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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! |
**HEY VANCOUVER: As I mentioned in The Playground Week 18, my life has gotten hectic lately and next week will be my last post. So, if you have a passion for writing, kids and Vancouver and want to be part of a truly awesome group of people, contact me. I'd love to see The Playground continue.**
In the Playground for the week of September 22-28: The Lost Souls of Island X, Toopy & Binoo, Charlotte Diamond, Word on the Street, RIPE and harvest festivals galore. Here are some fun things to do with the kids this week:
Friday, September 24
Rachelle Delaney is launching her newest middle-grade novel at Christianne's Lyceum of Literature and Art. If you're not familiar with the Lyceum, go check it out NOW. It's an amazing place dedicated to family book clubs and the promotion of literary arts for children, youth and adults. Rachelle's first novel, The Ship of Lost Souls, a rollicking adventure story about pirates, was a finalist for a BC Book Prize this past year. Bring your 8-12 year olds (and any other book/pirate lovers!) to the launch of the sequel, The Lost Souls of Island X. There will be refreshments, a reading, and a craft for kids. Fun starts at 7pm, for details click HERE.
Saturday, September 25
Join the Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival this Saturday and celebrate the full moon and harvest abundance. Food, music and art at Slocan Park in the afternoon, followed by a twilight lantern parade along Renfrew Ravine to Renfrew Park. Top off the evening with moon cakes, music, dance, stilts and fireworks. Lots more info on this event HERE.
Saturday also brings the Autumn Shift Festival on Main Street. The street will be car-free from Broadway to 12th to make way for live music, improv and comedy acts, merchant and farmer's markets, local artists and lots of activities for kids -- including a Science World display, bouncy castle, Kiddies Car Roadeo, button-making and chalk art.
12-6pm, for details visit the Mt. Pleasant BIA website.
While you're in Mt. Pleasant, you can also stop by the Mt. Pleasant Neighbourhood House Harvest Festival:
This annual event just gets livelier each year! We will close off the block outside the House again this year for our street party portion of the event which includes live bands, community booths, bouncy castle (new!), cakewalk (always popular) and more. Inside there will be a new activity--all-ages workshops given by local personalities as well as the always exciting Silent Auction, Harvest Cafe and games and activities for children,_youth and teens.
For more details on the festival, click HERE.
Bet you thought I was done with harvest celebrations, but there's one more! Head to Dunbar Village on Saturday for music, a kid's bike decorating contest, lots more activities for children, a pumpkin pie contest and the Jethro's Fine Grub pancake eating contest. (By the way, if you've never been to Jethro's for breakfast, put it on your to-do list, seriously. The grub is VERY fine and your kids are more than welcome.) More info on the Dunbar Village Harvest Festival HERE.
Toopy & Binoo are visiting Capilano Mall this Saturday:
Come play with us before the show! Playtime at the main stage will begin 1 hour before each show. There will be two shows only, 11am and 2pm, so arrive early. Bring the whole family and make a day of it. After the show, visit the Hasbro Interactive Play Area for more giveaways and a Play-Doh play session or visit the J n J Game Area featuring child friendly interactive computer games in a colourful setting.
More on this event HERE.
Charlotte Diamond is performing at the Kerrisdale Community Centre. She'll be singing songs in English, French and Spanish, including favourites such as "Four Hugs a Day" and "I am a Pizza". For ticket information, click HERE.
Sunday, September 26
Bring the whole family to Library Square and CBC Plaza on Sunday for The Word on the Street, a national celebration of literacy and the written word. There's loads going on for all ages. Activities for children include storytelling, bookmaking, a scavenger hunt and a giant word search. Check out the family programming HERE. And don't forget to pick up a copy of VIA's first book club selection!
Support Vancouver Farmers Markets and feast on fabulous local and seasonal food at RIPE: The 2nd Annual Evening of Local Food & Libations. This casual family-style, all-ages event will include BBQ’d local meats, corn on the cob and a variety of fresh salads, iced tea and lemonade, local beer and wine, a silent auction and live dessert auction, live entertainment and a kids activity corner. Details HERE.
That's all for this week. See you next Wednesday!
