Archive for June, 2010

65th Annual Steveston Salmon Festival! Have never been to it but looks like good, clean family fun. For those unfamiliar with Steveston it is located in the south west corner of Richmond and is (according to the website) “a charming riverside community founded on the fishing industry.” Day’s events include a pancake breakfast, parade, craft fair, live music and salmon bbq. Click here for more info.

Wayyyyy back in October of 2008, Scott Radnidge made THIS POST about the old Coastal Ford dealership at Main and 18th that shut down and had been taken over by BMXers for a hot minute. The place has been vacant for some time now and from the looks of it there’s some sort of a development in the works but in the meantime somebody has been nice enough to put up some permanent basketball hoops there.

It’s a new dog every day, click here to find out how to get your dog featured here if you haven’t sent in your photos yet!

Today’s dog featured in Dogtown Vancouver is Kitty, Kyla T’s pup. Here’s what she had to say about her…

NAME: Kitty. BREED: French bulldog. HOOD: East Van. FAVORITE SNACK: Whatever it is you’re currently eating, she wants it. bad. OTHER INFO: Kitty is three years old and we suspect she’s Rodney Dangerfield reincarnated. Kitty likes bed hogging, dutch ovening, stealing water bottles and sleeping in. She hates wearing a lifejacket, snuggies for dogs and getting stuck in the couch. She plans to wed a pitbull named Dingus unless he leaves her for that tramp from the park that gave him fleas.

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Welcome to The Playground, a place for Vancouver parents and their awesome kids. Every Wednesday I post a roundup of upcoming family-friendly events and activities. I’m always on the lookout for fun stuff to do, so if there’s something happening that you think I should know about, contact me at theplayground@vancouverisawesome.com. Because Vancouver is awesome for kids too!

This week we’ve got a Sonic Playground, Rubik’s Cubes, nature games, buttons, lanterns and dinosaurs! But first, Canada Day — what are you doing tomorrow?

Everyone knows about the big celebration at Canada Place, including the relighting of the Olympic cauldron, downtown parade and evening fireworks in the Burrard Inlet (full details here). If I didn’t have a three year-old, that’s exactly where I’d be. But gianormous crowds and very loud noises are not Cassandra’s idea of a good time, and as I’m sure you all know, if your kid isn’t having fun, no one’s having fun. Lucky for us, there are plenty of smaller scale celebrations in Vancouver. Here are five OTHER great things you can do with the family on Canada Day:

1) Join the Granville Island Canada Day Parade. Okay, this is not exactly a small event, but it’s fantastic for families. …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Zahf Paroo, Laara Sadiq, Agam Darshi, Patricia Isaac, Monika Deol

The Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival (or VISAFF, in Hindi) wrapped up its successful inaugural outing this past Saturday at the Vancity Theatre, screening everything from music videos, documentaries, and feature length movies to short films like the Oscar-nominated Kavi. Festival founders and dynamic multi-taskers, Vancouver-based actresses Agam Darshi (Sanctuary, Dan for Mayor) and Patricia Isaac (the soon-to-be released Daydream Nation), did double duty throughout the day attending screenings and later looking ferocious on the red carpet for the closing gala.

This does not look like a woman who has four children. Electric Circus = Electric Youth

An open panel focusing on “The Changing Face of Media” featured actors Zahf Paroo (Defying Gravity, star of the original Broadway production of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bollywood Dreams), Laara Sadiq (Excited) and Monika Deol (former MuchMusic VJ and CityTV personality) discussing the evolving presence of South Asians in domestic and international media and featured a variety of topics from an enthusiastic audience.

I wanted to grab a high five from the woman who once inspired a lovesick Tom Green to duct tape himself to a street lamp, but she’s about 6″11 in heels and I chickened out.

Keith got us started this year with this post. Leave it to my wife Sue Choy, and her love for berries to come home with this bucket which I had to share with you.

I get home from work and it was like a scene from a horror movie, Sue’s on the couch covered in red and barely conscious.

“Sue! What happened? Are you O.K.??? Say something!’

‘Straw…berries….’

Axe murder? Nope…Sue had fallen victim to a U-pick. I’ve seen her at these things, and it’s worse than grandma and the slot machines.

‘Oh no….How many did you buy? How many did you eat?! How much did you spend!?!?!’

‘Buck…sixty nine a pound….just a big…bucket….Steveston…..’

‘Steveston and WHAT? Steveston and WHAT?’

“Four….no FIVE….no Four….no five….it’s all the same out there….’

And those were her last words, before the berry induced coma took over.

Look out….we’re crazy about fruit at VIA here’s some of our posts from last year:

BLACKBERRIES

FIGS

BLUEBERRIES

Malene Grotrain put on an exclusive Celebrity Style Couture, red carpeted runway show on Friday at Studio 538. The glamourus dress-up event, along with the Studio 54/Andy Warhol themed party, saw Vancouver’s fashion elite schmoozing and partying.

Here are a few shots:


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I found this sweet creation in front of the Jack Chow building on Pender not long ago, and a quick internet search revealed that it’s quite likely the work of local yarn artist, Janna Maria. Anybody know? Also, have you seen any of these around your place?

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>