Throughout Europe, Christmas markets light up city squares and small towns with festive cheer. The Shipyards Christmas Market embodies this spirit, offering live entertainment and handcrafted goods, staying true to traditional markets.

Related Story: VanDusen Festival of Lights

Food serves as a gateway to discovering new cultures, and at the Shipyards, visitors can indulge in authentic German-inspired dishes. Among the many vendors, Haxen Haus stands out as a family-run favourite, renowned for its Bavarian crispy pork knuckles. Guests can also savour classic Bratwurst or Weisswurst sausages on a bun. Or warm up with a cup of comforting Glühwein, especially on a rainy day.

The market features over 140 vendors, creating a vibrant atmosphere filled with Christmas treasures and treats. Last year, attendance reached an impressive 250,000 visitors, and this year’s event is expected to welcome even more.

Conveniently located within walking distance of the Seabus terminal. The Shipyards Christmas Market in North Vancouver operates from 11 am to 9 pm daily, running until December 24.

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Get into the holiday spirit by experiencing the infamous Dancing Lights. Explore the themed light areas and treat yourself to delicious snacks from a variety of food vendors. This year, there are three Dancing Lights sets to enjoy. You can catch the show every 20 minutes from the top of the hour.

Don’t forget to stop by the Scottish Shelter to light a candle and donate to our charitable partner, Make-A-Wish.

VanDusen Botanical Garden Festival of Lights tickets must be purchased online in advance for a designated entry time. Tickets are not sold on-site.

Related Story: 2023 Vancouver Michelin Guide

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Signals is a unique interactive exhibition of 35 curated projects that investigate the potential of creative technologies in storytelling. From inspiring uses of AI to bio wearables from around the world, from a celebration of Indigenous resilience and wisdom to exclusive premieres of video games from local BC studios, Signals takes audiences on a journey of discovery and empowerment. 

This year’s co-curators are Loc Dao, Executive Director of DigiBC, Debi Wong, Founding Artistic Director of re:Naissance Opera, and Loretta Todd Founder IM4, filmmaker.

“Vancouver is brimming with potential when it comes to creative technology, a field that is at the forefront of an evolution happening in cinematic storytelling,” says Kyle Fostner, Executive Director of VIFF. 

Above photo: The VIFF Centre is the home of the Vancouver International Film Festival offices, Vancity Theatre and Studio Theatre. Photo Andrew Latreille 

“Signals includes both newly commissioned and existing works, but what makes this exhibition so unique is that each piece will be shown in a completely new way, making this truly the one and only chance to experience it. We are thrilled to collaborate with artists that use creative tech to create work of great vibrancy and immediacy, carrying with it the potential to tell stories in new and remarkable ways, and which allows VIFF to emanate beyond the confines of cinema and into the world.”

Dao adds: “With AI being integrated into more and more aspects of our daily lives, we’ve programmed projects with inspiring use of AI that also raise questions around its ethical use and equity in its development. We hope the creative works can help audiences learn about the ways in which emerging technologies are being used and employed. We are also asking how technology has shaped how we behave in the world, especially with projects that look at bioethics and data collection. One recurring theme that came up in the curatorial process was connection and reconnection, and how important it is to maintain a connection to the earth and water. This was emphasized by the record year of climate change-related events like our forest fires here and the floods in the Atlantic and Burning Man Festival.”

Reflective of the exhibition’s themes, Signals features a variety of installations that pair together projects with synergistic energy. Two of the main works are reCollection, an interactive AI art installation that blurs the 1 boundaries between remembrance and imagination, and We Are Entanglement, an environment in which AI interprets forests into dreams and hallucinations.

Tickets for Signals are $15 and must be booked in advance, as admission will be on a timed, one-hour and 45-minute basis to explore the gallery space housing 14 stations and 35 projects.

Signals is supported by the Province of British Columbia, Canada Media Fund, Invest Vancouver, Creative BC, and Hudson Pacific Properties.

Related story: Cornucopia, Whistler’s celebration of food + drink

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Operated by Lakeland Flowers, this is the start of six months of flower festivals beginning with a dazzling display of tulip colours. For visitors, there are five kilometers of walking trails, specialty varietals that have been imported from Holland including fringe tulips and double tulips, and a legacy tulip named after Peter Warmerdam.

Nick Warmerdam, farmer and owner of Lakeland Flowers initially planned to open with smaller crowds to enjoy his flower fields. But after hearing that the community wished that Abbotsford still had a tulip festival, he decided to bring it back and planted tulips, winter canola, daffodils, blooming cover crops, hydrangea, peonies, lavender, and sunflowers.

Nick planted over 100 acres – 27 acres of tulips, 20 acres of sunflowers and 5 to 10-acre plots of various other flowers. So, after the tulips the public will continue to experience the flower festival for another six months.

Bloom, the original Abbotsford Tulip Festival was a successful event that drew thousands of visitors to experience 10 acres of vibrant flowers was last held in 2018.

Abbotsford Tulip Festival 2023 tickets

Abbotsford Tulip Festival 2023 is open from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm seven days a week and runs to May 14^th. Photo spots include bicycles and swings. Visitors are also welcome to pack a picnic and on selected weekends, you can enjoy live music nights and food truck meals.

It is strongly recommended that visitors purchase their tickets online available one week in advance with tiered pricing options for weekdays and weekends with a scheduled entrance time to avoid long line ups.

For tickets, visit Lakeland flowers. 

Related story: Savouring the best South Okanagan wineries

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This wonderful evening is a collaboration of the Chef’s Table Society and the BC Salmon Marketing Council.

Guests will graze through eight food stations while enjoying BC wines and beer to celebrate the premium, sustainable seafood that is wild BC salmon.

The celebration in support of wild BC salmon, commercial fishers, and a healthy seafood choice is especially important to showcase the versatility of salmon and the resilience of both the fishery and fishers. During the event, guests will interact with some of BC’s most talented chefs and learn about how they prepared their dishes featuring sockeye salmon but no two dishes will be alike.

Wild Salmon Celebration 2022 dinner tickets are $75. per person (plus tax and service fee) and include a delicious tasting menu consisting of eight salmon dishes, sample of BC wines and beers, as well as a confection to end the night. Guests will be entertained by the Don Hardy Quartet while they take in the beauty of Vancouver’s August nights.

Related story: Vancouver International Polo Festival premiers in August

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Co-presented by The Vancouver Polo Club and Southlands Riding Club, this year’s Argentinian-themed event will feature: an afternoon of polo matches, a spectator-assisted divot stomp, a roaming band and tango dancers, three special guest DJ’s spread across the grounds, creative cuisine, interactive polo activations and custom polo-themed art installations and gallery-style art walk.  

The VIPF has evolved to embrace community and culture-building in Vancouver like never before. To that end, General Admission tickets priced at $25 per person (plus taxes and fees) are now available to entice the keen and the curious. Additionally, organizers have added a cultural component wherein each year is themed around a polo-playing country where the culture of and reverence for the Sport of Kings runs deep. In this inaugural year, the VIPF is celebrating the culture and cuisine of Argentina.

General Admission tickets also offer access to a Veuve Cliquot Champagne tent, a Heineken lounge complete with games, a complimentary Argentinian wine tasting from 2:30pm-4:30pm, and a specially curated cocktail program by internally recognized bartender, Jacob Sweetapple and his team at Notion Concepts.

The festival will also play host to Polo Clinics and interactive games with 100% of proceeds benefitting BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Southland’s Horse Rescue Program, aimed at making a meaningful difference in the lives of horses and ponies in need of a ‘second chance’.

For tickets, visit Vancouver International Polo Festival.

Related story: Fly Majestic Trade Show & Party

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Produced by Hot Republic in collaboration with Callot Events, they are offering an exclusive trade show and hangar party to experience supercars, NFTs and blockchain technology.  

Plus, a live performance by singer and song writer Alicia Tchaikoun and fashions by Dori Willet Szabo and Mostafa Hassni.

Event sponsors include EmkaoFoods, OVO Medi Spa, HackDrink, Gab Communication, Land of the Meta, MoorockNFT, Cryptoblast, Desopprotocol and Earhling Glutten Free.

Held at Sky Hangar in Pitt Meadows, which offers aviation and is a high-end venue for weddings, galas and corporate events.

For Fly Majestic trade show and hangar party tickets, visit Fly Majestic Hangar Party

Photo: Sky Hangar

Related story: Le Diner en Blanc Vancouver

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Le Dîner en Blanc is a magical event that began in Paris in 1988 which recalls the elegance and glamour of French high society. Where thousands of guests dressed in all white gather at a secret location for the sole purpose of sharing a gourmet meal and drinking champagne with close friends in one of their city’s beautiful public places.

Related story: Le Dîner en Blanc: Vancouver’s all white summer party

Guest are not told of the secret location until late afternoon on the day of the event, an amazing experience as thousands all dressed in white celebrate together at the public venue.

All guest must observe the following event rules: dress stylist in white only, your table setting must be all white and Champagne and/or wine can only be purchased onsite due to BC alcohol laws.

Guest must bring a small white table, white chairs and a white table cloth. Plus, a picnic basket comprising of fine food, proper stemware and white dinnerware. A catered picnic basket option is available on site for those who do not wish to pack their own meal and can be ordered online.

At the conclusion of the evening, all guests is required to leave the location as clean as they arrived, and depart with all their belongings, including their left overs and litter.

To learn more about this fabulous secret summer event, visit Le Dîner en Blanc.

Above Photos: Jonathan Evans

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Produced by the Vancouver Mural Festival (VMF) and presented by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, now in its second year brings together augmented reality (AR) art, light installations, and live performances to brighten the city and safety connect communities outside.

As the VMF Winter Arts was created last year during the pandemic, physical safety and mental well-being remains at the forefront. The event is designed to inspire joy and creativity, connect communities, encourage outdoor activity and support local businesses and artist, all while enabling social distancing and a safe, welcoming outdoor space.

Over 17 days, free public art and entertainment can be discovered along the VMF Winter Arts route from Canada Place, along Burrard to Bentall Centre and Park Place, to the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver Public Library Square and Yaletown, plus BC Place and Science World.

At the centre of it all will be the Winter Arts Hub, located on north side of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Here you will be able to eat, drink and be entertained with art installations, a live performance stage, plus a heated and covered outdoor space with a pop-up bar and food trucks.

May it be weekend fun, after-work happy hour, post-shopping break or pre-dinner drinks, the VMF Winter Arts Hub in downtown Vancouver is where you want to be.

Related story: Discover Laowai, a hidden lounge in Vancouver’s Chinatown

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As you tour the exhibition Growing Freedom: The instructions of Yoko Ono / The art of John and Yoko, you will find that it is organized in two parts. 

The first part focuses on Ono’s instruction works, which breaks down barriers between artist disciplines and emphasizes her radical approach to art making.

Above Photo by Keith McMillan ©Yoko Ono

VAG Yoko Ono exhibition invites viewers to participate

This is done by inviting the viewer to participate in the artist process, Ono not only creates works that continue to grow and change, but also thwarts the conventions of the art market.

The VAG Yoko Ono exhibition invites visitors to complete a work of art such as the Painting to Hammer a Nail, 1966 / 2021 where you hammer a nail into a blank white canvas and writing about their mothers on a sticky note and attaching it to the gallery wall, My Mommy is Beautiful 2004 / 2021.

Yoko Ono and John Lennon peace campaign

The second part of the exhibition presents an arc of co-projects for peace undertaken by Ono and Lennon.

Most notability is the War is Over! (If you want it) peace campaign (1969) and Bed-in for Peace (1969) images which features the stories of various people who participated in Ono and Lennon’s art projects, told in their own voices and words.

Canadian connection

In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono visited Montreal and Ottawa which included a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to promote world peace is part of this exhibition.

The “power to imagine is the power for action” was my take away from this exhibition, reflecting our activisim past and present.

Growing Freedom: The instructions of Yoko Ono / The art of John and Yoko exhibition is at the VAG until May 1, 2022.

Related story: Luxury shopping on Vancouver’s Alberni Street

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