Travel Blog

31 Dec

25 worthwhile Vancouver happenings in January 2012

Image: PuSh Festival

After the gift and booze-fueled revelry of December, January can look quite bleak. Don’t despair. This is mostly chemical and will disappear by January 2, if you drink lots of water.

January in Vancouver is packed full of cultural happenings, sporting events, festivals and markets. I’ve listed 25 events to look forward to in January after the jump.

With options ahead like Dine Out Vancouver and the annual PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, good luck trying to schedule a night in, folks.

25 Vancouver happenings in January 2012

1) Outside | The 92nd annual Polar Bear Swim takes place January 1, when thousands of (hardcore) Vancouverites will plunge into the chilly waters off English Bay Beach. Read more here.

2) Food Drink | Boathouse RestaurantsLobsterFest launches January 2, with an opulent lobster-only menu, allowing diners to consume sizable Atlantic crustaceans at every course.

3) Sports | Canucks vs. San Jose Sharks January 2; Canucks vs. Minnesota Wild January 4. Canuckery goes down at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena.

4) Sports | If you’re interested in Vancouver’s thriving roller derby scene, Raw Meat rolls every Saturday (January 7, etc.) at Thunderbird Community Centre with non-contact, two-hour skating sessions for women who want to learn roller derby skills.

5) Art | Catch the Bill Reid and the Haida Canoe exhibit before it leaves the Bill Reid Gallery January 8. Reid portrays the elegant traditional Northern-style sea-going canoe and it’s pivotal role in Northwest Coast art, cultures and communities.

6) Market Event | Dust off some buried Canadiana treasure at the Vancouver Flea Market January 7, at 703 Terminal Avenue, a 5 minutes on foot from the Main Street Skytrain Station. Browse 365 tables of flotsam from over 60 vendors.

7) Market Event | After a holiday mini-break, the Winter Farmers’ Market returns to Nat Bailey Stadium Saturday, January 7, to reunite Vancouverites with local farmers and artisans.

8) Entertainment | The acclaimed company Blackbird Theatre’s presentation of Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett, runs December 29, to January 21, at the Cultch.

9) Entertainment | The TCP Show (tripping.closely.perceptionJanuary 11-14,  at Fire Hall Arts Centre showcases mind-bending contortions by two choreographers: Adhere Las Tres Marias. Bonus: During Talkback January 12, you can quiz the cast after the performance.

10) Food Drink | The Chinese Restaurant Awards, the unsung but highly influential arbiter of fine North American Chinese cuisine, reveal their Critics Choice Awards January 12, at the River Rock Casino Resort.

11) Entertainment | LA band Steel Panther owns 80′s glam-rock mockery on stage at The Commmodore January 12-13. Expect wildly decadent get-ups, antics and, most especially, lyrics.

12) Entertainment | Vancouver Playhouse presents the Tony Award-Winning Drama Red, January 14 to February 4. Red, which is a close look at abstract-expressionist Rothko, is a moving account of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.

13) Entertainment | WWE Smackdown World Tour arrives at the PNE Agrodome January 14. Experience the showboating of Slam Bang Wrestling by the big dudes of World Wrestling Entertainment: Randy Orton, the Big Show, Christian, Mark Henry and Sheamus.

14) Sports | Canucks vs. Anaheim Ducks January 15; Canucks vs. Los Angeles Kings January 17. Canuckery goes down at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena

15) Market Event | 21st The Century Flea Market takes place January 15, at the Croatian Cultural Centre—command central for indie shopping. 175 vendors will hawk retro furnishings including coveted mid-century Modern pieces, records, vintage costume jewellery, collectibles and post cards.

16) Entertainment | From January 17, to February 4, the annual PuSh International Performing Arts Festival will present groundbreaking work in the live performing arts: theatre, dance, music and various hybrid forms of performance. PuSh’s theatre cred attracts acclaimed local, national and international artists. Find out more here.

17) Food | Granville Island and Dine Out Vancouver present Plated Paired in the Public Market January 20. Think innovative dishes by Granville Island’s chefs paired with the best of BC VQA wines and live jazz.

18) Festival Event | Santa is wrong. It’s possible to be naughty AND nice. Just ask Taboo, the host of the Naughty but…Nice (sex) show at the Vancouver East Convention Centre, January 19-22.

19) Food | Vancouver’s 10th annual Dine Out runs January 20, to February 5. Dine Out, if you haven’t been initiated, is the yearly festival where the city’s top restaurants offer three-course menus at discounted prices. In short: it’s a chance to “taste drive” the best of Vancouver’s culinary scene without breaking the bank. Read the rest of Remy’s foodie lowdown here.

20) Expo Event | The Game Design Expo, January 21-22, is an open-house for Vancouver Film School’s game-design program.

21) Entertainment | If you attend MythBusters January 22, at Queen Elizabeth Theatre, expect to participate. Special-effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman involve audience members in their gleefully curious, onstage experiments.

22) Shop Event | This one goes out to brides-to-be. Style Strut, January 22 at Sutton Place Hotel, is Vancouver’s premiere wedding event with fashion shows, consultations with beauty experts and photographers, plus a special chat by Randy Fenoli, star of TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress.

23) Sports | Canucks vs. Edmonton Oilers January 24; Canucks vs. Chicago Blackhawks January 31. Canuckery goes down at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena.

24) Art Event | Hide from January rain in the Vancouver Art Gallery. Current exhibits you should take a gander at include Shore Forest and Beyond from Audain—a seminal private collection of historical and contemporary BC art (there until January 29). Ever wondered how art galleries decide what to display? Don’t miss the VAG’s An Autobiography of Our Collection which explains the rationale behind art collecting at the museum (open until April 15).

25) Culture Event | Stop by the Museum of Anthropolgy to view ひろしま hiroshima, Ishiuchi Miyako’s installation of 48 photographs of possessions left behind by victims of the 1945 atomic bomb at Hiroshima. The exhibit leaves MOA February 8.

Article source: http://www.insidevancouver.ca/2011/12/30/25-worthwhile-vancouver-happenings-in-january-2012/