Now in its 12th year, CityFood Media presents the Greater Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival, which will feature over 100 hot chocolate designs featured at 67 locations. Try out some new neighbourhoods, and experience as many of these exciting, time-limited flavours as you can.
Hot Chocolate photo from Artigiano (2021) Photo submitted
Greater Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival
January 15 to February 14, 2022
When it launched in 2011, The Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival was the first city-wide initiative in the world to use hot chocolate beverage as a way to support small, local business. Now bigger and better than ever, it features the region’s best chocolatiers, pastry shops, bakeries, cafes and ice cream makers joining forces to make the humble hot chocolate hotter than it has ever been before.
Try the BERRY BERRY GOOD HOT CHOCOLATE from Butter Baked Goods, a rich and creamy hot chocolate with whipped cream and a dollop of raspberry jam with a raspberry marshmallow on top. Or perhaps GONE BANANAS from Boba Run, which is a rich and creamy medley made with a blend of 54.5% dark hot chocolate and house made banana puree served with a petite sponge cake for dipping. Then there’s SAFFRON NOUGATINE from La Glace, it’s a saffron-infused, burnt honey, white hot chocolate with a hint of orange blossom served with a pistachio meringue rosette.
Honolulu Cafe is serving up a dairy free SOYLY GUÌHUĀ, a special concoction using 70% dark chocolate, house-made Guìhuā (osmanthus fragrans) sauce with soy milk, paired with an Oat Guìhuā cookie. Glenburn Soda will have a VIOLET UNDERGROUND. This violet-infused, dark hot chocolate is accompanied by a gluten-free, and dairy-free, iced fudgey brownie. Thomas Haas Chocolates is creating CHERRY NUTTERS, an extra dark hot chocolate with an intense pistachio marshmallow, served with a pistachio and cherry financier.
Sort your search by gluten free, dairy free, vegan option, and by which places are open late or have takeout/dine-in. View the full List of 100+ Flavours & Location Map »
Charity partners this year include the Vancouver Farmers Markets’ Fresh to Families Program and Growing Chefs.
Instagram Online Photo Contest
Enter into the festival’s Instagram contest for sweet, sweet prizes, consisting of gift certificates valued at $1,125 from participating chocolate makers and cafes. Tag your hot chocolate photos with #HCFphotocontest on Instagram and you could be enjoying chocolatey treats all year long. Winners will be drawn and announced on Valentine’s Day.
The #CHVCatchUp is a monthly series featuring the latest updates and news from Covenant House Vancouver. Miss604 is proud to be the Official Blog Partner of CHV.
Covenant House Sleep Out: Champions Edition
Join a powerful community of business leaders and public figures and give up your bed for one night to support young people facing homelessness. Sign up to sleep out or make a donation and be part of the movement to help change the lives of youth staying in our Crisis Program.
What is Sleep Out: Champions Edition?
Sleep Out: Champions Edition is a fundraising initiative for anyone who would like to actively support vulnerable youth. On Thursday, February 17, 2022, people across the Lower Mainland and beyond will give up their beds for one night, to raise funds that will help support youth who are staying in our Crisis Program.
Why is Sleep Out: Champions Edition Important?
Funds raised during Sleep Out: Champions Edition will go to support the mental health and addictions programs at CHV. Many of the youth living on the streets of Vancouver experience mental health concerns that are often left undiagnosed, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Often these youth cope by turning to substance use.
Covenant House Vancouver offers these youth an opportunity to address any counselling and psychiatric needs. Our Registered Clinical Counsellors work from an attachment theory lens, which recognizes that a safe and trusting relationship is a basic biological human need, much like the food, clothing, and shelter that we provide.
Who Can Get Involved?
Anyone can be a champion. Join a powerful community of business leaders and public figures and give up your bed for one night to support young people facing homelessness. Sign up now and start fundraising for this virtual event.
Sleep Out: Champions Edition happens Thursday, February 17, 2022!
If sleeping out is not possible, please consider showing your support by donating to Sleep Out: Champions Edition today.
Since 1997, Covenant House Vancouver has been providing love and hope to youth experiencing homelessness. They are the premiere service provider of residential and outreach services for homeless and at-risk youth ages 16 to 24 in Vancouver. Follow Covenant House on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more info.
Want to join in on the Betty White Challenge in Vancouver but don’t know how? Here’s what it’s all about:
#BettyWhiteChallenge graphic started circulating on social media January 2, 2022
On December 31st, television legend and icon Betty White passed away just a few weeks shy of becoming a centenarian. Famous for her role as Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls (and so many other credits with Hot In Cleveland, The Mary Tyler Moore Show) White held the Guinness World Record as the longest television career by a female entertainer, spanning 80 years. A defender of diversity and inclusion, she was known for her kindness, humour, and philanthropy.
She famously loved animals and posts on social media began circulating in the New Year with ideas on how to honour the trailblazer on her 100th birthday. This launched the Betty White Challenge.
How to Join the Betty White Challenge in Vancouver
The challenge: Inspired by White’s long history of animal activism and outreach, donate what you can (recommended $5) to a local animal rescue or shelter of your choice on her birthday, January 17th.
Please feel free to leave a comment with more BC organizations you would recommend
White was involved with many nonprofit organizations for decades and was the 2009 recipient of the Jane Goodall Institute Global Leadership Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Because of her ongoing interest in wildlife conservation and education, White served on the board of trustees at the nonprofit Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA) since 1974, but was involved as a volunteer since the Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens opened in 1966.
White had also been extremely active with Morris Animal Foundation, a nonprofit that invests in science to advance animal health. She served for 50 years as a Trustee, Trustee Emeritus and President Emeritus, and personally sponsored more than 30 health studies that improved health for dogs, cats, horses and wildlife, according to Tiffany Grunert, president and CEO of Morris Animal Foundation.
In 2010, the organization created the Betty White Wildlife Rapid Response Fund with a gift from Betty following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, an ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The fund supported studies on the spill’s impact on bottlenose dolphins.
A hundred years ago in Vancouver, the year 1922 was rung in with a change on the roadways. On January 1st, motor vehicles went from driving on the left to driving on the right hand side of the street. While the Vancouver Archives doesn’t have any photos of that, I have put together a collection of images created one hundred years ago (as I have done for the last eight years):
1922 A Hundred Years Ago in Vancouver
Starting off with a really cool panorama, that actually measures 19 x 105 cm! You can click the caption to view the full image on your screen and zoom in from Burrard and Nelson.
Panoramic View of Downtown Vancouver from Burrard & Nelson in 1922. Vancouver Archives # PAN P60. Click for full panoramic image.
The first annual Vancouver Winter Pride Festival aims to gather the 2SLGBTQAI+ community, while honouring Black History Month and Lunar New year as existing celebrations in February. There will be a selection of ticketed spotlight events combined with movie screenings, drag, a game night, free music, and even a Pride Parade down Grouse Mountain!
Vancouver Winter Pride 2022
When: February 19–27, 2022 Where: Various venues Tickets: Will be available starting February 1, 2022
Confirmed events so far:
Chosen Family Day Monday, February 21, 2022
This year, Vancouver Pride Society, Last Door Recovery Society and VMF Winter Arts are teaming up to put on a free event that celebrates Chosen Families. Bring your loved ones to the VMF Winter Arts Hub for an afternoon of Drag Storytime, drag performances including a kids activity space with free face painting and balloon art. Witness the Chosen Family lived experience panel, where they will share their stories of recovery from mental health issues, addiction and gender-based violence, and sexual orientation discrimination. View interactive art exhibits, and the Recovery Day Overdose Memorial Tree and make your Family Day worthwhile.
Unicorn Ball Sunday, February 20, 2022
Vancouver Pride Society’s annual winter fundraiser returns! Unicorns are invited to prance the night away at the Imperial in support of the VPS Community Bursary Program which enables VPS to empower local queer and trans serving organizations. The 2022 Unicorn Ball is the unconventional 19+ dance party you do not want to miss.
Pride Snow Day at Grouse Thursday, February 24, 2022
Pride Snow Day at Grouse Mountain will be a fantastic day of fun in the snow atop The Peak of Vancouver. Parade down the mountain with your friends, and stay for the Snowshoe Fondue tour.
Winter Pride invites the community to safely thrive with their chosen families and bring warmth to the coldest time of the year. Subscribe to the Vancouver Pride Society’s newsletter for updates, news, and event information.
