpture in Stanley Park as the Park Board has accepted a statue donated by the Portuguese Joe Memorial Society. The piece, featuring pioneer Joe Silvey (“Portuguese Joe”), will celebrate the ancestral connection of Coast Salish and Portuguese communities in Vancouver.

From the proposal to the Vancouver Park Board:

“The proposed artwork will be a 14-foot bronze sculpture with life-sized representations of Portuguese Joe Silvey and his Coast Salish wives, Khaltinaht and Kwatleematt. The artist, Luke Marston is a recognized Coast Salish artist and the great, great grandson of Silvey and Kwatleematt. The site was chosen as it is the historic location of Portuguese Joe and Khaltinaht’s home.”

Joe was born in Pico, Azores in 1828 and likely arrived in Vancouver between 1858 and 1860 with four or five other Portuguese men in search of gold. The men came down to the Fraser River from the Cariboo on their way to Victoria and were greeted — on the shores of what would be South Vancouver today — by Grand Chief Kiapilano (Joe’s future “grandfather in-law”) and the Musqueam people.

Soon after Joe married Khaltinaht, Kiapilano’s granddaughter. Many years later, Joe described his first wife as a, “pretty girl with dark eyes, and hair down to her middle; large deep, soft eyes.” After honeymooning in Point Roberts, where Joe may have previously lived, he built a house at Coal Harbour near Brockton Point in Stanley Park.1

The artist who created the sculpture, Luke Marston, told the Vancouver Sun: “It is such a great story. When the first settlers came here it was a negative thing (for the First Nations people) but not with him. He married the chief’s granddaughter (Chief Kiapilano) and was accepted by the people.”

Joe and Khaltinaht’s first daughter, Elizabeth, was born between 1864 and 1867 at their home in Stanley Park, around the area of where the 9 O’Clock Gun sits today. Elizabeth became the first child born of European parentage in Vancouver. In 1867, Joe became the first Portuguese person in Canada to receive British Citizenship.

It takes a lot of gumption to open a saloon in Gassy Jack’s town, but Joe did it in 1870. He purchased Lot No. 7 in the Granville Townsite and operated the “Hole in the Wall” near Gassy Jack’s “Globe Saloon”.

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1880 – Gastown. Photo credit: Joseph Davis. Archives Item# Dist P11.1.

Disaster struck Joe’s family soon after their second child was born in 1871. His wife Khaltinaht caught a cold in her back and died. She was buried with her people at Musqueam. Devastated, Joe sold his Saloon to some hand loggers and retreated to his home in Stanley Park. He fished in a sloop he had built in Stanley Park, the “Morning Star,” the first European built boat in Vancouver.2

While out fishing in Howe Sound, it’s believe that’s where Joe met his second wife, Kwaham Kwatleematt, a Sechelt woman known as Lucy. She and Joe had ten children before he passed away in 1902.

Today, there are over 500 descendants of Joe Silvey in BC who are very proud of their Portuguese and Aboriginal ancestry. In fact artist Luke Marston is Joe’s great-great grandson. His sculpture is set to be unveiled at the end of September this year.

Update 2015

From the Vancouver Sun: Vancouver Sun Article : “After five years of planning and work, a sculpture by Coast Salish artist Ts’uts’umutl Luke Marston will finally be unveiled Saturday at 2 p.m. in Stanley Park.

The 4.2-metre-high bronze, titled Shore to Shore, is a tribute to Marston’s great, great grandfather, Joe Silvey, and his indigenous wives: Khaltinaht and Kwatleematt. Silvey, known as Portuguese Joe, was one of the first Portuguese immigrants to B.C.

Built at a cost of about $700,000, Shore to Shore was a project that involved the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, the Portuguese-Canadian community in B.C., as well as the governments of Portugal, the Azores, Vancouver and Canada.

The sculpture is located in what was once the traditional village of Xwayxway, where Silvey lived with Khaltinaht. This area is now called Brockton Point.”

1, 2 Portuguese Pioneers of BC.

Win Brunch at Hawksworth

Comments 249 by Rebecca Bollwitt
Disclosure: Review — This is not a paid post, views are my own. Two of our meals were compliments of Hawksworth. We paid for the third and for all beverages. Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.

hawksworthlogoIt’s not everyday that I eat at one of Vancouver’s most award-winning restaurants, but I should definitely do o more often. Last weekend I had brunch at Hawksworth Restaurant in the Rosewood Hotel Georgia for the first time and the company I was with sparkled like the grand chandelier in the main dining area as we all dolled up a bit for the occasion.

Brunch at Hawksworth

I savoured every bite of my sablefish eggs benedict and each sip of my mimosa while my mother went for the traditional English breakfast (complete with baked beans on the side) and Keira-Anne had a modified eggs benedict with avocado and tomato (and a spicy virgin Ceasar).

Brunch at Hawksworth Brunch at Hawksworth Brunch at Hawksworth

Other brunch menu items include the House Chorizo Hash (with sunny side eggs, grilled fennel, smoked tomato vinaigrette); Crunchy Duck Salad (with spicy tamarind, bean sprout, cucumber, taro); Housemade granola whole milk yogurt (with fresh berries); House smoked salmon bagel cream cheese (with red onion, capers); and more.

The restaurant was quiet (we were there around 11:00am) and no noise could be heard from busy West Georgia Street outside. Our conversation flowed like my mother’s coffee refills as we discussed life, travel, and the latest family news. The artwork inside Hawksworth is worth peeling your eyes away from our meal and after brunch, a quick stroll through the opulent and historic lobby of the Rosewood Hotel Georgia is recommended.

With the weekend on the horizon, Hawksworth Restaurant would like to offer up brunch for two (and beverages, excluding alcohol) for one lucky Miss604 reader and their guest. 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 brunch for 2 at @HawksworthRest from @Miss604 http://ow.ly/lmGuO

Follow Hawksworth Restaurant on Facebook and Twitter to learn more about their seasonal menu, award-winning Chef Hawksworth, and special events. I will draw one winner at random from all entires at 12:00pm on Thursday, May 30, 2013.

Update The winner is @JohnStuartistry!

Theatre Thursday: Solo Collective

Add a Comment by Rebecca Bollwitt

I am proud to once again be the Social Media Sponsor of the Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards (the Jessies) and as such, I will be featuring a local theatre company every Thursday.

Jessie Awards 2012

These profiles contain basic information about each company, as supplied by their team, and a list of their upcoming productions that you can check out in the coming season. Today’s feature company is: Solo Collective Theatre:

solocollective-zombie
“Play With Monsters” by Aaron Bushkowsky. Bill Dow, Karin Konoval, Hiro Kanagawa, and Andrew McNee. Photo by Amy Dwight.

Solo Collective Theatre

Date Established: 1999
First Play ProducedTwo by Two: Uncle Exile and The Promised Land
Total number of plays/events produced: 30
Founders: Aaron Bushkowsky and Johnna Wright
Artistic Director: Rachel Peake and Aaron Bushkowsky

Mission Statement

Solo Collective Theatre’s mission is to develop and produce exclusively new Canadian plays that reflect a unique and humorous perspective of contemporary society.  

Latest News

Solo Collective Theatre is proud to announce this past season’s hit show Play With Monsters received 4 Jessie Richardson Theatre nominations: Josette Jorge (Outstanding Supporting Actress), Karin Konoval (Outstanding Supporting Actress), Malcolm Dow (Outstanding Sound Design), and Aaron Bushkowsky (Outstanding Original Script). The company has received 34 Jessie nominations since its inception in 1999/2000 including 15 in the past 5 consecutive years.

Follow

Stay up to date on the latest from Solo Collective Theatre by following them on Facebook and Twitter.