From green beer and Irish whiskey to live music at brunch, these local restaurants and pubs have everything you need to celebrate and savour St. Patrick’s Day around Vancouver.
Fable Diner & Bar. Photo: Nora Homade
St. Patrick’s Day Dining in Vancouver
Fable Diner and Bar (755 Richards St, Vancouver) For an unforgettable St. Patrick’s Day dining celebration, visit Fable Diner & Bar March 16 and 17. Enjoy Fable’s boozy brunch and prohibition brunch offerings that are available all weekend. Catch the excitement with viewing parties for Canucks and Whitecaps games while indulging in food and drink specials. Relish in the festive spirits with green beer and Guinness, and explore Fable’s Irish whiskey selections.
Parq Vancouver(39 Smithe St, Vancouver) Join in the St. Patrick’s Day festivities at Parq Vancouver. Raise a glass with a pint of Guinness for $7 or an Irish Old Fashioned for $12 (featuring 2oz of Roe & Co. Irish Whiskey) at Centre Bar. Meanwhile, at the Lotus Lounge, indulge in an Irisih Whiskey Flight for $16, showcasing Glendalough Double Barrel, Glendalough 7, and Glendalough 13.
The Victor (Parq Vancouver 35 Smithe St, Vancouver) Experience St Patrick’s Day at The Victor with their Disco Sunday Brunch. Explore the mimosa flight and Bloody Mary bar, and indulge in signature dishes such as french toast, waffles, sushi, raw bar delicacies and more.
The Victor. Photo Submitted.
Bacchus Restaurant & Lounge (Wedgewood Hotel & Spa 845 Hornby St, Vancouver) Pop into Bacchus Restaurant & Lounge on Sunday, March 17 for Lá Fhéile Pádraig. Have a taste of Ireland this St. Patrick’s Day with classic delicacies including Bacon and Cabbage, Muscles and Soda Bread, and Guinness Stew. Enjoy an evening of live music, culinary delights, and classic Irish drink specials.
The Blarney Stone (210 Carrall St, Vancouver) March 17, 2024 at The Blarney Stone marks Vancouver’s longest standing Irish pub’s 51st St Patrick’s Day Festival. Celebrate all day long (doors at 9:00am) with live entertainment, Celtic dancers, pipers, and a DJ. Arrive early for the Brunch Party which ends promptly at 11:00am before the rest of the days festivities continue.
Brass Fish Tavern (385 Burrard St, Vancouver) Celebrate St. Paddy’s Day at Brass Fish with unique food and drink features available all weekend from March 15 to 17. Menu includes corned beef and cabbage, lamb sliders, spice bag, Guinness, and Jameson.
Sapperton District Taphouse (421 East Columbia, New Westminster) Join in the St. Paddy’s Day celebration at Sapperton District Taphouse starting at 6:00pm on Saturday, March 16. Enjoy a party full of fun, food, and plenty of green beer. Celebrate all things Irish with live music from the Celtic Trio. With the purchase of your ticket, you’re entered to win prizes.
Order and enjoy any of these Easter Dinner To-Go packages from local Vancouver caterers and restaurants for a stress-free, delicious meal for the whole family.
Photo Submitted. Railtown Catering.
Easter Dinner To-Go
Railtown Catering is offering Easter To-Go Packages available for pickup or delivery on March 31st and April 1st. These traditional multi-course dinners make Easter dinner truly effortless and need only to be reheated and served. The customizable packages feature slow-cooked and pre-sliced honey glazed ham accomplished by a selection of seasonal sides and housemade desserts. Favourite sides include scalloped potatoes with Gruyere cheese, roasted root vegetables, fluffy hot cross buns, and a rhubarb crumble. Other sides and add-ons are available for order. The festive feasts are available in size small (fees 4 to 6) and large (feeds 10 to 12). Orders must be placed by 10:00am on March 26, 2024 and all orders before March 12 will receive a bonus $40 gift card for Railtown Cafe. More information on pickup, delivery, and menu is available online.
Order home delivery from Savoury Chef from their Easter Menu. These meal packages are set to feed 4 people chef-crafted, seasonal items that will bring family together this Easter. Packages includes panzanella salad, lemon-honey glazed turkey, roasted garden vegetables with potatoes, tomatoes, radish, carrots, and bokchoy. End the meal with spiced hot cross buns and a cream cheese carrot cake. More information about placing an order is available online.
Marché Mon Pitou is here to take the stress out of the kitchen with an Easter Dinner for Four package. Available for pickup on location Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 5:30pm, the package comes with cooking and reheating instructions. The menu includes marinated chicken (must be cooked at home), garlic and lemon roasted broccolini, garlic mashed potatoes, house-made mushroom gravy, and a mixed green salad with champagne vinaigrette. For dessert, enjoy a coconut cream pie and hot cross buns. Packages also come with a bottle of sparkling water. Add-ons are available; you can choose from classic mac & cheese, roasted tomato bisque, and lasagne to enhance your meal. More information about placing your order, pickup, and the menu is available online.
Enjoy a delicious, gourmet Easter Feast from Well Seasoned that you can enjoy in the comfort of your own home. Easter Meal Pick-Up: Well Seasoned Gourmet-To-Go packages are available to make your holiday meal with family easier. Each dinner for 4 includes starters of old school devilled eggs, asparagus tart with whipped feta and mint, and a baby greens salad with cherry tomato and radish in a champagne vinaigrette. The main is slow smoked ham served with maple-mustard glaze, scalloped potatoes, and roasted carrots. End your meal with hummingbird cake. Ad-ons are available and include fresh cut veggies, cheese & charcuterie, and an Easter Basket full of treats. Meals can be ordered for pickup for March 30 or 31. More information about the menu, ordering, and pickup is available online.
Enjoy Spring Break at Burnaby Village Museum, the 10-acre open-air site that combines interactive exhibits, engaging games, and history with free, family fun!
Burnaby Village Museum photo submitted
Spring Break at Burnaby Village Museum
Dates: Monday, March 18 to Thursday, March 28 (closed Easter Long Weekend)
Times: 11:00am to 4:30pm (last entry is at 4:00pm)
Location: Burnaby Village Museum (6501 Deer Lake Ave, Burnaby)
Note: Main entrance closed due to pedestrian bridge construction. Please enter through the carousel entrance further along Deer Lake Ave.
Admission: Free!
Carousel rides $2.52 + tax (last ride at 4:15pm)
Explore how homes and businesses used to look, see how different cultures help shape our communities and learn from Indigenous Educators. Select exhibits are staffed to interact with and learn from.
Special Activities
Coast Salish Seed Balls (March 19, 21, 23 and 28) Make a seed ball with Coast Salish plant seeds. Take it home or place it in your garden.
Heritage Games (Weekdays) Engage in a variety of hands-on games and toys. Fun for kids and adults!
Steam Demo (Wednesdays) Learn about how steam pressure runs machinery.
School Days (Weekends) Experience life as a student in the century old one-room schoolhouse.
Indigenous Outdoor Games (March 24) Participate in a variety of fun hands-on sports games.
These tulip festivals near Vancouver, in the Fraser Valley and Washington State, will have hundreds of acres of beautiful blooms this spring for your enjoyment – and photo ops.
Tulip Festival Miss604 – Rebecca Bollwitt
Tulip Festivals Near Vancouver
Botanica Tulip Festival (41310 Yale Road, Chilliwack) Tentatively April 12th Each spring the farm comes alive with a vibrant celebration of the season. Explore millions of flowers at Botanica located in Chilliwack. Tickets and dates for the festival will be finalized once the flowers are ready to bloom. Stay updated via the Botanica Instagram account for information on dates, tickets, and more exciting surprises this season.
Lakeland Tulip Festival (3663 Marion Road, Abbotsford) Tentatively April 6th Take part in a time-honoured Dutch tradition at Lakeland Tulip Festival. Spanning 27 acres in Abbotsford, you will have the opportunity to walk among over 70 variations of tulips in different colours, shapes, and sizes. Tickets will be available for purchase online in April, every admission includes a 5-stem bunch of sunflowers to take home from the u-pick field. Lakeland Flowers also offers a Lakeland Season Pass that includes perks and access to the Summer Flower Festival later in the year. Stay up to date with the field report by following Lakeland Flowers on Instagram and Facebook.
Harrison Tulip Festival (5039 Lougheed Highway, Agassiz) Tentatively April 6th The colourful spring celebration at the Harrison Tulip Festival located in Agassiz features 35 acres with 10 million tulips, double daffodil, and hyacinth bulbs to explore. Stop by the show garden that boasts an impressive showcase of mature fruit and nut trees, flowering shrubs and grassy paths brightened by thousands of tulips, hyacinths, and fritillaria. Capture portraits at any of the available photo ops around the festival including vintage bicycles, swing sets, raised platforms, and so much more. Food trucks will be onsite daily and the farm store will also be open will souvenirs, cut and potted flowers, and refreshments for purchase. Follow the Harrison Tulip Festival Facebook for updates on tickets and opening dates.
Tulip Festival Miss604 – Rebecca Bollwitt
Skagit Valley Tulip Festival(Various locations and gardens Washington, USA) Open April 1 to April 30, 2024 Located just over the border, the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is designed as a driving or biking tour as the tulips are generally grown far apart in a 15-mile triangle. A full interactive map of the festival locations and special events is available online. The festival will run from April 1 to 30, 2024 with events but the tulip blooms are dependent on nature; stay informed with the Bloom Status online. While the festival itself is free, 4 different gardens do require tickets and can be purchased online or onsite.
Megaphone Magazine, a street paper in Vancouver that reports on social justice, culture, politics, and arts, is hosting its spring fundraising campaign. The magazine, which features stories of underrepresented and marginalized communities, gives people experiencing housing or job insecurity an accessible way to earn an income.
Megaphone provides low-barrier work opportunities through magazine writing, reporting, and vending. Each vendor buys the paper for 75 cents and sells it for $2 (plus tips). Megaphone is an autonomous way for those facing barriers to traditional employment to make an income.
Some of my stories/columns in Megaphone, I have been a columnist since 2021
Last year, Megaphone launched an initiative called The Shift, which is dedicated to making its newsroom more inclusive by training aspiring journalists from the communities they serve. It’s part of a year-long project in partnership with the University of British Columbia Learning Exchange, that will also develop journalism best practices for reporting on marginalized communities.
The spring campaign will support Megaphone vendors, writers and peers facing poverty, inadequate housing, substance use and other marginalizing barriers. It will also support programs and opportunities such as creative writing workshops, and the annual Voices of the Street literary anthology.
Support Megaphone Magazine
At the centre of Megaphone’s heart is it’s vendor program. Cold-snaps and heat-domes, inclement weather, extreme heat and cold can make vending and production a tall task. Your donation today will help vendors throughout the year, help Megaphone provide them with necessary wellness supplies and proper vendor equipment, as well as other accessible forms of income generation.
If you’ve followed Megaphone for a while, you’re probably familiar with Peter Thompson, who sells at 4th and Vine in Vancouver. We asked Peter, who’s been with Megaphone since 2007, how the weather has impacted sales. He had this to say:
“I used to go out for hours at a time, not always to make money but to see all the familiar faces. When the weather gets severe, there’s no shade, I have to cut it short. I’ve got bad arthritis, and it flares in the cold. Sometimes the busses don’t run and I can’t leave my house.”
All of this within the past 5 years, he says.
Through it’s Spring Campaign Megaphone is adapting and trying to support vendors through these sudden and unpredictable climate-crisis related weather changes. Donating to Megaphone’s Spring Campaign will help accomplish that.
$35 covers the cost of writing supplies for Megaphone participants
$40 pays for sun-protection equipment for one vendor
$70 pays for a new Megaphone coat for one vendor
$100 pays for missed sales due to weather for two vendors
$100 supports one Megaphone storyteller to copy edit Megaphone magazine before it goes to press
$250 pays for a vendor to facilitate a workshop and pay attendees in lieu of sales
$250 pays three Megaphone writers for their contributions of poetry and prose to Megaphone publications
$350 covers half the cost of running a monthly peer-editorial board meeting with 10-15 Megaphone storytellers
$500 goes towards a rainy-day fund to supply vendors with transportation during inclement weather
Your support will go a long way! Hope in Shadows is a charitable organization creating positive social change for people and communities impacted by poverty and marginalization. Their projects empower, educate, and provide training to low-income people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and beyond. Hope in Shadows’ flagship project is the annual Hope in Shadows photography contest and calendar. Hope in Shadows also works with Megaphone Magazine to do this charitable work.
