The Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival will warm up your winter nights with an exciting roster of writers from across Canada, the US, Israel and South Africa.

35th Annual JCC Jewish Book Festival

When: February 8 to 13, 2020
Tickets: Available online now »
Where: Most events take place at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (950 West 41^st Ave at Oak), as well as in outreach locations in the Lower Mainland.

The six days of the Festival are packed with inspiring and entertaining literary events including unique meet-the-author opportunities, readings and panel discussions, the annual book club event, children’s and youth authors, wellness subjects and two onsite bookstores new and used, open throughout the week.

There is something of interest for every age group and literary taste. Featured 2020 Festival authors will include: ​

Opening Night Gala with GARY SHTEYNGART, the incredibly funny and incredibly smart master of satire, in conversation with Lisa Christiansen about his biting and timely novel Lake Success; an interdisciplinary Closing Night with JAMIE BERNSTEIN, daughter of revered composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein. Her memoir Famous Father Girl invites us into the family’s private world where, with the help of guest musicians, she will offer us a rare look at her father around the centennial of his birth.

Winner of the 2019 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature MICHAEL DAVID LUKAS will talk about his fascinating historical fiction novel The Last Watchman of Cairo followed by the documentary From Cairo to the Cloud by local filmmaker MICHELLE PAYMAR.

Local bestselling author DANIEL KALLA headlining our annual Book Clubs event with his latest novel We All Fall Down, a historical/medical thriller; BC ecologist and professor ALEJANDRO FRID arguing that merging science and Indigenous knowledge may be the only way to avert the imminent climate and biodiversity crises, in his book Changing Tides: An Ecologist‘s Journey to Make Peace with the Anthropocene.

Local historian HEIDI TWOREK with her brilliant new book News from Germany: The Competition to Control World Communications 1900-1945; eminent South African photographer and writer TERRY KURGAN, winner of the 2019 Sunday Times Alan Paton Non-fiction Award presenting her book Everyone is Present: Essays on Photography, Family and Memory, in our first partnership with the Polygon Gallery.

Israeli/Canadian writer GILA GREEN, author of novel in stories White Zion and YA novel No Entry. Local parenting expert ANNE ANDREW with her book What They Don‘t Teach in Prenatal Class; ALEXANDRA FRANKEL bringing forth a whimsical children’s book about diversity and acceptance From Neigh to Zebra. Former Vancouverite ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY with her vibrant, compelling memoir Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me and many other authors, events and genres.

Follow the Jewish Community Centre on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more info about this festival and more.

Win Tickets

I have a pair of tickets to give away to the closing night event with Jamie Bernstein on February 13 at 7:30pm. In this deeply intimate and broadly evocative memoir (Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein) the eldest daughter of revered composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein offers a rare look at her father around the centennial of his birth. Jamie will be joined by UBC School of Music singers and pianists to bring to life some of her father’s lyrical works, with an overarching social justice theme.

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 Wednesday, January 22, 2020. UPDATE: The winner is Colleen!

Have you visited Metro Vancouver’s largest free light display this winter? You have just a few more days to visit (or re-visit) as it’s the last weekend for Lights at Lafarge in Coquitlam.

Last Weekend for Lights at Lafarge

Miss604 has partnered with the City of Coquitlam and presenting sponsor Coquitlam Centre for the Lights at Lafarge Picture This Contest. Spot the #ExploreCoquitlam frames around the 1.2km lakeside path, snap a pic, share to social and tag #ExploreCoquitlam @Miss604 and @CoquitlamCentre by January 19th. You’ll then be entered to win 1 of 5 prizes.

Thanks to prize sponsors La Ruota Pizza, Cafe Divano, Urban Gate, Browns Town Centre and Legend House Restaurant.

Weather permitting, Lights at Lafarge makes for a lovely night out in Coquitlam, with plenty of local dining options – and some food trucks on site – so you can make it a really fun, festive activity. Take the SkyTrain to Lafarge Lake – Douglas Station and walk over.

For more information about this event and more happening around Coquitlam this season, follow Visit Coquitlam on Facebook and Twitter.

Miss604 is a proud Media Partner of Lights at Lafarge

Yellow Peril; The Celestial Elements is a visual art exhibit inspired by the Chinese Five Elemental forces, seized by the urgent tensions between Queer Chinese diasporic identities. It opens February 1st at the SUM Gallery with a free community reception.

Yellow Peril; The Celestial Elements

Where: SUM Gallery (#425-268 Keefer St, Vancouver)
When: February 1 to April 29, 2020
Featured artists are: Jen Sungshine, Kendell Yan, Kai Cheng Thom, Jay Cabalu, and David Ng.

A collection of multichannel installations, visual and sculptural activations provoke a cosmic encounter of our living past and present as we ‘race’ towards a healing future. These elemental activations attempt to collapse the linear temporality to dislodge an emotional, spiritual, cosmological, and metaphysical enunciation of Queer ‘Chineseness’. Rather than focus on the trauma that queer people of colour face, this project is fundamentally an invitation to an exuberant celebration of queerness that is unabashedly Chinese.

The opening reception on February 1st is free and open to all. It includes a performance of “Diaspora Babies” by Kai Cheng Thom, Lion dancers (Fluffy the Lion), gallery activations, and cocktails. RSVP here.

This exhibition is curated by Love Intersections, a media arts collective made up of queer artists of colour dedicated to collaborative filmmaking and relational storytelling.

Don’t get the January blues! Book your tickets now for an entertaining evening of music and dancing with powerhouse vocalist and piano player Ryan Langevinin in The Rocket Man, A Tribute to Elton John.

The Rocket Man, A Tribute to Elton John

When: Friday, January 24, 2020 at 7:30pm
Where: Centennial Theatre (2300 Lonsdale Ave, North Vancouver)
Tickets: Available online here »

When: Saturday, January 25, 2020 at 7:30pm
Where: Clarke Theatre (33700 Prentis Ave, Mission)
Tickets: Available online here »

When: Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 7:30pm
Where: Massey Theatre (735 8th Ave, New Westminster)
Tickets: Available online here »

Backed by a full live band and dancers, this talented cast of entertainers will have you smiling, moving and singing along to hits such as Crocodile Rock, Benny & The Jets, Tiny Dancer, Sad Songs, Your Song, Saturday Night’s Alright, Philadelphia Freedom, Candle In The Wind and so many more.

BONUS! The opening act for all three of these dates is The Piano Man – A Tribute to Billy Joel. Ryan Langevin stars as the Piano Man and gives a genuine and powerful Tribute to the music and legacy of Billy Joel.  Accompanied by a live band and dancers, you will be taken on a journey through all of Billy’s biggest hits including It’s Still Rock n Roll To Me, The Piano Man, My Life, Just The Way You Are, You May Be Right, Only The Good Die Young, Uptown Girl, Tell Her About It, River Of Dreams and so many more!

Win Tickets

I have a pair of tickets to give away to EACH of these local shows! Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post naming the show/date you’d like to attend (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, January 21, 2020.

UPDATE The winners are Darcy (North Van), Claudine (Mission), Marlene (New West)

Happy Valentine’s Day! The Sea to Sky Gondola re-opening will take place on February 14, 2020. It’s will be just over six month since a criminal act of vandalism on August 10, 2019 forced the closure.

Sea to Sky Gondola Re-Opening

In the coming weeks, thirty new cabins will be installed on the new main haul rope that arrived from Switzerland at the end of October. The reopening comes just in time for Family Day Long Weekend with the gondola welcoming guests back with 50% off lift tickets all weekend long in celebration of the love and support they received from their community during the closure.

“We are so excited that on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2020, we get to carry our passholders and guests back up the mountain on a brand-new cable, in brand-new cabins. Our community stood by the gondola and showed us overwhelming support, confidence, and love through the last six months, and for that, we are so grateful.” – Kirby Brown, Sea to Sky Gondola General Manager.

The final pieces of the rebuild are coming together and the final safety inspections and certification by Technical Safety BC is slated for the first week of February. Work that took place on the journey to rebuild the Sea to Sky Gondola includes the installation of a new 4.4km long main haul cable, assembly and installation of thirty new cabins, and the installation of a new state of the art security system.

With a snowy winter wonderland waiting at the summit and 50% off lift tickets for the entire Family Day Long Weekend, the Sea to Sky Gondola looks forward to showing the love to the community that showed them such extraordinary support during the closure.

Coming from Vancouver? The Squamish Connector (24 seats) offers roundtrip shuttle service from three downtown Vancouver locations to the Sea to Sky Gondola. Guests can enjoy three hours at the Sea to Sky Gondola before returning to downtown Vancouver by 4:00pm.

Hours of operation until May 15, 2020, are 10:00am to 4:00pm.