Looking for something to do on Saturday? The Straight’s got you covered. Here are 50 events happening in or around Vancouver on Saturday, June 8.

CONCERTS

Singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Nick Murphy plays the first of two nights at the Commodore Ballroom.

Doors tribute band the Unknown Soldiers plays the Railway Stage & Beer Café, with guests the Eleven Twelves. 

Country-rocker Taylor-Rae celebrates the release of her debut album Backseat Driver at the WISE Hall.

Jazz quintet Jazzlinks, featuring local vocalist Linda Szentes, plays Port Moody's Gallery Bistro.

Local punk-rockers the Corps play Pat's Pub and Brewhouse, with guests AK-747s, CU Next Tuesdays, and palm oil.

ETCETERA

Latin Cruises Vancouver presents a three-hour cruise on board the Queen of Diamonds, with three DJs and light buffet included.

The Desert Plant Society of Vancouver presents a two-day show and sale of cacti and succulents at VanDusen Botanical Gardens.

FORUMS

Yoga teacher Jacci Collins leads a three-hour workshop at Semperviva Lifestyle Store that covers the three main muscle groups responsible for maintaining the delicate balance of the lower back.

Meditate and Create at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture is an afternoon of meditation, getting in tune with your senses, and creating art with a childlike attitude.

FOOD AND DRINK

The Trout Lake Farmers Market at John Hendry Park features seasonal produce, local meat, seafood, eggs & dairy, craft beer, wine & spirits, artisanal prepared food, and handmade craft.

Day One of the 10th annual Vancouver Craft Beer Festival at the PNE Grounds features samplings from 100 craft breweries and cideries, plus live performances and more than 20 food trucks.

KIDS' STUFF

World Ocean's Day at the Vancouver Aquarium features live performances by children's entertainers Bobs and Lolo (above) and screenings of the new 4-D movie Reef Reborn.

TAKE ACTION

Sex workers join allies, families, and friends at the Red Umbrella March for Sex Work Solidarity, celebrating the 35th anniversary of the first modern-day sex-worker protests in Canada.

COMEDY

The Comic Strip features standup comedy by Simon King, Colin Sharp, and headliner Yumi Nagashima at Tyrant Studios.

Standup comedians pick a topic and perform a funny list about it, then improvisors bring those lists to life, at Little Mountain Gallery's The List.

Vancouver TheatreSports' Throne and Games—The Last Laugh is an improvised Game of Thrones parody at the Improv Centre on Granville Island.

LITERARY

Vancouver author Daniel Kalla signs copies of his latest thriller We All Fall Down at Indigo Langley.

MUSIC

The Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra takes the Waterfront Theatre stage with guest conductor John Zoltek as part of the Global Soundscapes Festival.

Baritone Cliff Ridley and pianist Danielle Marcinek perform music of Brahms at Holy Rosary Hall.

The Vancouver Men's Chorus performs songs from the '70s at Performance Works on Granville Island.

THEATRE

United Players present a performance at Jericho Arts Centre of Jez Butterworth's character drama Jerusalem.

The Arts Club Theatre Company presents a performance at the Granville Island Stage of Mom's the Word: Nest 1/2 Empty, by the Mom's the Word Collective.

Deep Cove Stage Society presents a performance of Frederick Knott's thriller Wait Until Dark at the Deep Cove Shaw Theatre.

The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Matilda the Musical, an adaptation of Roald Dahl's children's novel Matilda, at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage.

Final performance at the Theatre at Hendry Hall of The Dixie Swim Club, a comedy about five Southern women who set aside a long weekend every August to recharge their relationships.

Eternal Theatre Collective presents its final performance of bare, a contemporary pop opera about coming out and growing up, at Unitarian Church of Vancouver. 

HIVE 2019 at the Magnetic North Theatre Festival features a mad-dash immersive event of micro performances at Presentation House.

As part of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, join Tetsuro Shigematsu at Progress Lab for a behind-the-scenes party exploring the world of his upcoming new play, Kuroko.

GALLERIES

A Harlem Nocturne at the Contemporary Art Gallery presents still and moving images extrapolated and translated from archival sources, featuring a newly commissioned video project drawn from Deanna Bowen’s research into histories of Black community within Vancouver.

Moving Still: Performative Photography in India at the Vancouver Art Gallery features more than 100 works that examine themes of gender, religion, and sexual identity.

Displacement at the Vancouver Art Gallery sees contemporary works from the gallery's collection that use “displacement” as a tool to elicit viewer reactions of all kinds. Featured artists include Sonny Assu, Aganetha Dyck, Teresa Marshall, Ken Lum, Robert Therrien, Luanne Martineau, Patrick Traer, Renee van Halm, Holly Ward, Tim Paul, and Myfanwy MacLeod.

The Polygon Gallery exhibits selected finalists of the Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize. 

Influenced by fields of perceptual psychology, science and architecture, Mowry Baden’s works at the Vancouver Art Gallery incorporate objects both found and constructed that incite curiosity, wonder, and laughs.

Views of the Collection: The Street at the Vancouver Art Gallery focuses on the street as source of inspiration and site for the production and enactment of culture, with works by Roy Arden, Kati Campbell, Robert Capa, Robert Frank, Fred Herzog, Hong Chan Park, Judy Radul, Jack Shadbolt, Danny Singer, and Ian Wallace.

MUSEUMS

Wild Things: The Power of Nature in Our Lives at the Museum of Vancouver delves into the life stories of local animals and plants—how they relate to each other and how they connect people to nature in the city.

Shadows, Strings and Other Things: The Enchanting Theatre of Puppets at the MOA illustrates the role puppets have played in the transmission of cultural knowledge, stories, and values.

There is Truth Here at the Museum of Vancouver focuses on rare surviving artworks created by children who attended the Inkameep Day School (Okanagan), St Michael’s Indian Residential School (Alert Bay); the Alberni Indian Residential School (Vancouver Island) and Mackay Indian Residential School (Manitoba).

In a Different Light: Reflecting on Northwest Coast Art at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC features more than 110 historical indigenous artworks and explores what we can learn from these works and how they relate to indigenous peoples’ relationships to their lands.

Shakeup: Preserving What We Value at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC explores the convergence of earthquake science and technology with Indigenous knowledge and oral history.

Haida Now: A Visual Feast of Innovation and Tradition at the Museum of Vancouver is guest-curated by Kwiaahwah Jones and features more than 450 works by carvers, weavers, photographers and print makers, collected as early as the 1890s.

ATTRACTIONS

The 22-hectare VanDusen Botanical Garden features over 255,000 plants from around the world and almost two dozen sculptures.

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

Capilano Suspension Bridge features seven cable bridges suspended in trees, the Living Forest exhibit, totem pole collection, Cliffwalk, and Treetop Adventure. 

Parq Vancouver is a 24-hour casino with 600 slot machines and 75 table games, eight restaurants and lounges, and the sixth-floor outdoor Parq.

North Vancouver's Grouse Mountain features a Skyride to the peak with views of the city and the Pacific Ocean.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is an authentic representation of an age-old garden tradition that reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty.

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

Science World features hundreds of interactive exhibits in five permanent galleries, live science demonstrations and workshops, and giant movies in the Omnimax Theatre.

MOVIES

Screenings at Vancity Theatre of In Fabric, Knife+Heart, and All the Gods in the Sky (above) as part of Rupture 2019.

Screenings at the Cinematheque of director Claire Denis's dramas 38 rhums and Chocolat.

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