It was in 1920 that Peter Pantages created the Polar Bear Swim Club in Vancouver and the brisk ocean dip has been a New Year’s Day tradition for the last 97 years.
Peter Pantages on a snowy Vancouver beach in 1927. Archives# CVA 99-1786.
Polar Bear Swim Vancouver
The Vancouver Polar Bear Swim takes place at 2:30pm on the first day of each new year. Costumes and the Peter Pantages Memorial 100 yard swim race are the highlights of this event. To be a club member you must register before the swim, it’s free. Prizes are drawn from all registrations. Register in front of the English Bay Bathhouse between 12:30pm and 2:30pm on January 1. The Greater Vancouver Food Bank will be accepting donations of non-perishable food or cash.
Around the 1950s, the participation was approximately 250 to 300 swimmers. Today, anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 swimmers participate (record to-date 2,550 in 2014) and 5,000 to 10,000 spectators come out to cheer them on.
Polar Bear Swim White Rock
The 47th annual Polar Bear Swim in White Rock will take place January 1, 2017 and will feature music, coffee, hot chocolate and hot dog vendors. Onsite registration opens at 11:00am, and swim begins at 12:00pm. Participants are encouraged to dress in costumes, and gather for the noon plunge at the legendary “white rock” just east of the White Rock Pier.
Deep Cove Panorama Park hosts the annual Penguin Plunge on January 1st from 12:30pm to 3:00pm, with the plunge promptly taking place at 2:00pm. Enjoy live music, food and refreshments. Registration is free but donations are accepted, supporting North Shore Rescue.
Delta
Join the 7th Annual Polar Bear Swim at Centennial Beach (Boundary Bay Regional Park) on Sunday, January 1, 2017. Registration starts at 12:00pm and the Polar Bear Swim is at 1:00pm.
Fort Langley
Be at Brae Island Beach for the annual Fort Langley Polar Bear Swim at 12:00pm on January 1st. Participants can warm up with a free hot drink from Trading Post Eatery.
If you’re looking for what’s open on Christmas Day in Vancouver, you’ll find fun activities at your local community centre or a way to give back at a charitable event.
There’s the White Spot Christmas Lunch for Charity, where staff at two locations will be donating their time and tips for two great local causes between 11:00am and 3:00pm.
The The Whalley Santa Cause is looking for volunteers to help hand out care hampers on Christmas Day in the North Surrey neighbourhood.
You can enjoy free skating at Robson Square Ice Rink from 12:00pm to 5:00pm on Christmas Day.
The local ski hills will be open on Christmas Day, check out Mt Seymour, Grouse Mountain, and Cypress Mountain for full details on their hours and offerings.
Community ice rinks will also be open on Christmas Day. At the West End Community Centre they’ll have a Winter Wonderland Skate from 11:00am to 5:00pm; Hillcrest has a public skate at 10:45am; Trout Lake has a public skate 11:45am to 3:00pm; and Kerrisdale’s public skate is at 1:45pm.
The Winter Ice Palace in Surrey will be open on Christmas Day from 12:00pm to 3:00pm at the Cloverdale Ice Arena.
This weekend in Vancouver you can enjoy some great family activities, with some venues remaining open on Christmas Day. See the full list below and if you have anything to add (for December, January, or beyond) feel free to send it in to me for a free listing.
Things to do in Vancouver This Weekend
Events that run for longer than three days in a row are highlighted in green.
STOMP, the international percussion sensation, is returning to Vancouver for the first time since 2008, coming up January 13 to 15, 2017 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
STOMP in Vancouver
When: Friday, January 13, 2017 8:00pm
Saturday, January 14, 2017 2:00pm & 8:00pm
Sunday, January 15, 2017 3:00pm
Where: The Queen Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton St, Vancouver)
Tickets:Available online now through Tickets Tonight or by calling 1-877-840-0457
STOMP performers make captivating, heart-pumping rhythm out of anything they can get their hands on. Everything but conventional percussion instruments – garbage cans, tea chests, radiator hoses, boots, hub caps – find new life in the hands of this idiosyncratic band of body percussionists. With stunning physicality and infectious energy that is often imitated, but never duplicated, STOMP is one of a kind.
Since its premier in 1991, STOMP has been an overwhelming success marked by rave reviews, numerous awards and sell-out engagements, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s explosive, inventive, provocative, witty, and utterly unique—an unforgettable experience for audiences of all ages.
In addition to the stage shows, STOMP has been an overwhelming success marked by rave reviews, numerous awards, an Academy Award nomination, four Emmy nominations and one Emmy Award for their acclaimed HBO special Stomp Out Loud, noteworthy TV appearances including The London 2012 Olympic Games Closing Ceremony, The Academy Awards (produced by Quincy Jones), Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and a series of award-winning international commercials.
In Vancouver, STOMP has partnered with Red Truck Beer to STOMP Out Hunger in Vancouver – a drive for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. The drive is currently underway, and will culminate on January 13th with a special STOMP performance at the Red Truck Beer Truck Stop.
Win a STOMP & Red Truck VIP Experience
I have an amazing STOMP & Red TruckVIP Experience to give away. The lucky winner will enjoy a day with Red Truck & STOMP, attending the STOMP Media Event at Red Truck, enjoying a dinner for two at the truck stop, and private brewery tour. Later on the winner and their guest will be transported to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in the Red Truck to see the live show that night.
[clickToTweet tweet=”RT to enter to win a @STOMPnyc + @redtruckbeer VIP experience http://owl.li/bqHx307lQjw” quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Tuesday, January 3, 2017. Must be 19+. Please enjoy responsibly.
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by Rebecca BollwittDisclosure: Sponsored Post — Views are my own. This is a sponsored post as a part of my membership with the SnowSeekers Social Influencer Team. Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
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For the second year in a row, I visited Manning Park around opening weekend to participate in some winter wonderland adventures. This time around, I was on snowshoes to document my trip for SnowSeekers.
Making my own tracks on a guided snowshoe tour with my guide Janja Klemencic, I spot footprints that were not made by humans. “It’s the snowshoe hare!” Janja says. The very namesake for our footwear was hopping through Manning’s pine forest and leaving its mark.
It wasn’t long after we spotted the tracks that the animal itself made an appearance. Larger than any grass-grazing bunny I’ve seen in the city, the white-furred, floppy-eared creature froze when it spotted us. Janja, a guide with Manning Park Resort, explained the snowshoe hare is a rusty brown colour in the summer but it camouflages itself among the snowbanks in the winter.
Just as the hare transforms with the seasons, so does Manning Park, going from a summer playground of hiking trails, campgrounds, and lakes suitable for swimming and canoeing, to a winter wonderland with a 64-kilometre cross-country and snowshoe trail network along with 160 kms of backcountry trails. » Continue reading…
At one point I didn’t know if Janja was pulling my leg but she told me to make a face print in the snow. She said it’s what the guides do for fun. So, I voluntarily gave myself a face wash while she took a photo.
We laughed as I washed the snow off my face, which was rather welcome to cool me off since we had been trekking for a good 90 minutes already.
What I love about Manning Park Resort is that it’s close to Metro Vancouver but it feels like it’s in such a remote and pristine part of the province. They also have so many events for families, including the moonlight guided snowshoe and a lantern lit ski down that I’m determined to attend one season.
Read about my snowshoe adventure over on SnowSeekers follow SnowSeekers all winter on Facebook and Twitter for coverage about ski resorts and slopes in BC and Alberta — including the latest snowfall reports and conditions.
