60 things to do in Metro Vancouver on Sunday, December 4

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      Looking for something to do on Sunday? The Straight’s got you covered. Here are 60 events happening in or around Vancouver on Sunday, December 4.

       

      CONCERTS

      The first night of the 31st annual Blues for Christmas benefit concert at the Fairview Pub features performances by Murray Porter (above), Biscuit Blues Band, Jayleen Stonehouse, Billy Dixon Soul Train Express, Cecile Larochelle, Keith Bennett, and Les Is More. Proceeds support the Drew Burns Commodore Musicians' Fund.

      Los Angeles pop-R&B band Flor and Lostboycrow plays the Biltmore Cabaret, touring in support of debut album.

      American hip-hop singer-songwriter Marc E. Bassy plays Fortune Sound Club, performing on his Groovy People Tour.

      Vancouver alto-saxophonist Saul Berson performs at Frankie's with pianist Nick Peck, bassist Steve Holy, and drummer Bernie Arai.

       

      BENEFITS

      The ongoing Lights of Hope Christmas lights display at St. Paul's Hospital raises funds for the St. Paul's Foundation.

      Vote on your favourite gingerbread creation and get your photo with Santa at Grouse Mountain, with proceeds to SOS Children’s Village B.C.'s programs and homes for local foster children and homeless youth.

       

      ETCETERA

      The Festival of Lights at VanDusen Botanical Garden features over one-million twinkling lights, a carousel, a dancing-lights show, the Make-A-Wish candle grotto, and photos with Santa.

      Heritage Christmas at Burnaby Village Museum features light displays, vintage shop-window displays, a visit with Father Christmas, live entertainment, fresh heritage baking, kids' crafts, a sing along, and a scavenger hunt.

      The Vancouver Christmas Market continues at Jack Poole Plaza, featuring traditional German cuisine, mulled wine, gingerbread, German beer, a Christmas pyramid, a large heated tent overlooking the North Shore, entertainment, a carousel, and vendors selling gifts and treasures.

      The Western Front’s annual Toque fundraiser and craft fair showcases over 25 local artists and designers specializing in textiles, ceramics, jewellery, books, bags, and candles.

      Two-day Christmas market at the WISE Hall features crafts by local artisans, as well as food trucks.

      Shop for holiday gifts while enjoying smoked salmon and bannock at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre's two-day Aboriginal Arts and Crafts Fair.

      Browse curated design and handcrafted goods made by over 80 local makers and artisans at the Pipe Shop's two-day Etsy Vancouver Winter Market.

      The two-day Deck the Hall Fair at Heritage Hall features jewellery, pottery, body care, woodcraft, knitwear, original artwork, unique up-cycled items, preserves, and candy.

      Celebrate Chanukah at the Jewish Community Centre with live entertainment, arts and crafts, an olive-oil making demonstration, a science-light interactive show, and food.

      Enjoy an afternoon of local vendors, music by DJ Xdarmonx and DJ Ham Sandwich, drink specials, and food at the Lido Holiday Market.

      Celebrate the season with hot chocolate, homemade baked goods, carolling, and visits with Santa at Coquitlam's Mackin House Museum.

      Browse through 175 tables and booths of vintage and estate jewellery, dolls and toys, decorative pottery, paintings and prints, and antiquarian books at the Croatian Cultural Centre's Retro Design & Antiques Fair.

       

      KIDS' STUFF

      The Rogers Santa Clause Parade in downtown Vancouver features marching bands, dance troupes, festive floats, and community groups. The parade begins at West Georgia and Broughton, travels east along West Georgia, turns south on Howe, and finishes at Howe and Smithe.

      Help Santa search for his missing elves during an exhilarating simulated flight-ride experience across Canada and on to the North Pole at Flyover Canada.

       

      COMEDY

      Nikolai Witschl, Brad Duffy, Travis Bernhardt, Chelsey Stuyt, and Max Tennessen spin stories filled with unexpected twists and macabre turns at Havana Theatre's The Outer-Middle Zone.

       

      LITERARY

      Illustrator Charles van Sandwyk reads a seasonal story at Banyen Books and Sound, with Q&A session and signing.

      Local author Paymaneh Ritchie launches her first book Hello, My Name Is Oliver at Port Moody Inlet Theatre.

       

      GALLERIES

      Juxtapoz x Superflat exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery offers a unique insight into contemporary art and its place in cultural life.

      Walker Evans: Depth of Field at the Vancouver Art Gallery features more than 200 black and white and colour prints from the 1920s through to the 1970s.

      Fear, Hope, and Longing III, an exhibition of David A. Haughton's paintings of Vancouver Island's western coast, is showing at Visual Space Gallery.

      Stare exhibition at Vancouver Art Gallery features photographic works that evoke a fixed and concentrated gaze on the part of artist and viewer.

       

      MUSEUMS

      Layers of Influence: Unfolding Cloth Across Cultures at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC features more than 130 diverse cultural garments, from Japanese kimonos, to colourful Indian saris, to the elaborate feather cloaks of the Maori people of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

      The Museum of Anthropology at UBC hosts an exhibition that features the carvings of Papua New Guinea's Iatmul people.

      At the Museum of Vancouver, you can explore the cultural power and significance of collecting through wall-to-wall displays of unconventional objects.

       

      MUSIC

      The Friends of Chamber Music present the Colorado-based Takács String Quartet in a program of music by Beethoven at the Vancouver Playhouse.

      Four choirs and a full orchestra perform Christmas music from around the world at the Chan Centre for Performing Arts.

      The Vancouver Bach Choir, the Touch of Brass Quintet, and organist Ellen Ay-Laung Wang present an afternoon of Christmas carols at the Orpheum Theatre.

      Dunbar Height United Voices and Chamber Orchestra presents Handel's Messiah at Dunbar Heights United Church.

      The St. Paul's Choir presents a festivity of christmas lessons and carols at St. Paul's Anglican Church.

       

      THEATRE

      Realwheels Theatre presents a performance at the Cultch of Creeps, David E. Freeman's dark comedy about four disabled men who rebel against the way they've been treated and barricade themselves in a washroom.

      The Arts Club Theatre Company presents The Day Before Christmas--about a perfectionist who is desperately juggling family and work as she attempts to create the perfect Christmas--at the Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre.

      Performance at the York Theatre of East Van Panto: Little Red Riding Hood, Theatre Replacement's pantomime that sees Little Red Riding Hood battling bike thieves, distracted drivers, and the Big Bad Wolf.

      Pacific Theatre presents a performance of Holy Mo! A Christmas Show!, director Kerry van der Griend's irreverent re-imagining of the Nativity story.

      The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Mary Poppins--a musical based on the stories of P.L. Travers and the Walt Disney film--at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage.

      Performance at Studio 58 of Troilus and Cressida, in which director Kevin Bennett puts a modern spin on Shakespeare's drama that sees lovers yearn to be true and warriors strive to be brave.

      Performance at Presentation House of Baking Time, a play for kids 3-and-up about a pair of bakers who encounter mischievous doughy characters and venture through forests of breadstick trees and magical floury storms.

      In Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, four actors bring to life the characters of Charles Dickens's classic Christmas tale at Jericho Arts Centre. Appropriate for ages five and up.

      Carousel Theatre for Young People presents A Charlie Brown Christmas at the Waterfront Theatre.

       

      ATTRACTIONS

      Robson Square Ice Rink offers free ice-skating in downtown Vancouver, with skate rental available.

      Grouse Mountain resort features a Skyride to the peak with views of Vancouver and the Pacific Ocean, as well as skiing and snowboarding, snowshoeing, ice skating, mountain ziplines, and the Peak of Christmas.

      Edgewater Casino offers 24-hour gaming, over 60 table games, a poker room, a high-limit section, 500 slot machines, restaurants and lounges, and live entertainment, including concerts and televised UFC events.

      Mount Seymour features skiing and snowboarding lessons from the Mt. Seymour Ski and Snowboard School, tubing and tobogganing, and snowshoe trails.

      At the Bloedel Conservatory you can take in more than 200 free-flying exotic birds and 500 exotic plants and flowers.

      Cypress Mountain features skiing and snowboarding lessons, snowtubing park, cross-country ski trails, downhill skiing and snowboarding trails, and snowshoeing tours.

      The VanDusen Botanical Garden features over 255,000 plants from around the world and almost two dozen sculptures.

      Check out the Vancouver Christmas Tree at Robson Square.

      The Capilano Suspension Bridge features seven suspended footbridges offering views 110 feet above the forest floor.

      The Vancouver Aquarium features almost 800 animal species in galleries ranging from Canada's Arctic to the Amazon rainforest.

       

      MOVIES

      Screening at the Rio Theatre of Train to Busan, about South Korean passengers struggling to survive a zombie-virus outbreak on a train from Seoul to Busan.

      Screening at Vancity Theatre of Aim for the Roses, John Bolton's musical docudrama about Canadian stuntman Ken Carter's 1976 attempt to launch a rocket car over the St. Lawrence Seaway and land it in a bed of roses in the U.S.

      Screenings at the Cinematheque celebrate the late visionary Polish director Andrzej Żuławski with 1971's The Third Part of the Night and 1972's The Devil.

      Screening at Vancity Theatre of The Apology, Tiffany Hsiung's documentary about three former "comfort women” who were among the 200,000 girls and young women kidnapped and forced into military sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

      Sreenings at the Rio Theatre of curated short films from around the world, including Disney/Pixar's "Piper" and Patrick Osborne's "Pearl".

      Screening at the Vancity Theatre of Christine, Antonio Campos's drama about Christine Chubbuck, who briefly found national fame in an act of on-air desperation in 1974.

       

      For all the latest Metro Vancouver event announcements and updates follow @VanHappenings.

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