The patio chairs have been dusted off, picnic blankets unfurled and the Surrey Canada Day lineup has been released — summer is almost here! Celebrate Canada’s birthday with over 100,000 others at one of the country’s largest Canada Day festivals.

Surrey Canada Day

Where: Bill Reid Millennium Amphitheatre in Cloverdale (176 St & 64 Ave)
When: Sunday, July 1, 2018 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.

Presented by Coast Capital Savings, this year’s free family-friendly event—featuring an amusement park, midway games and interactive activities for all ages—is expected to be the largest Canada Day event in Western Canada, welcoming over 100,000 throughout the day.

Surrey Canada Day Lineup

Serena Ryder and Brett Kissel will headline Surrey Canada Day 2018!

Additional musical guests include Toque, Warren Dean Flandez, DJ Flipout and Krystle Dos Santos. New to the event this year is the Maple Leaf Stage presented by Tim Hortons, featuring performances by emerging Surrey talent. Additional features include an Indigenous Village, drone racing, amusement rides, food trucks and a kid’s zone.

Stay tuned for more activity and lineup news!

Follow Surrey Canada Day on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more information.

ITSAZOO presents the Western Canadian Premiere of David James Brock’s award-winning drama WET May 8-27, 2018 in Vancouver.

Chelsea Haberlin directs this thought-provoking tale of love, abandonment, and the human cost of war. Following the story of a Canadian soldier who returns to her husband and young daughter after a tour in Afghanistan, WET delves into the mental and emotional repercussions of combat on those who serve; and examines the spill over effects on those they love.

ITSAZOO Presents WET

When: May 8 to 27, 2018
Where: The Russian Hall Basement (600 Campbell Ave, Vancouver)
Tickets: Available online now. Adults $29, Students/Seniors $25. Previews & May 15 $10 at Door.

Photo credit: Matt Reznek

Audiences will grapple with important and timely questions in an immersive and intimate setting, thereby amping up the work’s already unflinching intensity.

The production is set during the height of Canada’s involvement in the Afghanistan War. Burns, a soldier, mother, and wife returns home from active duty in an injured and near catatonic state. Her husband Michael thinks he can fix her, if he can only unravel the mystery of what happened to her overseas.

The situation is first complicated and soon thrown into dangerous chaos by the unannounced arrival of a former war comrade, Captain Tom Fitzgerald. Eventually, the basement suite becomes a prison, trapping them in close physical confines as the emotional distance between them grows.

Win Tickets

I have tickets to give away to the performance on May 10th. Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Click below to get another entry by posting on Twitter:

[clickToTweet tweet=”RT to enter to win tickets to see David James Brock’s award-winning drama WET presented by @thezoocrew http://ow.ly/QdmR30jFTST” quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]

Follow ITSAZOO Productions on Facebook and Twitter for more information. I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2018.

Update The winner is Christine!

Summer is almost here and so is a giant lineup of concerts in the Metro Vancouver area. Live Nation has just launched National Concert Week with a $20 ticket offer for over 150 shows across Canada!

Live Nation Launches National Concert Week

For one week only, fans can get their hands on the $20 all-in tickets beginning Monday, April 30 at 8:00am local time the Live Nation website, through Tuesday, May 8 at 11:59pm local time.

Canadian Tours Included in Live Nation’s $20 “Kickoff to Summer Ticket Promotion” include:

For a full list of artists, visit the National Concert Week website, click on the show, and select “$20 tickets” – April 30 to May 8 only!

The Mother’s Day of Giving restaurant campaign has partnered with 18 local restaurants that prioritize the importance of women’s health by donating partial proceeds to BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre Foundation.

Mother’s Day of Giving

Take your mom, partner, or even a friend you admire out for brunch or dinner this Mother’s Day weekend and give back to the Hospital where 7,400 babies are born + women become mothers each year.

On May 12th and 13th, 2018 proceeds from partner restaurants will go towards supporting BC Women’s Foundation – to give women + newborns in BC the specialized care they deserve. Book your seats now ahead of the reservation rush to guarantee a brunch or dinner table over the Mother’s Day Weekend.

Partner restaurants include:

Mother’s Day Gifts

From April 24th to May 13th, 2018 shop 8 local businesses to support the BC Women’s Mother’s Day Gifts campaign. These online-based small businesses are offering up meaningful gifts for your mom, wife or special friend in your life while giving the gift of improving health outcomes for women at BC Women’s Hospital.

5% of sales from the following businesses will be donated:

For more information, follow BC Women’s Hospital on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram along with the tags #bcwomens #womenshealthwarrior #bcmothers.

The VPD Recovered Goods Auction will take place on Saturday, comprising of goods recovered by the VPD and have gone unclaimed for the past six months. Many of these items will be auctioned off for a fraction of their original value.

VPD Recovered Goods Auction

Where: Able Auctions (13557 77th Ave, Surrey)
When: Saturday, April 28, 2018 at 9:00am (doors open to public at 8:00am)

There is an upswing in stolen jewelry this year – 86 lots of jewelry that will all be up for bid on Saturday. Here’s the full scoop, from the VPD:

Jewelry will range from gold bangles to engagement rings to Swarovski crystal necklaces. Some noteworthy jewelry lots include a 14-karat white gold Diamond dress ring set worth more than $12,000; a variety of natural gems, such as emeralds, diamonds and a Star Ruby; and multiple Jade carvings, in the shapes of dragons, fish and Buddha.

The auction is most-known for its high-end bikes, and this year almost 300 of the top-tiered will be auctioned off. This includes mountain, downhill, racing bikes and retro-cruisers. Other items include snowboarding and water sport gear, skiing equipment, tools, designer purses and sunglasses, and an assortment of household items.

Some attention-grabbing items that are sure to be crowd favorites this year include 14 lots of foreign currency; collector coins and collector cards; a ladies Rolex wrist watch worth almost $13,000; a one-ounce fine gold bar, issued by the Swiss Bank; and rifle scopes.

Other lots to look out for this year are an impressive array of musical instruments ranging from a Fender electric guitar to a wood violin; and an assortment of men and women’s designer clothes and accessories, including a Victoria Beckham blouse worth upwards of $15,000.

It's time for the Vancouver Police Property Auction! The auction is taking place on Saturday, April 28th at 9am. You can preview the items available for sale on Thursday, April 26th & Friday, April 27th at Able Auctions in Surrey. For more info go to https://t.co/36vNWUUC8v. #VPD pic.twitter.com/jjwwzO6yN0

— Vancouver Police (@VancouverPD) April 24, 2018

Previews will take place on Thursday April 26th and Friday April 27th 12:00pm to 6:00pm. You can view some of the items online here too »