I recently defended the West End in CBC Vancouver’s Best Neighbourhood search so I was very excited when an email about the WE Live Here: West End Audio Tour landed in my inbox.

West End Audio Tour

• Distance: 4.9km at once or you can piece the tour into mini-episodes.
• When You’ll Need: A mobile device with data/WiFi, headphones
• Where: The journey begins at the Devonian Harbour park at the corner of Georgia and Denman Streets. 

With local writer, historian, and musician Aaron Chapman as your host, you can follow a self-guided tour through the West End, presented as a part of Car Free Day Vancouver’s expanded initiatives.

Aaron is joined by special guests: Squamish Elder Dennis Joseph, Journalist/Broadcaster and CBC Radio documentarian Pamela Post, writer, poet, podcast host and otter enthusiast Dina Del Bucchia, and beloved author and long-time West End resident Bill Richardson.

The tour is intended to be listened to from special viewing spots in the West End that the storytellers would like to share with you. Suggested walking route maps can be found here.

Once you arrive at each story point just use your phone’s browser to find the tour page and access the audio segments and maps. Use it in landscape mode for the best look. This tour is also very bike-able. The pedestrian and biking path run next to each other all the way to English Bay.

Follow Car Free Day Vancouver on Facebook to discover more ways to enjoy the city on foot.

Festivals, markets, drive throughs, and sunflowers! We’ll get a break from the scorching summer heat over the next few days but the online events, virtual fests and socially distanced activities will continue. Here are just a few things to do in Vancouver this weekend, online and beyond:

Things to do in Vancouver This Weekend

Friday, August 21, 2020
Vancouver Mural Festival
Vancouver Queer Film Festival
Summer at Nikkei Garden
Got Craft? Virtual Market
GOAT-erdays at Taves Farm
VMF Mural Tours presented by Herschel Supply
PNE 2020, a Drive Through Fair
Sunflower Sip and Stroll at Taves Farm
Vancouver Biennale Summer BIKEnnale/WALKennale
Monsoon Festival of Performing Arts
Field Day Fest 2020 | Sunset Concert Series
Sunflower Festivals/Events Near Vancouver
HUB Cycling Bike to Shop

The following has been contributed by Steffani Cameron, who recently completed a 4-year worldwide adventure that she chronicled at FullNomad.com.

For families, the only thing better than a family-friendly hotel resort for a getaway is one that’s walking-friendly, with a beautiful view. Perched on the edge of the Songhees Walkway, the Delta Ocean Pointe Resort faces Victoria’s Inner Harbour, right on the waterfront.

Enjoy the Best of Victoria Harbour at the Delta Ocean Pointe Resort

There are plenty of hotels of all kinds in Victoria, with something for everyone. For those looking to get away, the Ocean Pointe is a great option offering a gamut of on-site activities and amenities suited for everyone, for when you’re tuckered out from a day of walking the town. With Victoria’s Old Town just across the bridge, a five-minute walk away, it’s easy to get out to eat and stroll the Harbour yet get back for a game of tennis, some time in the pool, or a workout at the gym.

But everyone can get comfortable at Ocean Pointe because it’s an incredibly accessible resort for those with mobility challenges. There are ramps and wheelchair-friendly entrances everywhere. Even the Songhees Walkaway around the hotel is accessible for anyone of any ability who’d like to explore more. The new bridge also has wide, easy-to-use separated pedestrian-only pathways for getting into town.

Medicine, fire-starting, building materials, food and more. Nature provides so much for us in every ecosystem and I was thrilled to learn about Indigenous plant use in the South Okanagan on my recent trip to the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre in Osoyoos.

I love our coastal rainforests and I gained even more of an appreciation for them when I took my first “Talking Trees” with Candace Campo of Talaysay Tours. During those walks (in Vancouver and on the Sunshine Coast) I learned so much about our local ecology, how nature provides, how we can respect it, and how we are caretakers for future generations to enjoy these natural gifts.

In the desert, things look a little different: There are no lush ferns, mosses or arbutus, however nature still provides. Here are a few things I learned during our tour outside the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre on the land of the Osoyoos Indian Band.

You can once again enter a world of history and celebration of athletic achievement through Gate A at BC Place as the BC Sports Hall of Fame is OPEN again!

The BC Sports Hall of Fame is Open

Book your timed visit online in advance for entry Fridays and Saturday from 10:00am to 4:00pm.

 “This truly was a collective effort. Without the gracious support of our dedicated staff and the incredible generosity of viaSport British Columbia, Vancouver Foundation, the BC Museums Association, and all of our partners, our re-opening would not be possible this summer,” explains Nicholas Cartmell, CEO of the BC Sports Hall of Fame. “We also want to recognize the support and engagement of BC Place, at a time when live spectator sports and events are on pause in our province.” 

 As part of the reopening process and keeping with public health protocols, the Hall has implemented additional safety precautions to keep visitors safe. These include the required use of non-medical face masks, physical distancing practices, the installation of alcohol-based sanitizing stations as well as daily disinfection of the facility and periodic cleaning of high-touch surfaces.

For the reopening, the BC Sports Hall of Fame unveiled a pop-up Sport Fashion exhibit. The exhibit features a size 22 basketball shoe worn by Shaquille O’Neal, Victor Kraatz’s 1994 Canadian Olympic Team Marching uniform which includes a regal flowing cape, and a BC Lions Beefeaters band uniform, as well as 50 other pieces of BC sport fashion spanning over a century. 

 Visitors can take a trip back to 1979 with It Takes A Village: Celebrating the 1979 Whitecaps Soccer Bowl Championship and relive the magic of that unforgettable season. Our Hall of Champions features displays on our 2019 Inductees, with items from Vancouver’s favorite twins, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, including their gold medals from the 2006 Torino Olympics. If you’re missing the Olympics this year, visitors can see an updated Vancouver 2010 Gallery and experience the games all over again. 

The Greg Moore Gallery Experience will also have a new racing simulator arriving later this month. The Greg Moore Gallery has been modernized to pay further tribute to one of BC’s most exemplary sports icons. 

Follow the Hall on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for more info.