Summer is officially here and so are all the great outdoor events! All our old favourite events are back (Jazz festival, Greek Day, Piknic Électronik, Chinatown Night Market) in addition to some great new speaking events and art shows.
Now it's time to figure out how to fit it all in.. Here's to a great summer.
Top Picks
Picnik Electronic
June 24 | 5PM–12AM | Malkin Bowl Stanley Park | $15-$20
Launched in 2003 in Montreal, Piknic Électronik creates an outdoor venue for families and friends to get together with their eclectic DJ line-up. On the lush lawns of Malkin Bowl, Vancouverites will be able to unleash their wild side to the sounds of Poirier & Face-T, Dafluke and his guests, Prince Club, and PomPe tes PiPes. Food and bevies (beer garden – YES!) will be available on site. You can bring your own food, but consumption and purchase of alcohol are restricted to the beer garden.
Vancouver Mini Maker Faire
June 25–26 | 10AM–6PM | 555 Great Northern Way | $7-$20
Vancouver Mini Maker Faire is a two-day celebration of making and creating. It’s an all-ages family festival promoting the ethos of DIY on a large scale! Get ready to be blown away from the creativity in town.
Green Café
June 27 | 6-8PM |Fairmont Waterfront | $10
Vancouver is set to be the world's Greenest City by 2020. How can you
and your business help make this vision a reality? Join the David
Suzuki Foundation, The City of Vancouver, and The Vancouver Economic
Development Commission for an exciting Green Café focusing on green jobs. Learn about the City's Vision of a Green Capital, hear from 3 innovative local businesses that are creating green jobs in market niches and participate in group discussions. Facilitated by Honey Bee Steve, the Green Cafes are always engaging, provocative and fun!
Honourable Mentions
Meetup Mashup - Case Study of the W2 Media Cafe
June 23 | 7-9PM | W2 Media Cafe | $10
--> Thx Mike + Irwin!
The Cheaper Show No. 10
June 25 | 6PM–12AM | 188 Kingsway | $7 - $10
The premise is simple: 200 artists, 400 pieces of art, $200 each. The Cheaper Show is celebrating it’s 10th year since it carved out a spot in the art world. Serious art buyers arrive really early to buy, but regular punters come to check out the amazing art and the cool hipster scene with a cocktails in hand.
Vancouver International Jazz Festival
June 24 – July 3 | Various Locations | Free Shows every day
A fantastic music experience for everyone! This weekend, June 25 & June 26, David Lam Park is turned into a free Jazz hotspot complete with 3 stages, 20+ bands, licensed outdoor bistro, family zone and food and artisan vendors. A similar set-up is happening in Gastown with 2 stages, 10 bands, food vendors and more. Check out the website for complete events listings.
A Midsummer Fête
June 26 | 1–5 PM | Colony Farm Regional Park | Free!
If anyone knows how to throw a party, Mother Nature Does and so do community event producers Public Dreams. This family-friendly eco-art event is a creative celebration of land and wildlife with music, performances, workshops, storytelling and art making. Be sure to wear a hat while you enjoy fresh apricot scones and tea in the tea palour presided over by a debonair drag queen and her dapper crew of gentlemen tea-waiters. A free shuttle bus departs every ½ hour from Lougheed Skytrain Station.
Greek Day
June 26 | 11 AM – 9 PM | Kitsilano – West Broadway | FREE!
Vancouver Chinatown Night Market
Fri/Sat/Sun until Sept | 6:30–11PM | Keefer/Main Street | FREE!
Ten for Ten
June 23 | 7PM | Emily Carr University | FREE!
Ten for Ten is a one-night event in which typographers, architects,
product designers, entrepreneurs, information designers and thinkers
speak about how their practice has evolved over the past 10 years, and
how they came to be doing what they are doing today.
Experience Mark Farina
June 25 | 10pm | Fortune Sound Club | $20
World class DJ with a kick-ass soundsystem? Guess where Honey Bee will
be on Saturday night after the Cheaper Show! Come out and shake to one
of the great house DJs. Added bonus is a Luke McKeehan (Nordic Trax)
Birthday Set.
Carnival Del Sol
June 26 | Granville St | Free
Our friends over at Latincouver.ca will bring the colourful Latin American heritage to Granville Street (between Smithe and Dunsmuir) from 10am to 10pm! Come hear Dr. David Suzuki speak, play soccer, dance salsa or eat delicious food - there's Something for everyone :)
"Forty-Deuce" by Alan Bowne, presented by Big Bone Equity Co-op
June 23 & 24 | Little Mountain Gallery
The Masala Bee just watched this riveting and raw play - the actors did an amaJING job exploding Alan's script.
--> Thx Michael + Tara!
Coming Up
MELA! Festivals International Pavilion on Canada Day
July 1 | Granville Island | Free
Second Annual PIE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!
July 1 | 4PM | Napier @ Victoria | $5
Share Fair
July 2 | Trout Lake | Free
Sketchy a Go Go
July 3 | 7 PM | The Wallflower | $12
Indian Summer
July 7 – 17 | Downtown Vancouver | Goldcorp Centre for the Arts
Summer Live – 125th Anniversary Festival
July 8 – 10 | Stanley Park | Free
Vancouver Folk Festival
July 15-17 | Jericho Beach Park
eatART: Power The Vag
July 16 | 10 AM – 6 PM | outside Vancouver Art Gallery | FREE!
The BEE list is curated by Ajay Masala Puri (Spicy Masala Bee), Lisa Craveiro (Busy Bee), Steve Williams (Honey Bee), and Lorien Henson (Queen Bee).
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