Best Vancouver Christmas Events

Van Dusen Festival of Lights
by JamesZ Flickr

Christmas time is here, and as with every year, Vancouver offers a myriad of events for you and your family. Take your children to visit Santa, see beautiful Christmas lights, and enjoy various cultural events — either in theatre or ballet. These are the most interesting events and venues to visit during this lovely period of the year in Vancouver.

How to Use Car2Go in Vancouver

Car2Go in Vancouver by Richard Eriksson

This short article will help you register and start using Vancouver’s Car2Go car-sharing program and hopefully explain all the questions you have about this new exciting opportunity in our city.

Vancouver Galleries: First Nations and Inuit Art

Daphne Odjig in Lattimer Gallery

Aboriginal art has always had a very strong tradition in Vancouver, both in homes and galleries around the city. Most of the galleries selling First Nations and Inuit art were established some 30-40 years ago, in the times when Aboriginal motifs became highly fashionable. According to some gallery owners, nowadays, as the First Nations and Inuit hype is no longer so powerful, people tend to be less interested in the “mystery” behind these artworks. Instead, they take interest in quality and artistic value, and if they’re considering purchasing an art-piece, they are happy to buy even one from a contemporary artist using First Nations or Inuit motifs. This gives many younger artists focusing on aboriginal art an opportunity to display and sell their works. Here is a selection of the finest Vancouver galleries that make this happen.

Movies Shot in Vancouver

Wolverine Poster

A friend of mine asked me, “Did you realize that more and more films are being shot in Vancouver?” And honestly, I didn’t. What I did notice was just some guys running up and down the streets of Vancouver from time to time, carrying filming equipment, microphones, and those huge, shiny aluminium boards that make actors’ faces look so nice in movies. Yet I hadn’t realized that these could be big productions from Hollywood or even Europe shooting future crowd-pleasers.

Vancouver’s 125th Anniversary Celebrations: November

Celebrate Vancouver 125

With only two months left, the City of Vancouver has prepared another set of spectacular cultural events — more proof,that living in Vancouver offers vibrant arts scenes, astonishing cultural background, and diverse and culturally rich communities. This month, we’ll celebrate 125 years of the Women in Leadership Foundation, explore cultural, architectural, and technological evolution of the city through the voices of our elders, and have an opportunity to attend many other artistic events through the whole of November. We’d also like to present a collection of ten classic Vancouver books, now newly edited. Here are some of the events that you may find interesting.

House Exterior Materials

Materials by Lauren Manning

Exterior home maintenance could become your nightmare if you don’t pick the right exterior finishing material. These materials are expected to both protect your home from any unwanted damage caused by the elements and give your home an attractive exterior.

Floods in Vancouver

Flood Sign by Howard Lake

Floods in the Metro Vancouver area have always been a topic for discussion. They’re only natural since the city is part of the Lower Mainland region, which is considered to have a significantly high vulnerability to flood risk. The region experienced the two largest floods in 1894 and in 1948; however, floods in the spring of 2007 and autumn of 2009 that swept across Vancouver Island convinced officials that it would be unwise to turn a blind eye on danger of this magnitude.

Live Latin Music Clubs in Vancouver

Salsa by Mary Gaston22

The series about where to find the best places for live music in Vancouver continues this week with another one of the great music genres. Last time, we published an article about the most interesting places to go if you’re interested in rock music. This article is going to offer you some of the local bars, restaurants and other venues, where you can find quality Latin music.

Vancouver’s Greatest Actors

Yvonne De Carlo
by Wikimedia Commons

Vancouver gave birth to many internationally well known actors. The city has been supporting talented artists since it was established, creating many opportunities to raise strong generations of actors for theatre, film, and TV. Here are some of the greatest and most recognized actors and actresses from Vancouver. Feel free to share your preferences and opinions along with this article.

Smoking Banned in Vancouver Parks

No Smoking by Eddie Welker

The City of Vancouver is slowly but steadily becoming one of the cities restricting smoking in almost all public spaces. The dilemma between limiting the freedom of citizens who smoke and protecting the other part of the population that doesn’t smoke from smokers by placing a ban on smoking in some areas has been resolved by the Health By-Law No. 9535, printed under and by authority of the Council of the City of Vancouver in 2010, when the chain of restrictions started.

How To Prepare Your Home Before Winter

Winter Dusk by Justin Scott Campbell

Summer 2011 has officially ended. While we can still catch a glimpse of sunlight here and there, the colder days are inevitably coming. Besides preparing our closets for the cold season (retro, black&white, and paint box colours seem to be in), we should also prepare our homes for the temperature drop.

Fishing in Vancouver

Fishing Boat by Jonathan Lundqvist

People have been fishing for almost 40,000 years. This incredibly popular activity, now entertaining and employing over 38 million people, started to spread from lakes to the ocean in the 16th century, when fishing vessels were able to cross oceans in pursuit of fish for the first time. Fishing currently employs over 500 million people. The worldwide per capita consumption of fish has reached unbelievable 14.4 kilograms.

Biking in Vancouver is a Piece of Cake!

Autumn Cycle by Mo Riza

Biking in Vancouver is an excellent year-round activity with an award-winning network of more than 400km/249mi of bike routes and a grid of designated bike corridors covering the whole city. Cycling is perfectly suited to both individuals and families and is one of the best ways to explore Vancouver and the Greater Vancouver area.

B.C. Ranked Among the Least Polluted Areas

Berg Lake Twilight by Jeffrey Pang

Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the results of an air pollution survey that focused on air quality in over 1,100 cities around the world.

The survey is designed to provide underlying scientific data and observations for policymakers who may then tailor various laws and guidelines according to the findings. The most important goal of the WHO is to identify what impact air pollution has on people’s health and how the disease burden can be alleviated.

Vancouver’s 125th Anniversary Celebrations: October

Celebrate Vancouver 125

2011 is slowly coming to an end, and so are the celebrations of Vancouver’s 125th anniversary. With only three months left, Vancouver has prepared another spectacular month full of culture and entertainment for you. This month includes featuring Indian and South Asian communities, newly prepared short plays in the style of Paris, Je T’Aime, a fascinating theatre festival, a national poetry conference, and much more. Vancouver will again bloom with culture and tradition.