The legacy of Peter Pantages will live on New Years Day as Vancouver hosts its 90th annual Polar Bear Swim in English Bay.
January 1, 1939 – The Polar Bear Club – Item #: CVA 371-836
This is one of Vancouver’s oldest traditions. Quick tidbit: “In 1928, on January 1st, 16-year-old Ivy Granstrom made her first entry into the chilly waters of English Bay in the Polar Bear Swim. Ms. Granstrom, blind from birth, will go on to appear at 77 consecutive Polar Bear events.” – VancouverHistory.ca Granstrom’s last dip was in 2004.
Registration takes place in front of the English Bay Bathhouse from 12:30pm – 2:30pm on January 1st. To be a Polar Bear Club member, you must register before the swim. Your free membership includes a commemorative button after you take the plunge. Prizes will be drawn from the entry forms filled out or turned in from the Province newspaper at the Swim registration table.
Costumes are very welcome and there is also the Peter Pantages Memorial 100 yard swim race to get your heart racing in the icy Pacific. Check out the Flickr stream of John Goldsmith (aka WaxyPoetic) for some amazing photos following the 2010 event.
This afternoon I headed over to GE Plaza (at Robson Square) for an interview with a news agency. While the reporter and I were standing next to the rink watching the ice get resurfaced, Santa moseyed on by and his helper asked if we wanted to get our pictures taken.
Once the interview was complete, I snapped photos of the rink and the lunchtime skaters then made my way over to Santa’s tent which is located at the base of the stairs between the rink and the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Santa’s helper, Jean, was a lovely woman who inquired about my interview so then I got to tell her all about Miss604.com. She was very sweet and introduced me to Santa as “media”. I got my photo taken with the jolly old man and explored the rest of the tent to see the other activities being offered.
A volunteer made me a delicious gingerbread cookie while I scoped out the craft supplies and custom letters to Santa himself that were there for children to complete. From the sparkles and Christmas decorations to the instant photos with Santa, every single thing in the tent is free and available to the public.
The times for visiting Santa and the activity tent are posted outside and all in all it perfectly compliments the adjacent skating rink this holiday season. If you have your own skates, you can spend hours at this one location doing many events, being serenaded by a brass band playing Christmas tunes, and it won’t cost you a penny.
The stars are coming to town in 2010 but not for rock shows at GM Place, they’ll be playing medal ceremonies and public open-air concerts from Whistler to Surrey.
Here’s a quick guide to who will be here, where they will be, and if you’ll be able to attend:
Vancouver
Vancouver Victory Ceremonies
To be held nightly inside BC Place during the Games. Tickets will be required for these performances. Go to the Vancouver2010 website and search for tickets under “Vancouver Victory Ceremonies”.
Sunday, February 14: Nelly Furtado
British Columbia night
Update January 15th, 2010: Just announced at LiveCity Vancouver… Constantines, Matisyahu, Marianas Trench, Corb Lund, Jessie Farrell, Colin James, Mother Mother, Coeur de Pirate, Jill Barber, Daniel Wesley, The Arkells, Keisha Chante
Molson Canadian Hockey House
Located on the North side of False Creek, there will be entertainment daily at Molson Canadian Hockey House.
Cultural Olympiad
The Cultural Olympiad will also be taking place during the Games and will include everything from drummers, dancers, singers, and every other kind of entertainment you can imagine around the City.
Richmond O Zone
Richmond’s O Zone is their official Celebration Site that will also host many forms of entertainment (art shows, big screens, ice skating, athletes and exhibits). It is completely free and taking place at Minoru Park (which is accessible by the Canada Line).
Bands listed so far include: Our Lady Peace, Hawksley Workman, Bedouin Soundclash, Tokyo Police Club and Wintersleep. There will also be World Beat rhythms, South Asian dance and music to Pan Northern sounds from above the Arctic Circle. The full schedule will be posted here.
Whistler
Whistler Medal Ceremonies
Performers will play one night each February 13 to 27 at the Whistler Medals Plaza. Tickets fare not for sale but will be given away for free through an online contest run by Tourism Whistler beginning January 4th.
The Crazy8s Film Festival is back for its 11th year in Vancouver. The festival challenges local filmmakers to write, direct, edit, and produce short films in 8 days using a budget of $800 and 60 minutes of HD tape.
Last Sunday at the Pitch Registration event, 115 teams signed up and they will now they have until January 15th to submit a 5-minute video pitch of their film idea. The teams responsible for what will be selected as the top 40 ideas will be invited back to pitch in person January 29th and 30th.
The field will then get narrowed down to 12 teams and after another round of jury selections, 6 teams will go into production on their film ideas, shooting and editing between March 18th and 26th.
To wrap up the Crazy8s festival, there will be a gala screening of the 6 finalist films at the Vogue Theatre March 27, 2010.
Crazy8s script-writing workshop from 2008
The films that come out of the Crazy8s festival go far, having been screened at over 150 international festivals with the filmmakers securing international distribution deals and licensing deals for TV or online. “There is nothing like Crazy8s anywhere else in Canada,†says event producer Erik Paulsson. “We are developing a reputation for producing some of the strongest short films coming out of this country. This has led to a significant number of our alumni going on to make their first feature films.”
You can follow their updates on Twitter or Facebook and stay tuned over the next few months to see how the teams’ pitches, ideas, and creations all come together.
With snow on everyone’s mind right now, and with the local mountains slightly occupied this February, I thought I would find out a bit more about going on a ski getaway.
The very first time I strapped on a pair of skis (which was also the last time I strapped on a pair of skis) I was on a school trip to Blackcomb back in 1992. The beauty of the big group trip to a ski resort is that there are so many activities and things to do so if you don’t end up being a fantastic skier (and say, end up being a snowboarder instead) you can still have a fantastic time.
Destination Snow has been in the ski trip business for 11 years and has grown to be the largest group ski & snowboard tour operator in British Columbia. When you book a package with a group tour operator like Destination Snow, usually you have the following included: 2 nights accommodation at a resort hotel, 2 day lift pass for the mountain, round trip deluxe bus transportation, movies & prizes along the way in the bus, daily ski or board tours with a guide.
Cameron said that they make it easier on people, you don’t need to worry about accommodation and especially about driving to these fabulous resorts (whose highways might not always be the friendliest in the dead of winter). Destination Snow currently operates trips to Sun Peaks, Big White, Silver Star, Revelstoke, and Whistler so you can choose your getaway accordingly.
They are also currently offering $50 off per person for trips January 8th-10th and January 15th-17th to Big White. Book now and just enter the code: “Facebook” to get the discount.
