Arts performances, tasty treats, workshops, theatre, and cultural celebrations will keep us delighted and entertained this weekend in Vancouver as the event list heats up for the season.
Love Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is illuminating the coastal forest with Valentine’s themed displays in February and you can enter to win a prize pack below!
Love Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
Dates: February 2 to 25, 2024
Times: 10:00am to 8:00pm. Extended hours until 9:00pm February 14 to 18
Location: Capilano Suspension Bridge Park (3735 Capilano Rd, North Vancouver)
Tickets: Purchase online in advance, there is a limited quantity of tickets available. Visits are scheduled in 30-minute arrival increments. BC Annual Passholders need to reserve their entry time online prior to every visit.
Cross over the suspension bridge, stroll a sparkling Cliffwalk and pose next to the illuminated rainforest chandelier with the light of your life. Visit the birds of Raptors Ridge, enjoy live music and Valentine’s themed photo opportunities and activities.
In addition to its regular menu, The Cliff House Restaurant will be offering special feature items during the event including a Rose Martini, a Chicken Supreme and a decadent Dark Chocolate Molten Cake. Seating in The Cliff House Restaurant will be available on a first come, first served basis.
There’s a free shuttle that runs on a schedule to/from Canada Place, and the Trading Post is one of the best gift shops around with unique items and souvenirs that locals and visitors will both enjoy.
NOTE: During Love Lights, Treetops Adventure will be closed for a tune-up. All other regular Park attractions remain open during the event.
Enter to Win
We have a pair of tickets to give away along with a $100 gift certificate to spend at The Cliff House Restaurant! Here’s how you can enter to win:
The 6th edition of Latincouver’s annual Brazilian Carnaval in Vancouver brings rhythm, beat and heat to Granville Island on February 17th.
Brazilian Carnaval in Vancouver
Date: Saturday, February 17, 2024
Times: 11:00am to 5:00pm (family) and 9:00pm to 1:00am (adults only)
Address: Performance Works on Granville Island (1218 Cartwright St, Vancouver)
Just as the sizzling Rio de Janeiro Carnival 2024 winds down in Brazil, similar festivities heat up the northern hemisphere. An annual all-day Brazilian Carnaval experience will take place at Performance Works on Granville Island with celebrations happening all day and well into the night.
Split into two dynamic segments, the Brazilian Carnaval features a family-friendly daytime experience, then the evening unfolds into a sultry celebration for adults at the Brazilian Carnaval Night Party.
Brazilian Carnaval Family
Featuring child- and family-friendly opportunities to experience Brazilian culture, kids will move to the drumbeats of Coletivo Batucada Abrace, a percussive band that will headline a show including batucada music, magicians and a circus performance. Caretta de Furacão street performers, a Bailinho de Carnaval dance party, arcade games, a dance station, face-painting, and a costume competition are other highlights of this joy-filled day.
Early-bird tickets are available until February 1, for $15 per single child, $10 per child for two children or $8 per child for three or more children. Regular ticket prices after February 1 are $20, $15 and $10 respectively. Tickets include entry for two adult parents or guardians; additional accompanying adults will be charged $5 each. Purchase online here.
Brazilian Carnaval Night Party
The adults-only Brazilian Carnaval Night Party welcomes adults who love to samba and batucada all night long. Beloved media personality Bruna Weber is the MC for this late-night party incorporating music, dance, and Carnaval food and drinks.
Among the musical acts are Sambacouver, pioneering Brazilian cultural ambassadors specializing in axé and samba; Menilson, the Brazilian singer and composer now leading Meni Axé Band in joyous song; and Brejera band, joined by special guests Camila Louzada (Bom Tom) and Nando Aguir to perform samba, forró and axé music.
Also bringing the heat will be DJ Lu, who has quickly become a Vancouver favourite since relocating here. Costumes are encouraged (there’s a competition) and there will be Make-Your-Own-Abadá and face-painting stations that make Carnaval style accessible to everyone. Early-bird tickets are $30 until February 1, and $35 thereafter (both include a complimentary beer). Purchase online here.
This authentic annual festival is produced by Latincouver, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and preserving Latin American culture in British Columbia.
Get ready for your next camping adventure, hike, cycle, or rainy trek through the city and gear up at the MEC Warehouse Sale in Surrey next week.
MEC Warehouse Sale in Surrey
Date: Saturday, February 3 to Sunday, February 11, 2024
Times: 10:00am to 7:00pm daily
Address: 13340 76th Avenue, Surrey
From tents, packs and boots to cozy fleece, base layers and waterproof jackets and pants, they’re clearing out our warehouse to make room for new inventory. Look for top name outdoor brands carried by the retailer, including Patagonia and The North Face as well as the company’s own MEC label brand of products not carried anywhere else.
The event, which takes place just down the street from the Costco in Newton, will have new stock each day so MEC says to plan on visiting several times to check out the deals. All sales are final. No refunds. No exchanges.
Warehouse sales are a big deal around here, with the legendary Aritzia sale at the Vancouver Convention Centre usually seeing thousands of shoppers lining up for over a week-long period looking to score 50-90% discounts.
A crowd favourite when it premiered here at The Firehall in 2012 followed by a successful Canadian tour, Chelsea Hotel: The Songs of Leonard Cohen returns February 3 to Sunday, March 3, 2024 — and you can enter to win a pair of tickets!
Chelsea Hotel: The Songs of Leonard Cohen
Dates: February 3 – March 3, 2024
Address: Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Cordova St, Vancouver)
Haunted by memories of his tumultuous love life, a writer checks into New York’s infamous Chelsea Hotel desperate to find the words and inspiration for his next song. Wading through past relationships, he reluctantly comes face to face with the love of the present – a love he wishes he could not only forget, but erase from memory.
Leonard Cohen’s powerful and inspirational music is the heartbeat for Chelsea Hotel. Through Cohen’s transcendent songs and the honesty of his lyrics, audiences will be transfixed by this eclectic cabaret of loves won and lost and become witness in the search for the words to cure love’s pain.
Directed by Tracey Power, with musical arrangements by Steve Charles, and produced by The Firehall’s Donna Spencer, Chelsea Hotel: The Songs of Leonard Cohen is an inventive fusion of music, dance, and theatre that invites its audience into the hotel room of a creative mind and takes them on a poetic musical journey. Featuring performances by Adrian Glynn McMorran, Jack Garton, Marlene Ginader, Michelle Bouey, Steve Charles, and Tracey Power.
Special Dates
To toast Mr. Cohen’s legacy and their 342 performances of Chelsea Hotel, The Firehall is holding a special pre-show reception on Friday, February 23. There will be post-show talkbacks February 8, 15, 22, and 29. Pay What You Can performances on Tuesday at 7:30pm and Wednesday at 1:00pm.
The production premiered in February of 2012 and was nicknamed ‘the make out show’ as patrons were often caught kissing outside the theatre after the show. It was remounted by popular demand in autumn of that same year and went on tour to Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria, and Toronto.
Enter to Win Tickets
You can enter to win a pair of tickets to the performance on February 7th at 7:30pm. Here’s how: