For a while now I’ve been adding to my “Cheap Fun” and “Cheap Things to Do” blog post categories. Cultural festivals, ice skating, swimming, and taking advantage of the hundreds of parks in the Lower Mainland are just a few off the top of my head. I’ll try and add more items to this as the summer progresses and I have to give big thanks to DaveO [Uncleweed][HockeyNW] for his contributions to the list.
Part 1 of this guide was mostly about events happening on specific dates, things to mark on your calendar and be sure not to miss. Part 2 is for those ongoing activities, some of which you can take part in year-round.
UBC Museum of Anthropology
Although this usually costs about $9 for adults, they do have a FREE night Tuesdays from 5:00pm to 9:00pm. “The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia is world-renowned for its collections, research, teaching, public programs, and community connections. It is also acclaimed for its spectacular architecture and unique setting on the cliffs of Point Grey.” [MOA] (Listen to our archive podcast including audio from the Museum on RadioZoom / Read about Cheapie Tuesdays on Metblogs)
UBC Pacific Museum of the Earth
I really didn’t know this existed so this is definitely thanks to Dave – and it’s completely FREE. “The Pacific Museum of the Earth is the result of the amalgamation of two pre-existing Museums: The M.Y. Williams Geological Museum and the Pacific Mineral Museum.” [PME]
Fort Langley
[FortLangley.com] The village itself is full of unique shops, antiques and diners but then there’s the actual Fort, which is a National Historic Site with interpretive center , as well as various other attractions in the area like Aldor Acres and the Fort Wine Co. Follow Hwy 1, just East of Surrey – about 45 minutes from downtown. (Listen to our archive podcast soundseeing from the fair on RadioZoom / Read my blog post about the Fort Wine Co’s “Very Berry Fair” last year on Metblogs)
Ambleside Park
West Vancouver’s seawall with sandy beaches, walkways, golf and it’s transit accessible. [WestVancouver.com]
Steveston Village
The Southern portion of Richmond, just minutes from downtown. Village, museum and seaside views, check their website for events throughout the summer. [StevestonVillage]
Bowen Island
Day trip on ferry from Horseshoe Bay – parks, village, artisans, food, brewery and much more. [BowenOnline]
Canucks Equipment Sale
Saturday June 23rd, 11:00am to 3:00pm [Canucks.com]
Vancouver Canadians Baseball
Vancouver’s own professional baseball team playing at the historic and incomparable Nat Bailey Stadium. Tickets start at only $7! Home opener June 19th [CanadiansBaseball.com] (See last year’s post about a game we attended)
I also have an ongoing list of posts pertaining to Summer events and good eats at the top of my sidebar. Stay tuned for Pt. 3 where we’ll cover festivals, lots and lots of festivals.
This weekend we were dying for some patio times and really couldn’t think of anywhere to go. We didn’t want the usual place so I Googled to see what I could come up with. I found had success at VancouverPlus and the Georgia Straight’s Patio Guide [Straight.com]. We ended up at Tanpopo, which I learned has a surprisingly big rooftop overlooking Denman Street.
The Straight’s Patio Guide is a little outdated (from 2005 and 2006) so I’ve decided to list it up here, including Google Maps to make things that much easier.
Just click on the neighbourhood (I’ve only included a few, sorry) and you’ll be magically transported to a list of establishments with patio drinking/dining. Feel free to comment, or add any more names to the list.
June 5th Update: The wiki has been updated, as of 7:00 this morning here’s what 95.3 on your dial will get you:
CKZZ-FM (identified on air as 95 Crave) is a Canadian radio station in the Greater Vancouver region of British Columbia. It broadcasts at 95.3 megahertz on the FM band with an effective radiated power of 71300 watts from a transmitter on Mount Seymour, and its studios are located in Richmond. The station was owned by Standard Radio. It went off the air at midnight, June 3, 2007. It has been replaced with “Crave,” a rhythmic AC station – “music to move you.” [wiki]
So far I’ve heard C&C Music factory (which was the first group played on the original station when it came to life on Vancouver airwaves) and now Pointer Sisters – Jump (for my love). For now it’s just music while they gather their troops over the next few weeks, which seems like a novel idea… Vancouver radio actually playing music.
Stations in this city are constantly changing – whether it be personalities, call signs or format. I grew up with LG73 and the Morning Zoo and soon grew into a Fox listener for those teenage-angst years. There was a while there when we had two “new rock” stations in Vancouver with the brief introductions of xFM 104.9. Later on, LG73 became MOJO sports radio and for the last year now it has been purely traffic updates [Metblogs] . 96.9 used to be Kiss FM, which my mother was a fan of, and now it’s Jack. All of these changes I’m mentioning are basically within the last 10 years and now the latest station on the chopping block is Z95.3
We wanted you to know that the time has come for a change. As of Sunday at midnight, Z95-3 is no longer.
We can’t thank you enough for your support of Z over the years. We really appreciate it.
On Tuesday you will hear a new radio station on line (here), and on your radio at 95-3 FM. We hope you really like it. We think you will. [Z95.com]
Now I wasn’t a Z listener per se but they’ve been around since at least my elementary school days so there’s a bit of sentimentality there [wiki]. Although they were known for their bumper sticker contests and for playing the pop artist of the day at least 4 times per hour, they certainly were not the worst that Vancouver radio had to offer. John and I don’t listen to much commercial radio except a morning program here or there while getting ready for work. I’m just hoping it doesn’t turn into a) streaming Christmas music 2) another traffic station. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
“Now, you may or may not have heard about the staff changes at the station over last week. Nat Hunter, Drew Savage, Kelly Grant and Remo were all let go.” “…I wish I could tell you more, you just gotta listen tomorrow morning at 7.”
Update: Early this morning while walking around Stanley Park we came across some HUGE fish in Lost Lagoon that were jumping around. We posted a video on YouTube, which is just a camera phone capture but thought it was pretty neat anyway.
Heading to bed last night I had this song in my head. The weekend is almost here, and it makes me giggle.
Matt wrote a post the other night about an appearance on 99.3 the Fox’s Rock Report today at 6:00pm [CFOX]. As the launch date of Hospital Music nears his schedule gets pretty full but he’s keeping fans and the reader community of his website pretty well updated.
We will be streaming ‘Born Losers’ on the website starting at 7:00pm PST. You be able to listen to ‘Born Losers’ here on the site, on the MySpace Hospital Facilities page, and on the Virb page. [MatthewGood.org]
I was running late coming home from work so I called John to make sure he could start recording. I arrived on time and we listened to the entire interview [Audio]
Todd and Danger from the Rock Report chit chatted with Matt before he picked up his guitar and played “Metal Airplanes” followed by “I’m a Window”. The hosts kept forgetting the name of the album (and not paying attention), which was pretty rude and is slightly annoying. They cut Matt off because Puddle of Mudd arrived in the building. I’m sorry but that’s ridiculous.
It seemed that the way that the interview unfolded took a bit of wind out of what Matt had prepared, having heard him perform a few songs he was thinking of doing for the show yesterday. Yet in listening to his acoustic version of Metal Airplanes, I thought what I’ve always though about Matthew: The man perseveres and cuts through bullshit like the sharpest of steak knives. Considering Matt offered one of the highest compliments I’ve heard on air from a musician about a station (that being that he considers CFOX the station that sparked his career, playing Alabama Motel Room), both interviewers seemed to me to be bleeding themselves through questions altogether weak and irrelevant, revealing both an apparent lack of interest and knowledge of what Matt was up to, compared to the way they spoke to Wes Skantlin from Puddle of Mudd. [Dale on MatthewGood.org]
After the two acoustic performances they launched in and spun Hospital Music’s first single: Born Losers. The music is amazing and worth far greater appreciation (or at least respect) than received in the Fox studio.
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We wanted you to know that the time has come for a change. As of Sunday at midnight, Z95-3 is no longer.