In 1968, Boeing introduced the first 747 “jumbo jet,” Star Trek aired North American television’s first interracial kiss and Capilano University, then a college, opened its doors.

To mark its 50th anniversary, Capilano University invites the public to help celebrate this momentous occasion with CapFest, a massive campus-wide party on Saturday, September 22, 2018. There will be five stages, live acts, food trucks, a family-friendly beer garden and activities for children. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩

City Opera Vancouver presents the astonishing and macabre operatic thriller, Nigredo Hotel, September 20 to 22, 2018 at The Cultch Historic Theatre.

This one-act chamber opera directed by Alan Corbishley, with music by Nic Gotham and libretto by distinguished Canadian author and playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald, tells the tale of an encounter between a beautiful but crazed hotelier and a brain surgeon who seeks refuge after a traumatic car accident. Internationally renowned opera stars Tyler Duncan and Sarah Vardy will perform a brilliant Jungian-inspired combat between two of the most unusual characters in 20th century opera, backed by a four-player jazz combo.

Tyler Duncan & Sarah Vardy. Photo: Michelle Koebke, Diamond’s Edge Photography.

City Opera’s Nigredo Hotel

When: September 20 to 22, 2018
Where: The Cultch Historic Theatre (1895 Venables St, Vancouver)
Tickets: Available online now from $22.25

“Part psychological thriller and mystery, both sarcastic and sweet, witty and strange, Nigredo Hotel is nothing like City Opera Vancouver has ever presented before.”

The story follows Raymond who escapes to a decrepit hotel after his car crash. He fears he may have harmed a child. Stressed and confused, Raymond is further disoriented by Sophie’s strange and combative nature and the fact that she seems to know a great deal about him.

Raymond’s descent into crisis is depicted through MacDonald’s brilliant libretto full of riddles and half-remembered stories. She draws on Carl Jung’s “nigredo,” a theory that souls are led to suffer through a dark night to reach enlightenment, and revelations of the dream state.

Gotham’s haunting score bridges the continent between jazz and classical music, combining traditional operatic components of overture, recitatives, and arias with improvisational jazz rhythms and harmonies.

The unsettling nature of Raymond’s madness is punctuated with an extensive use of bass instruments and percussion, which evoke the brooding quality of film noir. Although categorized as an opera, Nigredo Hotel is often described as a dramatic jazz piece that will appeal to lovers of both genres alike. This balance crescendos to lyrical heights in Raymond and Sophie’s beautiful duet For Love is strong as Death.

Follow City Opera Vancouver on Facebook and Twitter for more info.

Win a Date Night

I have an awesome prize pack to give away so you can enjoy City Opera’s Nigredo Hotel in style. The lucky winner will receive two tickets to the performance on Saturday, September 22, 2018 at 8:00pm at The Cultch, a $75 gift certificate for dinner for two at Sopra Sotto Restaurant (1510 Commercial Drive), and a $50 gift certificate for a bouquet of flowers from The Flowerbox (1319 Commercial Drive).

Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Follow Miss604 and City Opera Vancouver on Facebook (1 entry)
• Click below to get another entry by posting on Twitter:

[clickToTweet tweet=”RT to enter to win a date night out at @CityOperaVan Nigredo Hotel with dinner and more http://ow.ly/rjBp30lGw6j” quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]

I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 8:00am on Monday, September 10, 2018.

Update The winner is Tabby72!

Get out and enjoy activities and events during Tri-Cities Culture Days Weekend, September 28-30, 2018. Culture Days represents the largest-ever collective public participation campaign undertaken by the arts and cultural community in Canada with thousands of free, hands-on, interactive activities that invite the public to create, participate and share.

Culture Days OnBeat

The theme this year is OnBeat. OnBeat is a collective drumming and rhythm-inspired theme bringing together thousands of Canadians from coast-to-coast both in-person and online to celebrate making the arts accessible, inclusive and fun!

Inspiring greater public participation in arts, culture and heritage, Port Moody, Coquitlam, and Port Coquitlam will host over 20 free events.

Download the online brochure/schedule here »

Tri-Cities Culture Days Weekend

Enter the behind-the-scenes world of artists, creators and historians in the Tri-Cities during Culture Days. The events are fun, creative, family-friendly and free!

Coquitlam‘s three days of culture include a drawing workshop, open houses, public art scavenger hunt, micro-home tour, painting to music, drumming performance, dance battle, graffiti art, dance lesson, and lots of hands-on and interactive activities.

In Port Coquitlam, you can check out a couple of exhibits, taking a walk tour, participate in a collage workshop, watch a ceramics demo, paint to music, and celebrate national Breast Feeding week.

Port Moody’s activities include a scavenger hunt, hatchery events, painting demo, social media talk, a music makerspace, and live performance.

The ultimate goal of Culture Days is to make arts, culture and heritage a part of every Canadian’s life, whether by creating, enjoying, supporting or sharing.

Miss604 is proud to be a media partner of the Tri-Cities Culture Days weekend. Stay tuned for more event listings in the coming days.

Follow Culture Days on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram #OnBeat #CultureDays #Culture365 for more information.

School is back in session and the fun is just getting started at our local farms which will be hosting corn mazes, pumpkin patches, apple harvests, and so much more this season. Check out the following farms for family fun this fall:

Corn Mazes & Pumpkin Patches Near Vancouver

Some rate apply for admission or activities at these sites.

Willow View Farms

When: U-Pick opening August 17th, 2018
Where: 288 McCallum Rd, Abbotsford
Website | Facebook | Instagram
About: U-pick apples, plums, pears, and pumpkins have become a big part of what we do at Willow View. Visiting the farm provides opportunities to “slow down”, and enjoy nature at a leisurely pace, while celebrating the enjoyment of local homegrown food. The goal of Willow View is summed up by our motto: “Our home, your farm”.

Maan Farms

When: Open now with a Fall Festival every weekend starting September 22, 2018
Where: 790 McKenzie Rd, Abbotsford
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
About: Maan Farms offers something for the whole family. Play area and petting zoo, delicious food and wine, event venue, seasonal attractions and of course berries. The beautiful warm colours, brisk fresh air, and fun family activities! Join Maan Farms this fall for their many a-maze-ing family fun activities.

Richard Country Farms

When: Open daily, 9:00am to 8:00pm
Where: 12900 Steveston Hwy, Richmond
Website | Facebook | Instagram
About: Pumpkin pickers ride hay wagons past the duck ponds and waterfalls to the fields. The farm is ornamented with corn stocks, sunflowers whimsical decorations and almost authentic buildings relocated from Transylvania. They offer a fresh BC grown Spartan Apple as a snack at the conclusion.

Bose and Sons Family Farm

When: Open now through October 8, 2018
Where: 64th Avenue & 156th Street, Surrey
Website | Facebook
About: Sit back on a hay bale and savour Surrey’s countryside on a tractor-pulled ride from the Bose Corn Maze to the pumpkin patch in search of your perfect Jack-o’-Lantern for Halloween. Their pumpkins weigh anywhere from 5 to 100 pounds. Get lost in the corn, through the many turns and arches, as you answer the trivia questions at each numbered post in the maze. Your answers will lead you, should you go the correct way, to the next numbered post through Bose’s two-part maze. Be sure to budget an hour to find your way from the beginning to the end.

Taves Family Farms

When: Open now through October
Where: 333 Gladwin Rd, Abbotsford
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
About: Nothing says fall like going into the Pumpkin Patch and choosing your very own pumpkin. While the smaller ones (especially Cinderella and sugar pumpkins) are better for making pumpkin pies, larger ones help kids carve that perfect jack-o-lantern. Our super-size pumpkins average 50 lbs. Taves has so many varieties and colours! The Applebarn and Sunflower Patch are open now.

Chilliwack Corn Maze and Pumpkin Farm

When: Until October 31, 2018
Where: 41905 Yale Road West, Chilliwack
Website | Facebook | Instagram
About: Getting lost at the 12 acre Chilliwack Corn Maze becomes an interactive experience with passports and challenges as you navigate your way around. Visit the pumpkin patch this year. There are over 15 varieties growing on our farm, come and find your perfect pumpkin.

Aldor Acres Farm

When: September 15 to October 31, 2018
Where: 24990-84 Avenue, Langley
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
About: Numerous animal displays are set up throughout the barns along with a Petting Zoo area outside. New this year are the Pig Races! Races will happen daily at different times throughout the day. After visiting with all the animals, take a tractor-pulled hayride out to the pumpkin patch to find that perfect pumpkin. Don’t forget to stop by the Farmacy for your farm fresh veggies, eggs and pork.

Check all of the farm websites and social media to get the most accurate updates about what is in season, opening hours, etc. Have fun!

Lovers of local seafood and social times rejoice as the Chefs’ Table Society of BC‘s Slow Fish Canada Dinner returns for the 5th year to the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts (“PICA” on September 23, 2018. This annual event allows seafood lovers to gather and indulge in local sustainable seafood in the most interactive way.

Slow Fish Canada Dinner

When: Sunday, 23 September, 2018 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm
Where: Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts (1505 West 2nd Ave, Vancouver)
Tickets: Available online now with early bird pricing until September 9th.

Photo Meighan Makarchuk

The evening starts with PICA culinary student-prepared canapés, and Frizzante Rosé from Salmon-Safe winery St. Hubertus & Oak Bay Estate Winery. Next, attendees move through the school’s eight professional teaching kitchens to meet the visiting chefs, who each offer a tasting-sized portion of local sustainable seafood delicacies.

Leading the event committee is Chefs’ Table Society chef Darren Clay, executive culinary chef instructor at PICA, and Poyan Danesh, culinary director at Ocean Mama Seafood.Grazing through the kitchens, you will have a chance to talk to the chefs and winery representatives about their passion for what they do!

The Chefs
Warren Chow, Juniper
Jason Harris, Colette Grand Café at Holt Renfrew
Edgar Kano, Four Seasons Hotel
Greg McCallum, Le Crocodile
Andrea Carlson, Burdock & Co
Julian Bond, Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts
Mark Singsong, Food Art Music
Welbert Choi, Forage

Dishes will include the chefs’ creative interpretations of how to serve sustainable local sturgeon, arctic char, Humpback Shrimp, Honey Mussels, Spiny Scallop Geoduck, Albacore tuna and Octopus. Wines paired with each dish will be from the portfolio of Peacock & Martin, and several Salmon-Safe BC wineries.Dessert will be prepared by Maestro James Coleridge, Uno Gelato.

The intention of the event, aside from raising funds, is to raise awareness for Slow Fish Canada (a Slow Food initiative) and its role in protecting our oceans. Like all Chefs’ Table Society events, the proceeds from this event along with earmarked funds will be used to fund a scholarship; in this case, one that will be awarded that night.

Follow Chefs’ Table Society on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more info.