Surrey Canada Day is always one of the country’s largest celebrations on July 1st and this year it’s even expanding to bring you move family-friendly fun! Miss604 is proud to once again be a sponsor of this event (since 2008) and I’m always happy to share all the goodness my hometown has to offer.

Surrey Canada Day

Where: Bill Reid Millennium Amphitheatre in Cloverdale (176 St & 64 Ave)
When: Monday, July 1, 2019 10:00am to 11:00pm (fireworks at 10:30pm)
Admission: FREE! You can also purchase tickets for the midway rides, and snacks from the many food trucks and vendors on site.

Here are 5 reasons to attend Surrey Canada Day this year, including a little bonus!

5. Sensory Friendly Space

In partnership with the Canucks Autism Network, this year’s Surrey Canada Day will provide a Sensory Friendly Space. Sensory friendly spaces are designated areas that have reduced input from the sensory environment.  This includes decreased levels of lighting, sound and smell. Particularly helpful for individuals with autism, or anyone who is overwhelmed in busy public spaces, this space offers a wide range of elements to support relaxation, including comfortable seating, sensory toys, books, games and noise-cancelling headphones.

4. New Rodeo Zone

Attendees are invited to grab their best country hat, boots and denim for the new Cloverdale Rodeo Zone. Located inside the Cloverdale Agriplex, the area will offer country-themed activities including games, bull riding, an inflatable corn maze, axe throwing, western food vendors and live country music performances on the Rodeo Stage – featuring local Canadian Country headliner Dave Hartney. Additionally, the Rodeo Zone will feature a Summer Market offering artisan goods from over 20 local vendors.

3. Themed Zones and Rides

New to the amphitheatre, attendees can test their reflexes at the NHL feature in the Sports Zone, or participate in cedar brushing in the Indigenous Zone. You can even take a ride down the 200 ft zip line. These new attractions add to this year’s event roster, which includes 15 amusement rides,

2. Music

Our Lady Peace is headlining (9:00pm), Bif Naked will be performing (7:30pm), and throughout the day you can catch live entertainment on 4 stages. The Hip Show, Buckman Coe, Star Captains, Her Brothers, Aché Brasil, Ashley Pater, Beauty Shop Dolls, Ben Klick, Dave Hartney, Nylez K, Jessie Farrell, The Wild Mocassin Dancers, Top Line Vocal Collective and many more!

1. Food

Over 35 food trucks across the site will make sure you do not go hungry on Canada Day! From waffles and kettle corn to poutine, bannock, and those amazing Jamaican patties.

I saved food for the top spot because I also have $50 in food tickets to give away so you won’t even need to get out your wallet at Surrey Canada Day! Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Like, share, or comment on this post on Facebook (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, June 25, 2019. Follow Surrey Canada Day on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more information.

Miss604 has been a proud sponsor of Surrey Canada Day for the last 11 years!

UPDATE The winner is Phyllis!

You can once again support the families of Ronald McDonald House BC & Yukon (“RMH BC”) by bringing together your friends and family for good food, great company and an even better cause. Home for Dinner is a community fundraising initiative, which encourages locals to embrace the tradition of connecting with family around the dinner table by hosting a dining event in their home, or at their favourite restaurant.

Continuing on the success of last year, the campaign raised $107,000 in proceeds, allowing families to spend time together while their children are receiving life-saving medical treatment. 

Eat In

Prepare a meal in your home and invite your favourite people over. Instead of bringing wine or a hostess gift, your guests can contribute to something even more meaningful – keeping a family close when it matters most.

You can find all the tools online to host your event, including invitations, menu cards, speaking notes, donation forms, tax receipt request forms and more here »

Dine Out

Host a meal at your favourite restaurant or dining spot. As a thank you for your generosity in picking up the tab, your guests can contribute something even more meaningful, supporting the families who are staying at RMH BC that night.

All funds raised will go towards families staying at Ronald McDonald House in Vancouver, ensuring they benefit from a supportive and healing environment while their child or children undergo life-saving medical treatments. Each generous donation will ensure a family can continue to share meals and moments together at Ronald McDonald House BC while their child receives life- saving medical treatment. Large or small, the possibilities are endless!

Register your dinner today and truly make a difference »

Share your experience using #HomeForDinner on social media and follow Ronald McDonald House BC & Yukon on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more info.

Guest post contributed and written by Jen Murtagh.

As a child I reveled in Roald Dahl’s writing, enjoying his darkly comic style, villainous adult characters and the unexpected twists and turns his books always seemed to take. It’s one of the many reasons I was so excited to bring my daughter to see The Arts Club’s rendition of Matilda The Musical, playing now at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre.

Matilda the Musical is the adaptation of one of Dahl’s most beloved books and is a funhouse fairy tale of a story with characters you may remember like Miss Honey, Miss Trunchbull and Matilda Wormwood. It is true enough to the book, ensuring to captivate those loyal readers, yet sophisticated enough as to engage those who may not know the story and are in need of a night of comic relief. It is sweet, smart and wickedly fun.

Directed by Daryl Cloran, Matilda tells the story of an extraordinary little girl whose bravery and brilliance helps her take charge of her own destiny. She will happily choose books over TV any day and discovers her telekinetic powers for good, helping her classmates navigate the dreadfully delightful, Miss Trunchbull. Played by the hilarious John Ullyatt, Miss Trunchbull is the headmistress of Crunchem Hall whose motto is Children are Maggots.

You will come to loathe her grotesque parents, including her sleazy car salesman father and ballroom dance crazy mother, whose hilarity and over the top selfishness seem beyond absurd, if not for a Roald Dahl book.    

I found myself smiling the entire evening as I listened to the hilarious and clever songs of Tim Minchin, with personal favourites including “Miracle”, “Revolting Children” and “When I grow up”. The Arts Club have assembled a dynamic and talented cast of both children and adults in Matilda who will surely find ways to captivate your heart and leave you coming back for more of their upcoming productions. 

Matilda the Musical at The Arts Club

Where: Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage (2750 Granville St, Vancouver)
When: On now until July 14, 2019
Follow The Arts Club on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more info.

The Vancouver Taiwanese Film Festival (“TWFF”) returns June 21 to June 25, 2019 to the Vancity Theatre. TWFF is an annual non-profit arts and cultures initiative started in 2007, and over the years, it has become the largest film festival focusing on Taiwanese cinema in North America.

Vancouver Taiwanese Film Festival

Where: Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour St, Vancouver)
When: June 21 to June 25, 2019
Tickets: Available online now for individual films or in ticket packs

Over the past years, TWFF has presented more than 100 Taiwanese films and invited many filmmakers to Vancouver. This year’s lineup featured documentaries, dramas, thrillers and comedies.

Win Tickets to See The Plastic Bag

I’m giving away tickets to the screening of The Plastic Bag, on Saturday, June 22 at 6:00pm.

The beautiful Little Liuqiu Island is the natural habitat for the endangered green sea turtle. Xiao Lu is passionate about green sea turtles and is wholeheartedly dedicated to conservation research. As an anti-plastic activist, Xiao Lu encountered a series of dilemmas which led to many disagreements and the eventual breakup with her boyfriend.

As green sea turtles hatch and head into the ocean, only one in a thousand hatchlings will survive and safely grow into adulthood. It takes as many as 50 years for green sea turtles reach sexual maturity and at that point, they return to their nestling beach to lay eggs. But what will become of their habitat after 50 years? Tourism has stimulated the economy of beautiful Little Liuqiu Island but how will it find a balance between tourism and marine conservation?

Here’s how you can enter to win:

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

Follow the Vancouver Taiwanese Film Festival on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more info. I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Tuesday, June 18, 2019.

UPDATE The winner is Nick!

The 11th Annual Queer Arts Festival (“QAF”), Vancouver’s artist-run, professional, multi-disciplinary roister of queer arts, culture and history, takes place this year from June 17 to June 28, 2019.

Queer Arts Festival in Vancouver

This year’s festival theme rEvolution gathers together artists who dissemble, push and transgress; art as the evolution of the revolution. QAF has assembled nearly 100 artists and more than 20 events and programming showcasing a variety of differing media on exhibit at the Roundhouse Arts Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews) in Vancouver’s Yaletown.

Here are some event highlights:

Art Party! Gala Opening Reception
Tuesday, June 18, 2019 @7:00pm
Roundhouse Exhibition Hall (181 Roundhouse Mews)
Tickets: Free
QAF opening night galas are one of Vancouver’s best attended visual arts events, making this a party you don’t want to miss!

Technical Knockouts
On now until Saturday, June 22, 2019
Roundhouse Community Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews) Roundhouse Community Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews)
Tickets: Free
A female-centred music production drop-in lab for queer, Indigenous and allied youth led by Kinnie Starr, DJ O Show and Tiffany Moses. ASL interpretation available upon request.
Calling all queer, Two-Spirit, and allied poets, lyricists, performers, truth-tellers and music-makers! Want to take your passion for words and music in a new direction? The Queer Arts Festival is here to help with the return of Technical Knockouts Emerging Artist Lab; a free, creative workshop series that invites you to tell your story, experiment, and access professional resources and mentors.

Relational Revolutions – Visual Art Exhibition
Monday, June 17 to Wednesday June 26, 2019 
Roundhouse Community Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews)
QAF’s signature curated visual art exhibition for 2019, Relational Revolutions, posits a rumination on the theme of rEvolution and extends an invitation to recalibrate our desires, how we hope, how we sense, how we love, and above all to re-examine our relationships with each other, with the land, with time, with form and with space. Curator Elwood Jimmy, of the Thunderchild First Nation, is an artist, facilitator, cultural manager and writer. This exhibit will showcase an eclectic array of artists including Thirza Cuthand, Raven Davis, Vanessa Dion Fletcher, Alexandra Gelis, Jessica Karuhanga, Lisa Myers, David Ng, Jessa Chse, and Ty Sloane.

Diaspora with the Frank Theatre
Tuesday, June 25, 2019 @ 7:00pm
Tickets: Pay what you can
Roundhouse Exhibition Hall (181 Roundhouse Mews)
The Frank Theatre presents a reading of Diaspora: an interdisciplinary, devised performance created by queer refugees and immigrants.

Queer Songbook Orchestra
Friday, June 28, 2019 @ 7:00pm
Tickets: $30-$40
Roundhouse Exhibition Hall (181 Roundhouse Mews)
Celebrated national chamber ensemble Queer Songbook Orchestra unearth the queer backstories and personal narratives inspired by music of the past several generations. Weaving together stories told by local narrators with arrangements by Canada’s foremost composers.

Stonewall 50 Glitter is Forever
Friday, June 28, 2019 @ 9:00pm
Roundhouse Exhibition Hall (181 Roundhouse Mews)
Tickets: Free with your Songbook ticket, otherwise $15-$20
On the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots that launched modern-day Pride, Vancouver Pride Society, Zee Zee Theatre, and The Frank Theatre join QAF’s final blowout, gathering together to revel in a half- century of queerevolution. Stonewall was a riot – now, we dance!

For more information, follow the QAF on Twitter and Facebook.