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by Rebecca BollwittDisclosure: Sponsored Post — Sponsored by Lumière Vancouver Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
Lumière Vancouver is illuminating the city through beautiful public art this month at more locations than ever! The 8th annual late-autumn festival in the West End has expanded with light installations in Downtown Vancouver and on Granville Island. At its core is the local businesses that make the neighbourhood shine and to celebrate them, Lumière is giving away an epic prize package valued at over $400!
To enter to win, head over to the Lumière Vancouver Instagram post and tag a friend you’ll be enjoying this staycation with, and follow all of the prize partners.
The giveaway is open until Friday November 26 at 11:59pm. Must be a resident of the Lower Mainland to win. The winner will be contacted directly via Instagram direct message. Good luck!
More About Lumière Vancouver
Lumière has installations in four iconic spots: English Bay, Jim Deva Plaza, Granville Island and Bentall Centre – there is no admission fee in these public spots and the displays are for all to enjoy.
Jim Deva Plaza is set to host ‘Twin Harmonic Amplified Neuro-Knowledge Stimulator’ (T.H.A.N.K.S.), designed to amplify feelings of gratitude. The bright colours are reminiscent of sunsets, sweet treats, and daydreams.
Photo submitted
Bentall Centre is home to ‘Parasol’, one-of-a-kind mushroom-like structures that fuse nature and innovative light design to reignite onlookers’ sense of wonder. Each of the five, nine-foot-tall sculptures contains 40 fins to mimic the underbelly of a mushroom. Parasol will take on a new life when animated with colourful patterns that react to music providing an exceptional visual experience for visitors enjoying the patio in the evening.
Additionally, on the Dunsmuir Patio at Bentall Centre, ‘Canopy Lights’ a 55 LED string light structure will allow people to see their voice translated to light patterns creating an immersive light and sound experience to interact with the canopy in a whole new way. Downtown Vancouver’s third installation, ‘Chromatic Blocks’ on the Burrard Benches, invites guests to get lost in light and colour when physically immersing yourself inside the cubes to explore a stunning gradient visual.
Granville Island – Photo submitted
Located on Granville Island, ‘A Beacon of Light’, adds colour and light to the Courtyard of the Public Market. This 12-pointed, 22-foot-tall illuminated star shines bright enough to be spotted from the West End. Alongside this is the 14-foot-tall ‘Alder Bay Star’ which dazzles as it hangs off Granville Island’s furthest point of land.
New this year in English Bay is a dazzling 12-foot-tall beaver, that will join Davie, Luna, Stanley and Eugenia. Select installations will remain on display until February 2022 to be enjoyed nightly. Enter to win the Lumière Vancouver Staycation Contest on Instagramby Nvember 26th.
Strathcona Business Improvement Association (“SBIA”) has brought back its popular Dine Strathcona culinary event from November 17 to 30, 2021 as nineteen of the neighbourhood’s beloved independent restaurants, cafés and breweries come together to raise money in support of vulnerable community members within Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
I also have $300 in gift cards to give away – details below!
Belgard Kitchen (top left & right), The Garden (bottom left & right)
Dine Strathcona
First launched in 2019, the two-week community festival invites locals and visitors to savour special promotional dishes at food and drink hotspots in the vibrant neighbourhood — including The Mackenzie Room, Superflux, Strathcona Beer Company, Dosanko and The Garden Strathcona to name a few — with $5 from the sale of each Dine Strathcona menu feature donated directly to the festival’s 2021 community partner, HAVE Culinary Training Society.
Guided by a philosophy of Hope, Action, Values and Ethics, HAVE Culinary Training Society is a not-for-profit organization that provides accessible food service training and employment opportunities to members of the community who face barriers to employment such as poverty, homelessness, addiction, and mental health challenges. Over the past 14 years they have successfully trained 1,200 students with over 75% of them gaining steady employment in the tourism and hospitality industry. Since March 2020, the kitchen at HAVE’s on-site café has been utilized to prepare over 1,000 meals per day for at-risk individuals who have experienced food insecurity due to the pandemic.
“For the third year in a row, the Dine Strathcona festival gives diners the chance to support a worthy cause while discovering the incredible culinary talents and community spirit that make Strathcona such a unique and special neighbourhood,” says Johanna Lauyanto, Manager, Communications & Sustainability at the SBIA. “The money raised during this year’s event will provide funding to enroll new students in HAVE’s culinary training program and help secure job placements for new graduates in Metro Vancouver restaurants.”
[clickToTweet tweet=”RT to enter to win a $300 gift card prize package from @StrathconaBIA! #DineStrathcona is on now until November 30th in support of @HaveCafe http://ow.ly/RFWN50GRriw” quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Thursday, November 25, 2021. UPDATE the winner is Amanda!
It’s been an incredibly tough and trying week in BC, first and foremost I hope that folks are safe and sound even while displaced or evacuated by the devastated flooding. If you are looking to support the relief efforts here are some links: Red Cross (donation page), and big lists of beneficiaries via GoFundMe and CanadaHelps.
If you are around the city and are looking for activities and events, you can find a big list of things to do in Metro Vancouver this weekend below including the Portobello West Holiday Market on Saturday and Sunday at the Roundhouse in Yaletown:
H Tasting Lounge at the Westin Bayshore in Downtown Vancouver is serving up festive cocktails inspired by holiday film favourites from November 20 to December 25, 2021.
Holiday Movie Themed Cocktails at H Tasting Lounge. Photo submitted.
Holiday Movie Themed Cocktails at H Tasting Lounge
Can you guess all of the movies that inspired these delicious drinks? Here’s the special menu available this season from H Tasting Lounge:
1. Network President ‘Champagne’ Mionetto Treviso Brut Prosecco, Demerara, Menta Branca, Bitters, Black Olive Brine 2. Total Agony of Love Smirnoff Vanilla Vodka, Frangelico, Love Buzz Sour Reduction, Lemon, Oat Milk, Pinot Noir Soda
Hot Chocolate Housemade Hot Chocolate, Mint, Whipped Cream, Crushed Candy Cane
Evoking the glamour of early 20th-century Hollywood, H Tasting Lounge offers a robust line-up of handcrafted cocktails, curated by premium bartenders and complemented with local tasting plates. Unwind in the sophisticated, plush velvet interior, or dine within translucent ‘Winterlust’ domes in the winter. Open daily for lunch and dinner service, and for afternoon tea service on weekends.
Touchstone Theatre welcomes audiences back to live theatre with Lights by Adam Grant Warren, its first production since the 2020 COVID shutdown, and the thematic flagship for their forthcoming season “Let There Be Lights” which heralds a brave return to the stage after a challenging eighteen months.
Lights – Susinn McFarlen, Adam Grant Warren. Photo credit David Cooper
Touchstone Theatre Presents Lights
When: December 2 (Preview), December 3 (Opening) – December 12, 2021
Where: Firehall Arts Centre (280 E Cordova St, Vancouver)
All patrons must wear masks, including at their seats. Patrons should come prepared with both a valid government issued photo I.D. AND their BC vaccine card ready to show staff for admittance to the theatre.
Directed by Touchstone Theatre’s Artistic Director Roy Surette and set against the backdrop of a pandemic Christmas, Lights follows the story of Evan Chaulk (Adam Grant Warren), a schoolteacher and wheelchair user who returns to his family home in Newfoundland for Christmas to discover his mother Nancy (Susinn McFarlen), a strong-willed retired teacher is adapting to life with Alzheimer’s Disease. Unsettling, daring, and funny – Lights is a portrait of a tight-night family facing profound life changes and discovering what remains when a lifetime of memories begins to fade away.
As Touchstone Theatre’s first of three World Premieres this season, the three-time pandemic postponed production is more than ready to meet its audience:
“We are delighted to finally stage Adam’s gorgeous and powerful new play,” says Roy Surette, Touchstone Artistic Director. “Though set during a Christmas visit home to Newfoundland, it’s not your typical holiday fare. It’s a rich and intimate look at family dynamics, adapting to change, and finding strength in unusual places.”
Lights was developed through Touchstone’s Flying Start Program, an incubator supporting the next generation of theatre artists through the commissioning of new Canadian works by early career playwrights. Along with dramaturgical support, the program culminates in a full-scale production as part of Touchstone’s Mainstage series. Flying Start is supported by RBC Emerging Artists program and is produced In Association with Firehall Arts Centre.
Lights features Jessie award-winning Adam Grant Warren (Kill Me Now, Touchstone Theatre), Susinn McFarlen(The Taming of the Shew, Bard on the Beach), and Leslie Dos Remedios (Thanks for Giving, Arts Club Theatre).
Win Tickets
I have a pair of tickets to give away to see Lights live at the Firehall Arts Centre, here’s how you can enter to win:
Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
Copy/paste the following on Twitter (1 entry)
[clickToTweet tweet=”RT to enter to win tickets to @TouchstoneInVan’s LIGHTS at the @FirehallArtsCte #LightsTT http://ow.ly/Ggmn50GR2t3″ quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Thursday, November 25 ,2021. UPDATE the winner is Lori!
