Granville Island presents the 12th Winterruption Festival from February 17-19, 2017. This mid-winter celebration of Vancouver culture and arts features live music, theatre, dance and street performance plus art, film, crafts, family activities and, of course, great food!
Winterruption Festival on Granville Island
Stay warm and dry, and join the fun at The Forge (1596 Johnston St), Winterruption’s new centre of activity. The festival brings together live performance and interactive art all in one big, happening location.
Watch as artist Ola Volo’s whimsical mural emerges before your eyes. Enjoy the Rup Loops musical experience, the cool jazz of Black Gardenia, the old-time sounds of The Myrtle Family Band and the ‘greasy’ jazz of Rossi Gang. Savour some maple syrup, taste the fare at the Rebel Kitchen, and join an ongoing collaborative art project where festival participants construct a life-size urban landscape inspired by Granville Island.
Event Highlights
Pop Up Dances – eight amazing dancers show us what happens when architecture, industry and performance intersect at surprising locations around the Island.
The Pajama Men blend stand-up, sketch, improv, and outlandish characters to tell delightfully divergent stories in their production of Pterodactyl Nights, presented by The Fringe Festival.
Ideas Bobert – see Mr. Bean meet Ginger Rogers in a whimsical brew of physical comedy and conundrum for the whole family.
Tours of the Arts Club production and costume shop show visitors where the mechanics of magic are created. Trap-doors open, actors fly and costumes set the stage.
IVancouver TheatreSports® League performs some of the most innovative and daring improvisational comedy you will ever see.
See Open-Air Illustration, featuring eight Vancouver artists’ work at transit shelter locations around the Island, or watch live stone carving with Zimbabwean Master Carver Patrick Sephani, among a myriad of visual arts exhibits and participatory events.
Coastal Jazz infuses the weekend with hot music at Performance Works. Ticketed shows include: the Afro-funk sounds of Camaro 67 along with Bigfate on Friday, February 17; James Danderer’s Hummingbird Brigade transports listeners to the small 1930s cabarets of New Orleans and Chicago on Saturday, February 18.
Free concerts include the Robin Layne Band, Blue Moon Marquee, Only a Visitor and Rossi Gang.
Art and survival collide with the premiere screening of Waiting for Spring, a short art video by Nicole Dextras that tells the fantastical tale of living on pomegranates and surviving the Anthropocene era.
Of course there’s always the world-renowned Public Market to explore as always. Inspired by the freshness of the Public Market, come experience the culinary delights of Granville Island. Enjoy a fascinating assortment of colourful stalls showcasing many unique local products and the very finest in gastronomic delights – all fresh from the ocean, the oven and the field.
The Variety Challenger Baseball Field in Vancouver really is a Field of Dreams — and I’ve been to the actual Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville, Iowa! The first of its kind in Western Canada, it was the brainchild of the Vancouver Canadians who, with help from the Vancouver Park Board, the Jays Care Foundation, and a boost from Variety BC, have created a new permanent baseball field for The BC Challenger Baseball Program, a program devoted to children with physical, developmental and intellectual disabilities.
I spoke with Andy Dunn, Partner & President of the Vancouver Canadians about how this dream came to fruition. He told me that he knew Ian McLean, National Coordinator, Challenger Baseball Canada for years and eventually something just clicked.
“In the States there’s a program called The Miracle Field and I was familiar with it, and getting to know Ian and all the hard work, love, and effort he puts into the Challenger Baseball program, and seeing where they were playing, I just kept thinking – we can do better for these kids and these athletes.”
One day Andy had the opportunity to have a long discussion with Malcolm Bromley, General Manager, Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation around the time that the Park Board was looking at revamping Hillcrest. A project that involved a baseball field for kids with physical and cognitive disabilities.
“Without Variety this field would not be in place.”
They went to work with Hillcrest, Little Mountain Little League, and funding partners Jays Care Foundation and the Park Board but were still short on funding until Variety stepped up to the plate.
Because of the generosity of these parties, kids will be able to play on a fully turfed field, with extra wide and deep dugouts so the kids can all be together.
“The main part about being a part of a team is not so much the at-bats and that other stuff, it’s the camaraderie of being a teammate,” Andy explains. Having an accessible ballpark allows kids to be part of so much more than 9 innings of baseball.
“We have to provide these kids a place to play, and everybody deserves to play.”
Show Your Support
This past weekend, Variety – The Children’s Charity hosted its 51st Show of Hearts Telethon and raised over $5 million for BC kids with special needs. This is just one of the many initiatives that Variety supports.
You can still support anytime by donating online or by texting “KIDS” to 45678 to give $20 automatically.
Beyond the Nat
Follow the Vancouver Canadians on Facebook and Twitter to follow the team throughout the year for their latest updates and to hear more about their support for all of the Vancouver baseball community.
Rebecca Bollwitt/Miss604 is a sponsor of the Show of Hearts Social Lounge and a Board Member at Variety
Western Canada’s largest pet show, the Pet Lover Show, returns to TRADEX in Abbotsford for the 5th year, February 25th and 26th. With educational seminars from industry experts from across the province, live animal entertainment, and the latest in pet products and services, this weekend is a “can’t-miss” for pet owners living in Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
Pet Lover Show
Dates: February 25th & 26th, 2017 Times: 10:00am to 6:00pm Saturday, 10:00am to 5:00pm Sunday Location: TRADEX (1190 Cornell St, Abbotsford) Admission: Adult (16+ years) $12; Senior (65+) or Youth (6-15) $8; Child (5 years and under) Free; Family (2 youth, 2 adults) $32. Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased in advance online at a discounted price.
Dock Dogs
For the first time ever in Vancouver, come see the world famous DockDogs at the Pet Lover Show, featuring three competitions combined to make one action-packed family- oriented act. Watch as they compete to see who can jump the highest, dive the farthest distance, and swim the fastest to get out of the water. With non-stop action, you’ll love cheering for your favourite DockDog canines as they compete at the Pet Lover Show.
Presidents Choice SuperDogs
Is Your Dog a SuperDog? This year, for the first time ever, the President’s Choice SuperDogs will be hosting their very own star search over the course of the Show. Finalists will be allowed to audition at the Pet Lover Show for a chance to perform with the President’s Choice SuperDogs this summer, at The Fair at the PNE!
From agility to dancing, jumping rope, silly pet tricks or Frisbee freestyle, come and share your dog’s special skills in a fun, friendly showcase. Submit your 15-second audition tape to the Pet Lover Show Facebook page by February 17th for a chance to go up on stage as a Finalist at the Pet Lover Show. Finalists will be notified the week before the Show.
Looking for other fun things to do together with your pet? This year’s Pet Lover Show is the most interactive ever. Bring your well-behaved pets and try out the Paws On Activities and check out specialties like massage, reiki and animal chiropractic and bring your training questions for expert advice from our certified trainers.
With continuous shows on six stages hosted by top animal specialists, the Pet Lover Show is the best place to learn from behavioural and health experts, as well as a chance to explore the latest in animal-related products.
Win Tickets
I have a 4-pack of tickets to give away to this event that’s all about pets. Here’s how you can enter to win:
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Click below to post an entry on Twitter
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For more information, follow the Pet Lover Show on Facebook and on Twitter. I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 5:00pm on Friday, February 17, 2017.
It has been a chilly winter for Vancouverites; great for anyone who enjoys skiing on the North Shore, but not so fun for driving around the city. But while the wintry weather can be an annoyance for us, spare a thought for some of our smallest residents – the hummingbirds.
Hummingbirds in Winter, in Vancouver
Anna’s hummingbird, male. Photo: Don Enright.
Incredible as it seems, the tiny Anna’s hummingbird (Calypte anna), which is barely 10cm long and weighs the same as a Loonie, spends the winter in Stanley Park and other spots around southern BC. So how does this little warrior survive the cold and snow?
In the summer you’ll most often see hummingbirds clustering around the flowers in the Rose Garden to feed on nectar – and many residents in the city put out sugar water feeders to help the birds out. But in the winter the hummers have come up with a different strategy.
Without flowers, nectar isn’t on the menu (unless a feeder is handy), so they turn their attention to the tiny spiders and other insects that live in the forest, and hummingbirds need to eat a huge amount to keep their metabolisms running. One bird can consume its body weight in food each day, which adds up to more than 1000 tiny insects, which explains why they spend so much time foraging.
Although it seems hard to believe given the recent weather, Anna’s hummingbirds actually seem to thrive in the Lower Mainland. Sixty years ago they didn’t range much further north than California, but they have slowly expanded north and you can now see them around Vancouver throughout the year.
Scientists aren’t exactly sure what’s behind this expansion, but one theory is that they may well have benefitted from the growth of human populations on the Pacific coast over the years. Our gardens often have plants that flower later in the year than native species, which can be an important source of food for hummingbirds, and around Stanley Park they do show a particular liking for the roses.
Our Anna’s hummingbird has to survive the cold winters, but in South America the Andean Hillstar has adapted to live in the cold year round. It lives above 3500m in the Andes where it’s so chilly the bird has to go into a kind of hibernation state each night to survive.
Rufous hummingbird, male. Photo: Mark T White.
For most small birds, though, the alternative to braving the winter is to migrate and that’s what the other hummingbird native to Stanley Park, the Rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), does. Like many snowbirds, they head south for the winter to Mexico and the Caribbean. But they don’t get the luxury of hopping on a jet. Their migration, which for hummers from Alaska is more than 3500 miles EACH WAY, is the longest in comparison to its body size of any bird, an incredible 78,470,000 body lengths. They leave us in August and September each year and return in March to breed.
Everything about hummingbirds is pocket sized: their nests are only two inches across, but don’t let that fool you; these are some of the toughest residents of the Park. We’re one of the most northerly places to have hummingbirds year round, so make sure you appreciate them.
Anna’s hummingbird nest. Photo: Micahael Schmidt.
Some tips to enjoy watching hummingbirds
Stay still. Hummingbirds hardly ever stop moving, so watching them can be tricky. It’s easier if you find a spot and let the birds come to you.
Seek out flowering plants. In summer, hummers love to feed on nectar, so patches of flowers are a great place to see them. In the Park, the Rose Garden and the flowers by the Dining Pavilion are good spots.
Look for them perching. Although they feed a lot, hummingbirds do have favorite perches. Look for them on thin exposed branches or twigs near feeding areas. You need a sharp eye, though. It’s easy to miss them.
Bring a camera. Photographing hummingbirds can be hard, but their iridescent feathers can make for some spectacular shots in the summer sunlight.
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by Rebecca BollwittDisclosure: Sponsored Post — This post is sponsored in partnership with the SnowSeekers #SkiNorthBC campaign this winter Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
This winter I partnered with SnowSeekers, with whom I have done a few fun assignments, to share their #SkiNorthBC stories from destinations in Northern BC.
The team visited Powder King, Terrace, Smithers, Quesnel, and Barkerville. The third story is from SnowSeekers #SkiNorthBC expedition member Dax Justin, reporting from the Cariboo Regional District, sharing insights and delights from Troll Ski Resort:
#SkiNorthBC Troll Ski Resort
“When I heard I was going to ski a mountain resort mysteriously named “‘Troll,” I knew this place was somehow different from the other ski hills. It became my mission to find out what made it so unique.
As the story goes, a man named Lars Fossberg and his wife Astrid built this place from the ground up in 1972. It’s no wonder Troll has pretty deep roots in the Quesnel region. To this day, the resort is still run by the family. Lars’ daughter Hildur and her husband Lars Sinclair, operate the hill that has 527 metres (1,729 feet) of vertical and reportedly, the world’s second largest T-bar. It’s always so cool to find out facts like this!”
Photo by @DaxJustin
Photo by @DaxJustin
The first person that Dax ran into at Troll was Hildur Sinclair. “What we do is create joy for people…create a space for them to come and experience joy,” Hildur tells me. “Troll is a special place in a lot of people’s hearts and it’s where they have a lot of fun, laugh and play. I think that’s super important nowadays – to be able to get out and just experience nature and fall in the snow and you’re not plugged into anything. That’s what we do here.”
Photo by @DaxJustin
Dax writes: “Hildur’s love of her staff is so easy to see. In fact, they aren’t staff, they’re more like family. Apart from running the mountain operations with her husband Len, she embraces anyone who is part of her team at the mountain. She’ll cook for them (and I’m talking about huge and amazing meals) because it gives her happiness, knowing everyone is well fed and happy. Everyone seems to bond around the community dinner table here. The sense of community within the lodge at Troll is like nothing I’ve ever seen before – and that includes the heart-warming fact that nobody is busy looking at their phones.”
For more on the entire region, home to Troll Ski Resort and the historic town of Barkerville, check out the website for the Cariboo Regional District.
#SkiNorthBC and explore more! For travellers, SnowSeekers has partnered with National Car rental to secure you a SnowSeekers preferred rate. Make a reservation online, or with an agent and in the Contract field enter XVC4SNO for a savings that could cover your ski pass cost every day.
This past weekend, Variety – The Children’s Charity hosted its 51st Show of Hearts Telethon and raised over $5 million for BC kids with special needs. This is just one of the many initiatives that Variety supports. 
This winter I partnered with 
