City wide
The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off this week with Cherry Jam Downtown, April 4, a celebration of spring at Art Phillips Park and the indoor concourse of the Burrard SkyTrain Station. The event includes a culinary demonstration with sushi master Tojo from 11 a.m. to noon, followed by free dance lessons from 11:30 a.m. to noon and a concert from 12 to 1:30 p.m.
The Shiamak Vancouver Performance Team will offer free World Umbrella Dance lessons in preparation for the grand happening at the Vancouver Art Gallery Plaza, Saturday April 13. The group is still looking for dancers to round out the performance and theres a video available on the festivals website with easy instructions. For more information, visit vcbf.ca.
A highlight of Cherry Jam will be the ukulele circle with 50 players from Rubys Ukes Ukulele School and sponsored by Tom Lee Music, which is selling special edition cherry blossom pink ukuleles.
Volunteer cherry blossom scouts are needed from across the city to observe and report on whats in bloom. Scouts list the locations on the Blooming Now page of the festivals website, which is a cue to grab your camera to capture the blossoms for yourself. For more information, visit vcbf.ca.
VanDusen Garden
Youll need your easel, paints and supplies for this event at VanDusen Botanical Garden, taking place every Saturday from April 6 to 27 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The beauty of this citys cherry blossoms will inspire artists during the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival at this outdoor event at VanDusen. Members of the Federation of Canadian Artists, including Janice Robertson, Alan Wylie and Richard McDiarmid, will teach students of all skill levels to work with water colour, oil and acrylic paints. Plein Air sessions start in the Glass House before heading to exquisite locations across the 55-acre garden, which boasts 20 varieties of cherry trees. For more information, visit vcbf.ca.
Sunset
The Bakers Market is looking for enthusiastic, talented, budding professional or home bakers specializing in freshly baked gourmet cookies, hand-made chocolates, brownies, cupcakes, cake, scones, organic muffins, gluten-free, vegan baked goods, preserves, tarts, granola, fondant cupcake toppers and more.
The Bakers Market is a gathering of professional, amateur and student bakers who get together to buy and sell their goods to the community. Inspired by farmers markets (no veggies please), the group sells home-made sweet and savoury baked goodies.
The Bakers Market takes place each Saturday until May 4 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre, 7646 Prince Albert St. two blocks east of Fraser at East 60th Avenue. Parking is free. Bakers interested in selling their goods can sign up at bakersmarket.com.
Kensington Cedar Cottage
Make It, Vancouvers arts and crafts extravaganza, runs Friday April 19 to 21 at the Croatian Cultural Centre, 3250 Commercial Dr. More than 140 independent artisans and designers will be on hand to sell their wares, but wait, theres more. Enjoy live music, delicious food cart creations and wobbly pops. Tickets are $5 at the door and children 12 and under are free. Visit makeitvancouver.com for more
information.
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