As the rain closes in for a long visit over the next week or so, this weekend we get to enjoy the start of the Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival, some new exhibitions and theatrical performances. Find these and many more fun things to do around Vancouver this weekend listed below and follow the January event list for an expanded view:
Things to do in Vancouver This Weekend January 13-15, 2023
Paying your transit fare on every bus and gate throughout Metro Vancouver just got easier! TransLink customers can now pay for transit using Interac® Debit, making TransLink the first transit agency in Canada to fully integrate contactless Interac Debit payments systemwide.
Tap with Interac Debit on TransLink
As part of TransLink’s Customer Experience Action Plan, TransLink,Interac, Moneris, and Cubic Transportation Systems upgraded more than 5,000 Compass Readers throughout TransLink’s system to make transit payments more convenient.
The upgrade allows customers to board transit by using Interac Debit with physical cards or through smartphone digital wallets. This allows customers to pay for transit more easily without having to use an in-station Compass Vending Machine or having to pre-load a Compass product with stored value.
Interac Debit payments is one more addition to the suite of available payment options for TransLink customers. Transit users can also pay with contactless credit cards, digital wallets, Compass Cards, Compass Wristbands, and Compass Minis.
Regional data from participants of a recent Interac Canada-wide survey found that a growing number of British Columbians want more convenient contactless payment options for transit:
66% see debit as a convenient way to pay for transit.
64% claimed that tap payments would save time when paying fares.
56% would be interested in using debit or credit cards to pay for their trips if they had the option.
69% believe it would be easier for visitors to pay for transit using their bank card as opposed to tickets, tokens, or passes.
TransLink reminds customers to please tap their card or smartphone when paying for transit, and not their wallets, to avoid card clash when paying.
Dine Out Vancouver Festival’s Street Food City will once again welcome thousands to šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square on the north side of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Sample a collection of food trucks and carts in one convenient location from Saturday, January 21 to Sunday, January 29, 2023. Both the vendor lineup and the operating hours have been extended for the 11th edition of this foodie favourite.
Street Food City – Photo submitted
Street Food City
Saturday, January 21, 2023 11:00am to 9:00pm Sunday, January 22, 2023 11:00am to 7:00pm Weekdays: 11:00am to 2:00pm Saturday, January 28, 2023 11:00am to 8:00pm Sunday, January 29, 2023 11:00am to 7:00pm
This year’s Street Food City boasts 17 participating food trucks dishing up an array of cuisines including: Filipino eats; Sicilian-style fried risotto balls; plant-based Mediterranean comfort food; traditional fish & chips; gourmet mac n’ cheese, and more. The trucks will rotate throughout the festival so the best way to find the daily lineup is by following along on Instagram.
Tents provided by sponsor EVO Car Share will ensure that festival-goers can embrace the rain while fueling up, and local radio stations will be onsite (January 21 and 29) to add to the lively beat.
Food Truck Lineup
Cazba Chickpea Disco Cheetah El Cartel Green Coast Coffee Indish Mama’s Fish & Chips Melt City Mom’s Grilled Cheese
Mr. Arancino Reel Mac & Cheese Shameless Buns Slavic Rolls Super Thai Taste Malaysia Tornado Potato Via Tevere Pizzeria
Also during the fest, The Lantern City will feature a display of lanterns in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery steps. Presented by LunarFest, the lantern installation will feature artists from the diverse communities of Vancouver. Celebrate the Year of the Rabbit through arts and culture.
Dine Out Vancouver 2023
The 21st annual Dine Out Vancouver Festival will take place January 20 to February 5, 2023. Taste the world across the city at more than 350 restaurants with multi-course meals and unique culinary experiences. Tickets for special events are on sale now, and reservations open January 11th.
The official opening of the Prospect Point Signal Station in Stanley Park. It was installed to regulate all shipping in and out of Vancouver’s harbour. The two-storey structure was also called South Head, Calamity Point, Observation Point and Prospect Bluff. The station was made redundant by the construction of the Lions Gate Bridge, which opened in 1938. According to SquamishAtlas.com, the placename for the south end of where the Lions Gate Bridge sits is “Sch’ílhus”
View from the Prospect Point Signal Station in 1938 when the Lions Gate Bridge was under construction. James Crookall photo. Archives # CVA 260-833
August 3, 1923 – Great Pacific Highway
You could now drive on cement (a smooth, unbroken highway) from Vancouver to California along the Great Pacific Highway, which officially opened. It’s still known as the PacHighway crossing today, between Surrey and Blaine. You can find a historical stone marker on the corner of 176th Street and Highway 10 that marks the occasion.
Also in 1923
After the peninsula of what we now call Stanley Park was designated as a park, the City of Vancouver branded the families that lived there as squatters and applied pressure on them to leave. The “Squatter’s Eviction Trial” (1923) forced remaining Indigenous families to leave their homes and traditional land.
The Ballantyne Pier terminal was constructed to help with dock shortages. It was built in the Beaux-Arts style and began as a storage shed as part of a quartet of identical buildings.
Aerial view of Ballantyne Pier in the 1940s. Archives # Air P29.3
The BC Government approved contracts to complete buildings at UBC, following The Great Trek and the student-run “Build the University” campaign in 1922. The Science building (today part of the Chemistry building), the Library, a power plant, and nine “semi-permanent” buildings (Arts, Agriculture, Applied Science, Administration, the Auditorium, and four laboratory/workshop buildings) most of which are still in use today.
The Lantern City returns to light up the new year featuring pieces from Indigenous and South Asian artists at three sites across the city. Ringing in the Year of the Rabbit, these lanterns will also highlight Vancouver’s beautifully diverse communities.
The Lantern City 2021
The Lantern City
Visit these stunning installations at the following locations:
Lost in Nature – Coastal Lunar Lanterns Location: Jack Poole Plaza Dates:January 20 to February 15, 2023 Artists: Ovila Mailhot (Nlaka’pamux & Sto:lo Nation); George Littlechild (Plains Cree); Walis Labai / Diingwuu Wu (Sediq Tribe); Arucangli Rusagelet (Paiwan Tribe)
The Cycle – Forever Young Location: Ocean Art Works (Granville Island) Dates: January 20 to February 20, 2023 Artists: Arts Umbrella – Patrick O’Neill; Rachel Smith (Kwakwa’kawakw & Wuikinuxv First Nations); Jessie Sohpaul (South Asian); Richard Hunt (Kwakwa’kawakw)
Our Wonderland – We Are Family Location: šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square (North of the Vancouver Art Gallery) Dates: January 20 to February 7, 2023 Artists: Arty Guava (Malaysian Canadian); Angela Aujla (South Asian Canadian); Phyllis Poitras-Jarrett (Métis); Ocean Hyland & Jesse Recalma (Tsleil-Waututh Nation & Qualicum First Nation)
LunarFest presented the first edition of these lantern installations as Coastal Lunar Lanterns a few years ago and thanks to interest from both artists and the public, it has expanded to more sites than ever across Vancouver as Lantern City. “The plan is always about engaging artists who don’t always celebrate the Lunar New Year, but who are passionate about sharing their stories with one of the most important Asian traditions,” say organizers. In 2021 there were lanterns at English Bay, and at the Vancouver Art Gallery’s north plaza. Last year, the program expanded to Granville Island.
Follow The Lantern City on Instagram and Facebook for more information.
