Surrey’s Bear Creek Park Christmas Train opens for the season on December 9th, presenting a miniature railway tour winding through a holiday forest.
Bear Creek Park Christmas Train
Location: Bear Creek Park (13820 88 Ave, Surrey) Dates: Friday, December 9 to Sunday, January 1, 2017 (closed Christmas Day) Times: Open 10:00am to 4:00pm – last train leaves the station at 4:00pm Admission: Adults & Children $10.00 each + tax
From December 9th to 24th, Santa Claus will be hanging out at the train station. Families can visit and receive a candy cane, and enjoy activities before or after their train ride through the forest with Eddy the Engine.
Follow the Bear Creek Park Train on Facebook for more information.
The Bear Creek Park Train area is also home to an 18 hole mini golf course around the forest. It compliments the seasonal train offerings that take place at Christmas, Easter, and Halloween.
The City of Surrey is set to kick off the Christmas season with the return of the Surrey Tree Lighting Festival on November 19th with free family fun and of course the lighting of a 55-foot Christmas tree – one of the tallest Christmas trees in Canada.
Surrey Tree Lighting Festival
Where: City Hall Plaza (13450 104 Ave, Surrey) When: Saturday, November 19, 2016 12:00pm to 7:00pm Admission: Free!
The public is invited to join Mayor and Council for a day of children’s activities, concert performances and the 6:30pm lighting of the tree.
Presented by Coast Capital Savings, the event features a variety of activities including road hockey, a mini Christmas Train, face painters, kids’ crafts, ice-carving demonstrations, Ferris wheel rides and live music. Canadian youth performer Tyler Shaw will headline a free concert featuring Jocelyn Alice. The performance lineup also includes Juno award-winning Norman Foote, Sweet Scarlet, Mooncoin Show Band, Ginalina, Colin Bullock, plus dance, glee club and choral group performances.
Stop by the Photo Booth with Coast Capital Savings, Storyville at City Centre Library, the Safeway Treat Zone, Toddler Town, Food trucks, Crafts with the Downtown Surrey BIA, Surrey Art Gallery Crafting, Letters to Santa Station, Shooting Star Ferris Wheel, Berry-Go-Round, Christmas Market, Mini Christmas Train, Road Hockey Zone, Giant Snow Globe, Ice Carving Demos and more! A full schedule is available online and includes a visit from Santa at 12:55pm.
The Surrey Food Bank, Surrey Christmas Bureau, Sophie’s Place and the Surrey Fire Fighters’ Charitable Society will be on site collecting donations.
Follow the City of Surrey’s events team on Facebook and Twitter for more information.
Miss604 is a Proud Sponsor of the Surrey Tree Lighting Festival
Vancouver Opera presents a new family-friendly production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s beloved fairytale opera Hansel and Gretel, featuring the enthralling larger-than-life puppet creations and costume design of world-famous Calgary-based Old Trout Puppet Workshop.
Vancouver Opera Presents Hansel & Gretel
The master artisans of Old Trout Puppet workshop have created an enchanting fairy-tale world of visual surprises for ages 6+. Larger-than-life puppets, stunning design and an irresistible new orchestration will make Vancouver Opera’s new production the ideal holiday treat for the whole family.
Hansel and Gretel, Taylor Pardell Pascale Spinney. Photo by Emily Cooper.
Long ago, in a fairy-tale house, two children find themselves on a magical adventure. Lost in the woods and pursued by a witch, Hansel and Gretel must use all their wits and trickery to avoid a terrible fate.
Vancouver Opera’s production will include astonishing puppets as well as other playful surprises in this family-friendly holiday treat. Engelbert Humperdinck’s familiar dramatic score, adapted for the intimate Playhouse, will thrill seasoned opera-goers and charm new audiences with familiar tunes that beautifully evoke the forest setting and the opera’s colourful characters and creatures.
Hansel and Gretel will be performed at the Vancouver Playhouse from November 24 to December 11, 2016 with performances at 7:30pm. November 27th and December 11th will have 2:00pm performances, and November 30th and December 7th will have 12:30pm performances. Tickets are available now through the Vancouver Opera box office online or by calling (604) 683-0222.
This production has been abridged from its original length to appeal to young and adult audiences alike. Singers from Vancouver Opera’s prestigious Yulanda M. Faris Young Artists Program bring fresh energy to this delightful holiday production. The performances will be sung in English, in a new adaptation by stage director Brenna Corner with the lyrics projected above the stage as they are sung.
Russian composer Anatoly Korolyov has been commissioned to create an intriguing and charming new reduced orchestration of Humperdinck’s score, which perfectly suits the intimate Vancouver Playhouse. The sensational 24-year-old Scottish-born conductor Alexander Prior will lead a youthful cast of emerging opera stars, a chorus of fourteen children, and a 14-member ensemble of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra which includes strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion, a saxophone and an electric guitar.
Win Tickets
I have a pair of tickets to give away to a performance of Hansel and Gretel on Tuesday, November 29th at 7:30pm. Here’s how you can enter to win:
RT to enter to win tickets to Hansel and Gretel at @VancouverOpera from @Miss604 http://owl.li/5Uj1305YOw4
Follow Vancouver Opera on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for more information. I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Monday, November 14, 2016. Tickets are non-refundable; cannot be exchanged for another performance.
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by Rebecca BollwittDisclosure: Sponsored Post — This post is in partnership with SnowSeeekers & FestivalSeekers. Miss604 is a member of the Seekers Media Influencer Network. Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
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Lights in the vineyard, tasting room open houses, fireworks, and a festival of trees are all a part of Winter in Wine Country but this year the South Okanagan has another offering: Skiing at Baldy Mountain Resort!
Baldy First Chair Festival
Located on the south side of Mount Baldy in the South Okanagan, Baldy has a base elevation of 5,650 feet above sea level, which is 2,000 feet below the mountain peak. Baldy is a 60 minute drive from Osoyoos along Highway 3, making it accessible for anyone spending the winter in wine country.
From December 1st to 4th, you can get back to Baldy! The Baldy First Chair Festival will celebrate the re-opening of this ski area first established in 1968. Sip hot chocolate around fire pits, listen to live music, sample Firehall Brewery’s finest, and even watch a film premiere. There will be prize giveaways, including something special for those who dress up like it’s 1968, and there will be free skiing on Sunday! Read all about the history of this resort and the Community That Saved Baldy over on SnowSeekers and visit FestivalSeekers for a full First Chair Festival Guide.
Winter in Wine Country Festival
Ski champagne powder then sample a local rosé when you spend winter in wine country. From Baldy to the barrels, the South Okanagan comes alive under the cloak of frost and festival lights.
Open Houses
Winery Open Houses
Participating wineries, that will have open house hours sometime between November 26th and December 4th, include: Adega on 45th, Bartier Brothers, Black Hills, Burrowing Owl, Cana Vines, Castoro de Oro Estate Winery, Fairview Cellars, Gehringer Brothers, Hester Creek, Hidden Chapel, Inniskillin Okanagan & Jackson-Triggs, Intersection, Moon Curser, Nk’Mip Cellars, Oliver Twist, Quinta Ferreira, Road 13, Rustico, Silver Sage, Stoneboat, Tinhorn Creek, vinAmite.
Winery Tours
Winery Tours will be offered by Okanagan Experience Tours/Top Cat Tours for $35 + GST per person on Sat/Sun Nov 26 & 27 and Sat/Sun Dec 3 & 4.
Festival of Trees
The Festival of Trees will take place in the towns of Oliver and Osoyoos as well at Mount Baldy. Each business will support a tree with a donation of $200, which will benefit the BC Children’s Hospital. The business will then decorate the tree and have it on display this season at Frank Venables Theatre, Watermark Beach Resort, N’KMip Cellars Winery, or Mount Baldy Resort.
There are some great ski and stay packages available for partners like the Coast Osoyoos Beach Hotel, Spirit Ridge at NK’MIP Resort, Walnut Beach Resort, and Watermark Beach Resort, and Safari Beach Resort starting at just $159/couple!
If there’s one person I would undoubtedly call a living legend here in Vancouver, right now, it would be Red Robinson, and he’ll be signing his new book at the Museum of Vancouver on Thursday. Red is a radio DJ who can be ranked up among the very best in the world, who had the instinct and foresight to bring rock and roll music to the Pacific Northwest over 60 years ago.
Red Robinson Timeline
“Red was spinning the hits on Vancouver’s CJOR while still in high school in 1954. He was the first DJ to play rock’n’roll music on a regular basis in Canada. In 1957, Red jumped to Vancouver Top 40 giant CKWX, where he met Buddy Holly and Elvis and was MC for Elvis’ appearance.
A move to Portland’s KGW in 1959 gave Red experience in a brand new rock’n’roll medium: TV. After a stint in the US Army, Red returned to CKWX in 1961. The next year he was hired as Program Director at Top 40 newcomer C-FUN, and he turned it into a rock’n’roll powerhouse. In 1964, Red introduced The Beatles on the same stage where Elvis appeared seven years earlier.
As host of CBC-TV‘s Let’s Go from 1963-1966, Red introduced some of Canada’s best-known rockers, including Randy Bachman, Terry Jacks, The Collectors and many more. In 1968, Red returned to CJOR, where it all began, as Operations Manager.
In 1971, history repeated itself when Red moved to CKWX. Red hosted Trivia Challenge, another coast-to-coast television series for CBC-TV in 1979-80. A group of contestants was so inspired by the concept they created Trivial Pursuit.
As part of EXPO 86, Red presented The Legends Of Rock’n’Roll, featuring 40 acts including Ray Charles, Roy Orbison, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and The Righteous Brothers. Red returned to television in 1989, hosting the long-running Red’s Classic Theater on Bellingham’s KVOS-TV until 2001.
In 1993 Red built a top-rated morning show on 650 CISL/Vancouver. He was elected into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame in 1997, and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2000. Red “retired” from radio in 2001, but continued to broadcast his show Sundays on 650 CISL.”
You can read all of this and more on Red’s website, which also hosts an amazing audio archives of interviews that span the last six decades.
Where: Museum of Vancouver (1100 Chestnut St, Vancouver) When: Thursday, November 10, 2016 from 3:00pm to 5:00pm Admission: This event is free with admission to the Museum of Vancouver: Adults – $15; Seniors/Students/Youth – $11; Children 5-11 – $5. Members – Free.
Books can be purchased from the MOV Gift Shop. Red and Robin will be signing books after a presentation. Refreshments will be served.
From December 9th to 24th, Santa Claus will be hanging out at the train station. Families can visit and receive a candy cane, and enjoy activities before or after their train ride through the forest with Eddy the Engine.
The public is invited to join Mayor and Council for a day of children’s activities, concert performances and the 6:30pm lighting of the tree.
A move to Portland’s KGW in 1959 gave Red experience in a brand new rock’n’roll medium: TV. After a stint in the US Army, Red returned to CKWX in 1961. The next year he was hired as Program Director at Top 40 newcomer C-FUN, and he turned it into a rock’n’roll powerhouse. In 1964, Red introduced The Beatles on the same stage where Elvis appeared seven years earlier.