The Family Day long weekend is coming up February 18-20, 2023 I have have curated list of all of the awesome, fun things, to enjoy with your loved ones right here!
Family Day Events in Metro Vancouver
This list will be updated over the next few weeks. If you have an event you’d like to include, please feel free to send it in for a free listing.
Burnaby
To be announced
Coquitlam
On February 18th, celebrate the dynamic and varied cultures of the African diaspora in Coquitlam and the Lower Mainland during the 4th annual Black History Month Family Day. Enjoy dance, crafts, and amazing foods together in community.
Celebrating a little bit early, Place des Arts is hosting a free admission Family day at PdA on February 5th. Tour exhibitions then create your own art in a variety of all-ages, drop-in style activities based on the content and/or mediums in the exhibitions.
New Westminster
Registration for a wide array of Family Day activities opens February 2, 2023. Enjoy a day at the Queen’s Park Green House, workshops at the Anvil Centre, and much more from February 18th to 20th.
North Vancouver
MONOVA hosts a Virtual Family Day Coast Salish Wool Weaving workshop on February 20th. Your family can learn to weave a wool bracelet in the Coast Salish style with Tsawasiya Spukwus of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation on Family Day.
The Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre is hosting a Family Felting Workshop on February 18th. Learn how to felt a plant or animal using needle felting techniques. Adults and children will work together to learn more about their plant or animal and develop their creations. Suitable for ages 5+.
Spend Family Day at Fort Langley National Historic Site. On February 20th you can participate in river and ocean-themed activities and learn about the site’s connection to salmon and killer whales with guests from the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site, the Parks Canada Southern Resident Killer Whale team, Salmon River Enhancement Society, Derby Reach Brae Island Parks Association, and more.
The VMF Winter Arts Festival will also be in full swing, with a variety of free activations and entertainment options around Downtown Vancouver.
The Vancouver Winter Pride Festival is hosting Chosen Family Day on February 20th at the VMF Winter Arts Hub at 850 West Georgia. This free family-friendly event will bring everyone together for a day of celebrating love and community.
The Polygon Gallery will present the Vancouver premiere of As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic from February 24 to May 14, 2023. The international touring exhibition, curated by The Polygon Gallery’s Elliott Ramsey, is dedicated entirely to the Wedge Collection as featured in the recently published book by Aperture of more than 100 photographs from African diasporic culture from both sides of the Atlantic.
Kennedi Carter, Untitled (Self-Portrait), 2020
Digital print on Hanhemüle Photo Rag
From As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic (Aperture, 2021)
Courtesy of the artist
As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic
When: February 24 to May 14, 2023
Gallery Hours: Wed, Fri-Sun 10:00am to 5:00pm; Thurs until 8:00pm
Where: The Polygon Gallery (101 Carrie Cates Court, North Vancouver)
Admission: By donation
“The Wedge Collection brings together rare images, iconic photographs, and new works that reach across continents and over decades,” says Ramsey. “From the 1930s’ Harlem Renaissance, through post-colonial Bamako, to contemporary Toronto, As We Rise celebrates the polyphony of Black life — and the nuanced approaches of Black photographers in representing these scenes of love, leisure, and resistance.”
The Wedge Collection was established by Dr. Kenneth Montague in 1997 and is Canada’s largest privately owned collection committed to championing Black artists.
The exhibition’s title is borrowed from a phrase that Montague’s father would often invoke: “Lifting as we rise.” By this, he emphasized the importance of parlaying one’s personal success into communal good. He believed in investing back in the community to which he and his family belonged. As an ethic, “lifting as we rise” suggests an expanded sense of family, one that reaches beyond close relatives. As an exhibition, As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic embraces this expansive sensibility, centring the familial alongside the familiar.
Familiarity resides not just in the exhibition collectively, but in the photographs themselves. Black subjects are depicted by Black photographers, presented as they wish to be seen. Largely, these subjects are aware of the camera, and yet never seem rigid or unnatural. The gaze is mutual and consensual. But the imagery produced is far from uniform. It is as varied, surprising, and heterogeneous as the Black Atlantic itself. Like a family album, it is idiosyncratic. The concepts of community, identity, and power intersect and merge, discernable in many of the photographs not as features to be singled out but rather as a recognizable essence; a recognition of the complex strength, beauty, vulnerability, and irreducibility of Black life.
Select highlights from the exhibition include:
’70s Lifestyle (1975–78) by Samuel Fosso, a legendary photographer known for self-portraiture in various personas, is seen here as a young teenager, styling himself in fashions of the day
Sunday Morning, Detroit, Michigan (1950) by Gordon Parks, an icon of civil rights-era photography
Rude Boy, Brooklyn, New York (1982) by Jamel Shabazz, who was photographing in Brooklyn as hip hop was emerging a force in the global music industry
Nuit de Noël (1963) by Malick Sidibé, one of the most important photographers of post-colonial Africa who was recognized with the Hasselblad Award the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement
My Name Is My Name I (2016) by Texas Isaiah, a rising star in contemporary photography, and the first trans photographer to shoot an edition cover for Vogue Magazine in 2020
First Self-Portrait (1975) by Carrie Mae Weems, among the most significant photographers of our time and renowned for her self-portraiture
After Sir Joshua Reynolds’ “Portrait of Doctor Samuel Johnson” (2009) by Kehinde Wiley, a Nigerian-American artist known for referencing art historical portraiture in his photographs and paintings, and Barack Obama’s official portrait in Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery
The exhibition first opened at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto in fall 2022 and will travel to the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts in June 2023.
As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic is part of Capture Photography Festival in Vancouver April 1–30, 2023. Follow The Polygon on Facebook for more information about this exhibition, and others.
Vancouver Opera continues its 2022-2023 season with the company premiere of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Benjamin Britten, directed by Aria Umezawa with Conductor Jacques Lacombe. Based on Shakespeare’s fantastical story, A Midsummer Night’s Dream follows a myriad of hilarious characters in a whimsical whirlwind of magic potions, love triangles and mistaken identities.
Vancouver Opera Presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream
When: February 11 & 16, 2023 at 7:30pm & Sunday, February 19 at 2:00pm
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre (630 Hamilton St, Vancouver)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is sung in English with English SURTITLES™ projected above the stage.
Dream is the story of four lovers, a feuding King and Queen of the fairies, and a comedic ensemble of Mechanicals. Each group is beautifully captured by Britten’s contrasting sound worlds, resulting in an accessible operatic fairy tale complete with plenty of comedy.
“Presenting this magical production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a thrill for us at Vancouver Opera,” said Tom Wright, Vancouver Opera General Director. “Audiences are familiar with the story and we hope that familiarity will encourage patrons to come experience this fantastical opera. In our cast for Dream we are thrilled to have a descendant of composer Benjamin Britten join our company; Spencer Britten will be singing in the role of Lysander. This is a treat for audiences to have a multi-generational connection to this production here in Vancouver.”
Conductor Jacques Lacombe makes his return to Vancouver Opera after conducting Turandot in 2017. Director Aria Umezawa makes her debut with Vancouver Opera bringing her innovative work to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre stage.
Cast in the role of Oberon is Daniel Moody, with his faithful servant Puck portrayed by Kunji Ikeda. Magali Simard-Galdes is Tytania, Queen of the Faeries. The four lovers are Spencer Britten as Lysander, Clarence Frazer as Demetrius, Jonelle Sills as Helena, and Hillary Tufford as Hermia. Royal Court members include Neil Craighead as Theseus and Stephanie Tritchew as Hippolyta. Peter McGillivray plays Bottom, who becomes entangled with Tytania as she falls under a love spell. Fellow Mechanicals include Ian Cleary as Snout, Jason Cook as Starveling, Luka Kawabata as Quince, Peter Monaghan as Snug and Asitha Tennekoon as Flute.
Follow Vancouver Opera on Facebook for more information about this performance, the rest of the season, and more.
To celebrate Canada’s Agriculture Day on February 15th, BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation (“BCAITC”) is hosting two free virtual Cook-Along BC events.
Free Cook-Along BC Events
BCAITC Chef Trevor Randle will provide expert instruction as he guides participants online through two BC grown recipes during these free cook-along events:
11:00am-11:45am Feb 15, 2023
Chocolate Espresso Lava Cakes with Crème Anglaise
5:30pm-6:30pm Feb 15, 2023
Turkey Falafel with Garlic Yogurt Sauce and Chopped Salad
BC egg farmer Kristen Poortvliet (Misty Mountain Farm) will join the morning session and BC turkey farmer Jillian Azanza (K&M Farms) will join the evening session to provide fun insights on BC farming. Participants will also be entered into draws for a chance to win prizes totalling over $250.
Canada’s Agriculture Day was first launched in 2017. A coast-to-coast initiative of The Canadian Centre for Food Integrity, it celebrates agriculture and to create a conversation between consumers and producers around the food we love. It’s a day to celebrate Canadian food, and to connect the people who produce it to the people who love to eat it.
Register online for these Cook-Along BC events and find the recipes and menu shopping/equipment list.
Love Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is illuminating the coastal forest with Valentine’s themed displays February 3-26, 2023. Enjoy dazzling displays, entertainment, cozy dining options and more this season.
Capilano Suspension Bridge Park Photo
The suspension bridge, Treetops Adventure, Cliffwalk’s Arc de Lumina and Park will all feature Valentine’s themed lighting experiences and activities that will dazzle and amaze romantics of all ages. Additionally, on weekends in February, visit the lovely birds of Raptors Ridge Birds of Prey and enjoy live music in the park.
Love Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
When: February 3 to 26, 2023 from 10:00am to 8:00pm
Where: Capilano Suspension Bridge Park (3735 Capilano Rd, North Vancouver)
Tickets: Must be purchased in advance online and are on sale now, with a limited quantity of tickets available. Visits are scheduled in 30-minute arrival increments. BC Annual Pass holders will also be required to reserve their time online prior to their visit.
During Love Lights, the Cliff House Restaurant will be offering special feature items including a Love Potion Martini, Steak & Frites and a decadent Dark Chocolate Terrine. Seating in the Cliff House Restaurant will be available on a first come, first served basis.
While you’re there, enter to win a 2-night stay and a dinner with your sweetheart at Cathedral Mountain Lodge in the Canadian Rockies this summer.
Win Tickets
I have a pair of tickets to give away to Love Lights for the winner to enjoy with someone special in their life. Here’s how you can enter to win:
