Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC offers an engaging exploration of British Columbia’s history and the interconnections of nature through permanent exhibits and rotating installations. Find a spring break event based on one of the museums collections, and more!
From Beaty Biodiversity Musuem Facebook
Vancouver’s Natural History Museum at UBC
Date: Museum and Gift shop open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00am to 5:00pm.
Beaty Nocturnal is every third Thursday of the month from 5:00pm to 8:30pm.
Location: Beaty Biodiversity Museum (UBC Vancouver Campus, 2212 Main Mall, Vancouver)
Tickets: Admission is available for purchase online or in-person. UBC students and faculty receive free admission.
Explore Vancouver’s natural history museum, Beaty Biodiversity Museum and discover the interconnections of all life forms on Earth and the role we play in preserving delicate systems. Journey through 2 million specimen including a 26 meter-long blue whale skeleton, dinosaur trackways, and fossils, mammals, and plants of all kinds from around the BC region and across the world. There are more than 500 natural history exhibits showcasing fossils and shells, mammals, birds, plants, and so much more.
The museum’s permanent exhibitions features a blue whale display, Culture at the Centre, dinosaur trackways, and an Earth timeline. The Blue Whale display at the museum holds one of 21 blue whale skeletons available for public viewing worldwide. Culture at the Centre focuses on how land, language, and culture are linked and the demonstration of interconnections with the history of 6 Indigenous communities (Musqueam, Squamish, Heiltsuk, Nisga’a, and Haida). Leap back in time with the Dinosaur Trackways exhibit and immerse yourself fin Canada’s fossil heritage. And, walk along 4.5 billion years of history in the Earth Timeline exhibit with a close-up view on the last 500 million years.
Through the permanent collections visitors can explore interactive, changing exhibits while learning about the biodiversity of not only BC and Canada but the world. Current exhibitions and upcoming exhibitions are updated on the Beaty Biodiversity Museum website.
The museum offers some online exhibits including Pressed Plants: Making a Herbarium, The Curious World of Seaweed by Josie Iselin, and much more.
Spring Break at Beaty Biodiversity Museum
There’s plenty of activities planned for Spring Break at Beaty Biodiversity Museum. Each event will focus on celebrating and learning about one of the museums collections. A full event’s calendar is available for viewing online. Featured event topics include:
Entomology | Tuesday, March 26, 2024 at 10:00am Use a magnifying glass to look up close to identify and classify major groups of insects.
Herbarium: Fungi & Lichen | Thursday, March 28, 2024 at 10:00am Explore Fungi and Lichen – two types of organisms that are kept in herbarium but are not plants.
Marine Invertebrates| Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 10:00am Focus in on squishy ocean friends known as marine invertebrates. Creatures like snails, octopuses, and sea stars fall into the “invertebrate” category, meaning without a backbone.
The New Westminster Farmers Market kicks off their 15th season on March 28, 2024 with an Easter-themed Block-Party.
Easter Block Party in New Westminster
Date: March 28, 2024 from 3:00pm to 7:00pm
Location: Tipperary Park (315 Queens Ave, New Westminster)
Tickets: Free to attend!
Kick off the spring season with the Farmers Market and have a blast while supporting local businesses. Bring your reusable shopping bags, appetites, and the whole family for an evening of celebration and community connection. Stop by the first market of the season and leave not only with locally-produced groceries but also an assortment of free goodies (including free cookies for the first 100 visitors).
In addition to the regular 50+ vendors at the market, this family (and pet) friendly event includes activities and live entertainment for all. Kids are invited to join in the Piñata Party, get faces painted (4:00pm to 6:00pm), and make crafts hosted by New West Family Place. Enjoy live music from Sue Breton, and enjoy the opening ceremony. A silent auction will be held featuring unique items sourced from local businesses. Also, in collaboration with the City of New Westminster, the Farmers Market Block Party is participating in city-wide Easter Egg Hunt.
The New West Farmers Market focuses on environmentally sustainable food by bringing locally grown and produced food to the community and injects an estimated $3.12 million into the local economy and an estimated 59,00 shoppers every year.
Includes child’s entry to the egg hunt, all treats collected during the hunt, 1 kid FlexPass for a free PEACE Farm Sanctuary tour, and an entry into the Easter Basket Giveaway.
Little Vegan Treats owner Lori Blaszkowski created the event after noticing she had never seen a public vegan Easter event advertised before. With more families adhering to a vegan lifestyle, the holidays can be tricky to navigate. In 2022, Blaszkowski held Canada’s first-ever all vegan Easter Egg Hunt.
With room for 200 children to attend this years hunt, the sugar bar has been raised. Little Vegan Treats has procured around 40 kilograms of treats including the highly sought after mini-eggs. Levelling up from the last event, Veg Out Food Truck will be onsite serving up a delicious menu featuring an Easter shake. The Easter Bunny will also be making an appearance. Make sure to get your photo taken from the onsite photographer. All proceeds from photos with the Easter Bunny will benefit PEACE Canada.
If you’d like to place an order from Little Vegan Treats to pick up at the event, choose the “pick up” option at the online check-out and be sure to select the Easter Egg Hunt location.
Spring break is in full swing and the city has blossomed with a new season, new events, festive favourites and more fun things to do in Vancouver filling up the activities calendar.
There’s a beautiful group of trees on the edge of Coal Harbour in Downtown Vancouver that hold very special meaning: A group of cherry blossoms known as Cherry Grove, located at Devonian Harbour Park near the entrance to Stanley Park, was the world’s first-known AIDS memorial.
“The first fallen pink petals were followed by too many others. Gone, but never forgotten.”
Cherry Blossoms Are World’s First-Known AIDS Memorial in Vancouver
Musician Mark Kleiner first told me about this memorial in a 2014 interview, and said it wasn’t widely publicized when the trees were planted in the 1980s. When we spoke, it had yet to be officially recognize but he said the Vancouver Park Board was working on getting a plaque installed.
“According to a Vancouver Sun article dated October 21, 1985, four cherry trees were planted near Stanley Park in the memory of four men who died of AIDS. Indicative of the homophobia and AIDS/HIV stigma prevalent at the time, particularly during the onset of the AIDS crisis that ravaged LGBT communities, the men were only identified by their first names—James, Ivan, Gino, and Randy. Furthermore, an AIDS Vancouver spokesperson at the time requested that the location not be revealed in order to prevent the trees from being vandalized.” (Source: AIDS Memorial Info)
A plaque was installed on a large boulder in July 2018:
First Known AIDS Memorial Planted on October 20, 1985 This grove of cherry trees is a living monument, planted in loving memory of those we lost in the very early days of the AIDS epidemic here in Vancouver.
In Vancouver, there is another AIDS memorial, the steel ribbon installed in 2004, at English Bay.
Vancouver has over 40,000 cherry and plum trees, in urban areas and parks. The city’s original 500 cherry trees were a gift from the mayors of Kobe and Yokohama in the 1930s, thanking the city for honoring Japanese Canadians who served in WWI.
This grove is the first known AIDS memorial. Planted Oct 20, 1985 “In loving memory of those we lost in the very early days of the AIDS epidemic here in Vancouver. The first fallen pink petals were followed by too many others. Gone, but never forgotten.” @AIDSVancouver pic.twitter.com/Fc4KASIUMk
The trees in Cherry Grove usually bloom a bit later than the rest of the city, I have taken photos and video of them in all their glory around mid-April each year. Be sure to stop by next time you’re in the area and admire the love and meaning of these blossoms.
