Celebrate our nation’s birthday with bang! Enjoy free fireworks displays at dusk, following a full day of festival fun, with these Canada Day fireworks around Vancouver.
Canada Day Fireworks in Vancouver. Photo by Alexis Birkill.
Downtown Vancouver Canada Day at Canada Place Where: View from Coal Harbour and Dundarave, West Vancouver When: Fireworks at 10:30pm
Surrey Canada Day Where: Bill Reid Millennium Amphitheatre (17728 64 Ave, Surrey) When: Fireworks at 10:30pm
Steveston Salmon Festival Where: Along the historic Steveston waterfront in Richmond When: Fireworks at 10:15pm
The 12th Annual SHIFT Festival returns to its roots this year, featuring three short, sharp, original works, created and performed by Tai Amy Grauman, Kelsey Kanatan Wavey, and Claire Love Wilson with Sara Vickruck. The past, present and future are explored in turn by these vigorous voices, and, on July 11, 12, and 13 in downtown Vancouver, audiences can see all three for one price.
SHIFT Festival 12
Where: ANNEX, 823 Seymour Street, Vancouver When: July 11, 12 and 13, 2019 Tickets: Available online now for $15 – $19
Tai Amy Grauman. Photo by Emilie Iggiotti.
Dedicated to honest and resonant live performance, and spotlighting diverse and underrepresented voices and stories, the SHIFT Festival has become an annual theatre tradition in Vancouver.
In Marie’s Letters, Tai Amy Grauman embodies five generations of Métis women addressing their unborn daughters about hopes, dreams, fears and essentially, survival, in Treaty 6 Territory. Grauman – Métis, Cree and Haudenosaunee from Ardrossan, Alberta – was this year’s Jessie Richardson award for most promising newcomer and the Vancouver Mayor’s Emerging Theatre Artist of 2015 (nominated by Margo Kane). Gavan Cheema directs.
Created and performed by Kelsey Kanatan Wavey, iskonikowisiw is the story of the complicated friendship between the last woman on Earth and the last drop of water. Combining poetry, projection and movement, iskonikowisiw is a reflection on the growing water crisis and what we must sacrifice in order for all our relations to find peace. A Cree actor and writer from Treaty 1 Territory – Winnipeg, Manitoba – Wavey is a recent graduate of Studio 58.
Developed by local multidisciplinary creator Claire Love Wilson and queer theatre-maker and musician Sara Vickruck for SHIFT Festival 12, Sound Off investigates how the transformation of sounds, live and looped, can be constructed and deconstructed into song. Featuring games and improvisation, this show evolves nightly with our audience and may send you out into the mid-summer night singing. Wilson will also present a 90-minute festival workshop on Friday July 12 (4pm), inviting registrants to engage in the song walking practice that she has taught internationally.
SHIFT also presents a special staged reading of Beth Coleman’s Evolutionary Tango on Saturday July 13 (2:00pm).
Win Tickets
I have 4 tickets to give away to any night of the festival! Here’s how you can enter to win:
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Follow the SHIFT Festival on Facebook and Twitter for more info. I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Thursday, July 4, 2019.
Timber is hosting their annual ball hockey tournament on Jervis at Robson on July 1st, in support of a great cause!
I’m not sure I had a more Canadian Canada Day in recent years than the time John and I walked up to Timber on Robson. The restaurant, which is already Canadian-themed year round — complete with stuffed beaver mascot– had a bison burger special, ball hockey outside on Jervis, and we ran into an actor from Letterkenny.
Timber Hosts Canada Day Ball Hockey Tournament
Where: Jervis St & Robson St, Vancouver (neighbouring Timber Gastropub) When: Monday, July 1, 2019 from 12:00pm to 5:00pm
The Canada Day Ball Hockey Tournament celebrates the love of the game for five hours of scrimmage match-ups, skill-building exercises and an exciting finals game to crown the 2019 champions.
The 2019 team roster includes four spirited teams: West Coast Canning, Timber & Forage, BASH (coaches and youth from the program) and Cutting Edges. The teams play rounds of 15-minute games surrounded by bleachers set up for family-friendly spectating. Everyone is welcome to participate in the skills exercises offered between games three times throughout the afternoon.
Neighbouring the ball court, at an outside grill Timber will serve up their classic bison burgers. Proceeds from participant entry fees go to support BASH, an inclusive after-school program for youth interested in playing ice hockey, run by Britannia Community Services Centre. From skates to hockey tape, this free program provides youth (ages 12-17; all genders) with the equipment and access to coaching and ice-time needed to play. Players and the public are also encouraged to bring kid’s hockey equipment to the tournament where donations for the BASH program will be collected.
The Canada Day event provides opportunities for people to participate in a community service and give to a good cause.
BASH is a free program for youth (ages 12-17; all genders) interested in learning how to play ice hockey. Hockey equipment, including skates, is provided, while organized drills with experienced coaches and scrimmage games fostering good sportsmanship encourage skill development, healthy fitness and team-building. BASH is hosted weekly by Britannia Community Services Centre, a capacity-building association working “to develop, coordinate and support a wide range of excellent programs and services for Grandview-Woodland and Strathcona by working with community members, partners and local agencies.”
Swimming in a calm, warm, refreshing lake with snow-capped mountains as a backdrop is a pretty peaceful way to spend an summer afternoon. In Cranbrook, swimming is just one of many options for enjoying the region’s beautiful tributaries, lakes, and rivers as I discovered when I was on assignment with ZenSeekers this month.
SUP on Wasa Lake
Step 1. Start with Just Liquid Sports
If you’re going to explore a new area, start off by gearing up and chatting with the folks at your local water sports shop. In Cranbrook, Just Liquid Sports is your home base. Talk to the pros there about the best recreational spots, or if you’re up for a whitewater run in the Bull River’s rapids.
Step 2. Pick a Lake
St.Mary’s, Moyie, Norbury, Peckham’s, Jimsmith Lake, Rock Lake, Wasa Lake, Surveyors Lake, Lazy Lake – take your pic! Tourism Cranbrook has a guide to each including features, locations and amenities here »
Summer Fun at Wasa Lake
Step 3. Head Out for a Community Paddle
Just Liquid Sports hosts a community paddle every Wednesday, which is followed by a social at local restaurant. You can rent SUP, canoes, or kayaks at the lake otherwise it’s free for those with their own craft. Check their weekly schedule to see where they’ll be when you visit.
Visit the Cranbrook Tourism website for pre-trip research and to connect with the businesses listed in this story, or stop by the in-town visitor centre for more details on the region.
