It’s time for the Refresh Winter Market, which will take over the West Coast Railway Heritage Park in Squamish next weekend. Shop handmade, vintage and local goods from 100 artists, makers and small shops plus food, music and more.

Refresh Winter Market in Squamish

• When: Friday, November 15, 2019 from 4:00pm to 9:00pm and Saturday, November 16, 2019 from 10:00am to 5:00pm
• Where: West Coast Railway Heritage Park (39645 Government Rd, Squamish)
• Tickets: Admission is $5 at the door, $3 online before November 14th. The first 50 guests on both days will receive a swag bag filled with small gifts from market vendors.

Tin Type Trike will also be back on both Friday and Saturday making tin type portraits on a walk-in basis. These are truly stunning, come and watch how it works and get your portrait.

Market Preview

You can purchase a Market Preview ticket ($30) for Friday, November 15th from 3:00pm to 4:00pm that includes unlimited 2-day admission, complimentary cocktail and gift, and the opportunity to shop the market before doors open to the public.

Follow Refresh Market on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for more information.

Giveaway

I have pair of Market Preview tickets to give away for a lucky winner and their guest to enjoy the opportunity to shop before the market opens on Friday (along with the cocktail and gift). Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Click below to post an entry on Twitter

I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Tuesday, November 12, 2019. The winner must be able to pick up the prize at the market. UPDATE the winner is: LindaM

Beginning November 22nd, Aurora Winter Festival will be four times larger than the previous year and will feature expanded activities and programming in the Mystical Worlds experience, an increased ice skating surface, a longer tube park and double the number of rides and games.

Escape to a hidden village with a beautiful skating rink, a tube park, massive light displays, a Christmas Market, amusement rides, food gardens, magical characters, and plenty of other exciting activities. Weave your way through the Polar Passage, Luminous Gardens, Whimsical Forest, and Land of Giants. Keep your eyes open for Yin the Yeti and Thyra the Ice Queen!

Aurora Winter Festival

When: November 22nd, 2019 to January 5th, 2020
Where: Hastings Park, 2901 E Hastings St, Vancouver
Tickets: On sale online now

Guests will be able to visit the Mystical Worlds which feature giant sculptures, animated sets, brilliant light displays, and a number of fun characters. The festival also features a light tunnel showcasing the Aurora Borealis, a story-time theatre with Santa, a giant tube park, ice skating on the frozen pond, six amusement rides, games, an entertainment tent with live music, a variety of food trucks, and a market with 40 holiday-inspired vendors, among other attractions.

For more information follow along on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

All board! This season the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (“VSO”) presents the world premiere of The Polar Express in Concert at the Orpheum on November 19th.

VSO Presents The Polar Express in Concert

Where: VSO Digital Concert Hall (Orpheum Theatre, 601 Smithe, Vancouver)
When: Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at 7:00pm
Tickets: Available online now

This once-in-a-lifetime world premiere concert event will bring the Oscar® nominated holiday classic to Orpheum Theatre, and will feature The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and choir performing every note from Alan Silvestri’s masterful score (with original songs co-written by Silvestri and Glen Ballard) while the entire film is projected on a 40-foot HD screen. Festive and fun pre-show activities will include carolers, a selfie photo wall, coloring tables for kids, an exclusive and immersive way to buy merchandise, and even Santa Claus!

In The Polar Express in Concert, experience the musical magic of Christmas Eve through Alan Silvestri’s unforgettable score and be immersed as The Polar Express adventures up and down mountains, slip-slides over ice fields, and teeters across mile-high bridges. Embark on this musical journey to the North Pole while watching the iconic film about friendship, bravery, and the spirit of Christmas. The wonder of life never fades for those who believe.

Pre-Show with the Composer

Alan Silvestri (Avengers, Forrest Gump, Back to the Future 1-3, Predator) – the film’s composer and two-time Academy Award® and Golden Globe® Award nominee for an exclusive pre-show discussion about the score and his career. Moderated by conductor Justin Freer starting at 6:00pm at Pyatt Hall (limited to 100 seats), all patrons interested in attending should RSVP here.

Follow the VSO on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for more information about their performances and special holiday events this season.

Win Tickets

I have a pair of tickets to give away to this magical evening. Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Click below to post an entry on Twitter

I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 9:00am on Thursday, November 14, 2019.

UPDATE The winner is Lauren!

You know it as a gorgeous seaside resort and conference centre, home to Canada’s top-rated spa, but later this month it will be home to the biggest toy drive of its kind on Vancouver Island! The Tigh-Na-Mara Toy Drive is happening November 27th, where you can make a difference in the life of a child and enjoy a buffet breakfast.

Tigh-Na-Mara Toy Drive in Parsville

When: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 from 6:30am to 10:00am
Where: Tigh-Na-Mara 1155 Resort Drive, Parksville

“The smiles the kids will get on Christmas morning that they wouldn’t have had otherwise, it really does move us all,” said Paul Drummond, who is the General Manager at Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort & Conference Centre in Parksville.

Drummond’s hope that no local child will go without a gift on Christmas morning. He is optimistic that the event he started 11 years ago will once again help fill the SOS Toy Shop where Christmas wishes and dreams come true for residents in-need.

Last year marked the 10^th year of the Tigh-Na-Mara Toy Drive, the biggest toy drive of its kind on Vancouver Island. Over the years, the event has brought in close to 13,950 toys and over $67,500 in donations for the SOS Caring for Community at Christmas program.

Guests bring a new, unwrapped toy, a gift card or a monetary donation and receive a free buffet breakfast at the award-winning resort. Last year the event garnered 1,990 gifts, $4,573 in gift cards and $9,230 in cash and cheques.

The SOS Caring for Community at Christmas program (formerly called Caring for Kids at Christmas) has been running for 51 years in the Parksville Qualicum Beach region. It provides gifts for children and youth in low-income families, and local grocery store gift cards to families and individuals in need, so they may choose food that is important to them over the holidays.

Guests at the event are also encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item for the local Salvation Army food bank, which will provide food for hundreds of residents over the holiday season and beyond.

For more information follow Tigh-Na-Mara on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Celebrating BC’s Contemporary Dance Scene

Vancouver’s contemporary dance scene takes centre stage in Dance In Vancouver, November 20-24, 2019. This curated biennial event provides a unique opportunity to experience the ideas and creativity of dance generated by a diverse community of local artists, as well as cross-fertilization between genres including ballet and street dance. 

Dance in Vancouver

When: Wednesday, November 20 to Sunday November 24, 2019
Where: Scotiabank Dance Centre (677 Davie St, Vancouver)
Tickets: $34/$25 students & seniors available by calling Tickets Tonight at (604) 684-2787 or purchasing online

Produced every two years by The Dance Centre, Dance In Vancouver is unique for its concentrated focus on promoting the province’s contemporary dance talent, not only to local audiences, but also to dance promoters and curators who come from across Canada and around the world to sample West Coast dance.

Opening Event
Wednesday, November 20, 2019 4:00pm to 11:00pm
Free admission
Dance In Vancouver opens with a day of free talks and events including a roundtable discussion about dance in the city with visiting guests, and a keynote address. Different spaces at Scotiabank Dance Centre will be animated with Alexa Mardon and Erika Mitsuhashi’s site-specific Tour, a studio presentation of Kinesis Dance somatheatro’s multi-disciplinary Against, and Lee Su-Feh/battery opera innovative kinetic sculpture installation, the Dance Machine.

Performances

Vision Impure
Pathways
Thursday, November 21, 2019 8:00pm
Noam Gagnon’s latest work Pathways explores the intricate push and pull of relationships impacted by urban living. Ten extraordinary dancers draw on all their strength, speed and agility to power through the explosive choreography, striving to find moments of emotional connection amidst the visceral intensity.

Amber Funk Barton/the response.
VAST
Friday, November 22, 2019 8:00pm
Inspired by personal travels, Amber Funk Barton’s atmospheric solo VAST is an ode to the explorer that resides in all of us, the traveler and the dreamer who wonders what resides beyond the edge. The choreography fuses seamlessly with lighting, sound and set design to create an evocative meditation on our limitations as human beings, and how despite these limitations we still desire to propel ourselves forward into unknown territory.

Raven Spirit Dance
Gathering Light
Saturday, November 23, 2019 2:00pm
Gathering Light follows the journey of seed to flower, beginning with the stirrings of consciousness to the full embrace of transformation. This luminous quartet choreographed by Artistic Director Michelle Olson delves into the impulses rooted in our bodies that travel through us to find the light, while revealing the ceremonies that support our full bloom. Performed in the round, the work creates a distinctive sense of ritual where transformation is an experience we share with the performers.

Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY
Saudade
Saturday, November 23 and Sunday, November 24, 2019
Saudade investigates loss, memory, and the deep longing for something unattainable. Six outstanding male dancers merge elegant balletic lines with street-style dynamism and drive, conjuring up fleeting intimacies in a series of ghostly solos, duets, and group passages, accompanied by a hauntingly beautiful cello score.

OURO Collective
HAKO
Sunday, November 24, 2019 2:00pm
Known for imaginative and original works based on hip hop, waacking, breaking, popping and contemporary dance, OURO Collective teams up with experiential design studio Tangible for HAKO, a multidisciplinary dance experience. Using interactive installations, striking visual effects and exhilarating movement for an ensemble of five virtuosic dancers, the work reframes our relationship to technology, and joyfully re-ignites our capacity for curiosity and play.

Installations

Thursday to Saturday November 21-23, 2019 from 6:30pm to 11:00pm
Free admission

• Company 605 is creating a special installation version of their most recent work, Loop, Lull, in which five virtuosic dancers adapt to changes and attempting increasingly complex feats. Audiences can drop in and stay as long as they wish. (6:30 to 8:00pm and 9:00pm to 10:30pm nightly).
• Lee Su-Feh/battery opera’s Dance Machine is a kinetic sculpture – 64 pieces of bamboo suspended from a central copper disk – that can be transformed into multiple configurations by the movement of the bodies within it. (6:30pm to 11:00pm nightly.)

Follow The Dance Centre on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more info.

Win Tickets

I have a pair of tickets to give away to Amber Funk Barton/the response. presents VAST (Friday, November 22, 2019 8:00pm) at the Scotiabank Dance Centre. Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Click below to post an entry on Twitter

I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Thursday, November 14, 2019.

UPDATE: The winner is Rosemarie! Kenei