British Columbia Magazine

If you enjoyed learning about British Columbia’s hundreds of “Sleeping Giants” in our Summer 2010 issue, hot off the presses, try spending a day playing amateur volcanologist and exploring the wonders of the Sea-to-Sky Highway.

Natural Resources Canada’s Sea-to-Sky GeoTour guidebook provides information on the origins of the awe-inspiring geological landmarks along the route, including glaciers, mountains, and volcanoes.

Download the free guide or listen to the audio version on an MP3, which includes interviews with scientists like Melanie Kelman, a co-author of the tour, and one of the experts quoted in our volcanoes story. For more information on the famed stretch of Highway 99, check out the photo essay in our Fall 2009 issue.

The British Columbia Magazine team will be appearing at some exciting events in Vancouver and Victoria this weekend. Stop by and see us for valuable tips, travel ideas . . . and FREEBIES!

Outdoor Adventure and Travel Show
Saturday April 24 and Sunday April 25, VANCOUVER
Convention Centre, 1055 Canada Place, West Building

British Columbia Magazine will join 300 other exhibitors promoting outdoor adventure and recreational pursuits at the very popular annual Outdoor Adventure and Travel Show. Visit our booth (#209) and be the first to check out our new Survivor Bonus Offer. For only $20.00 you’ll receive a one-year subscription and your pick between a coveted, flashy red, limited-edition, British Columbia Magazine multi-tool and our stylish new sling bag. Plus we’ll throw in a checklist on how to correctly pack a backpack for all of your springtime adventures!

And for inspiration on where to venture in the province, pick up a complimentary copy of British Columbia Magazine.

Click on the image below and print your complimentary 2-for-1 admission coupon. Regular ticket price is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and youth 12-17, free for children under 11.

Chapters bookstores Read Local, Buy Local Earth Day events
Sunday April 25, 12:00 p.m., Chapters at 1212 Douglas Street, VICTORIA
Sunday April 25, 12:00 p.m., Chapters at 788 Robson Street, VANCOUVER
Sunday April 25, 3:00 p.m., Chapters at 2505 Granville Street, VANCOUVER

Get your family ready for their hiking adventures! British Columbia Magazine teams up with ActNow, The North Face (Vancouver), and Robinson’s Outdoor Store (Victoria) to teach children what they need to know about the sport. Topics covered during this free event will include how to stretch properly, how to prepare a healthy lunch, and how to pack a backpack. Audience members will receive a bonus surprise giveaway.

The Spring 2010 issue will be available for sale at the event. See our feature article on “Kootenays: 4 treks, 4 seasons” for great ideas on where to go for your next hiking adventure!

–Katie Knox

Souvenir seekers won’t want to miss an exciting freebie now being offered on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games website. The 160-page Vancouver 2010 Journal, valued at $17.99 and available in English or French, is available for FREE: yes, FREE!

The booklet includes blank writing pages, questions designed “to prompt Games memories,” special pockets for storing tickets and other Games-related memorabilia, as well as photography ideas. Reserve yours at www.vancouver2010.com/memories. (Peculiarly, residents of Australia and Palestine aren’t eligible to receive a copy.)

As the Games draw near, enthusiasts are snapping up Olympic keepsakes ranging from salt grinders to lapel pins to fancy sweaters and gold coins. As Jenny Manzer reported in “Capturing Quatchi” in our Winter 2009 issue, souvenir sales are expected to rack up $54-million in revenue by the time the last medal has been won.

Here are just a few reasons why you shouldn’t miss The Word on the Street book and magazine festival this Sunday, September 27, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Vancouver’s Library Square.

GET GREAT STUFF.

MEET COOL MAGAZINE PEOPLE.

LAUGH AT COMEDIANS.

SUPPORT LITERACY.

ATTEND AUTHOR READINGS.

What’s more . . .  British Columbia Magazine staff will be on site with loads of goodies and our giant Magazine Prize Wheel. We attract crowds every year with our $1 spin-to-win offer, and all proceeds go to the Raise-a-Reader program. We’ll have collector’s issues, magnets, posters, tote bags, T-shirts, and more to give away!

Other special deals of the day:

* 2 YEARS FOR THE PRICE OF 1. Purchase a one-year subscription to British Columbia Magazine, and we’ll give you the second year for FREE! Two years for just $20—and you’ll also get a FREE copy of our Summer 2009 50th-anniversary collector’s issue.

* 5 FOR $5 GRAB BAGS: Snap up one of our British Columbia Magazine tote bags filled with five assorted collector’s issues for just $5.

Don’t miss this fun, annual celebration of the written word. Look for the tents along Hamilton and Homer streets and around the library building.

If you’re looking to grab a last bit of summer fun before fall sets in, it’s not too late to take in Vancouver’s Pacific National Exhibition. The annual fair runs through the Labour Day weekend, and if you visit between September 5 and 7, keep a lookout for the friendly folks from British Columbia Magazine.

At our booth in front of the Pacific Coliseum, we’ll be giving away FREE copies of the magazine, while supplies last (they’re going fast)! And for just $1 you can spin the British Columbia Magazine Prize Wheel for a chance to win posters, magnets, collector’s issues, hats, T-shirts, and other exciting prizes. Every spin is a guaranteed winner!

Stop by and say “hello”—we’d love to see you!

Let the countdown begin.

In just three days, Lotusland will start the clock for the one-year countdown to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Vancouverites are marking this milestone with the 2009 Cultural Olympiad, running from February 1 to March 21. The celebration will feature 400 performances, both free and ticketed, including dance, visual arts, music, and film.

Famed singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan will headline a One-Year Countdown Celebration concert on February 12, 7:30 p.m., at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Alt-rocker Joel Plaskett, violinist Adrian Anantawan, and the Alberta Ballet will also take the stage at this ticketed event.

Up the Sea to Sky Highway, Whistler Village will host the Whistler Winter Arts Festival through February and March 2009. Enjoy outdoor concerts, photography exhibits, literary soirees, snow sculpting, and more. Many events are free.

~~~Update: August 5, 2008 ~~~

This promotion proved to be spectacularly popular, and has completely sold out. Sorry if you missed it!

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If you need a reason to visit Victoria this summer–besides the historic buildings, manicured gardens, and seaside trails–Tourism Victoria has an enticing offer.

Use their reservation system to book at least two nights’ accommodation in Victoria in August, and get your ferry ride for FREE. That’s a return trip to and from Tsawwassen for two adults and one undersized vehicle–a savings of about $70 each way.

“With the price of fuel well above last year’s levels, we understand what many consumers are dealing with and want to be a small part of the solution that will allow them to experience this amazing destination,” commented Tourism Victoria president Robert Gialloreto in a press release.

There’s some fine print, of course–visit Tourism Victoria’s website for all the details–but it seems a solid deal. My only criticism is that the bargain applies only to those travelling with a vehicle. Walk-on passengers opting for a more eco-conscious trip to the capital city are excluded.

I caught an interview on CBC Radio last week with Karina Perkins, marketing manager for Mayfair Shopping Centre in Victoria. She was talking with the host about an endangered species in British Columbia–the drive-in movie theatre.

As writer Daniel Wood reported in “Sunset theatre” in our Summer 2007 issue, outdoor movie theatres are a dying cultural institution. They had their heyday in B.C. in the late 1950s. Today, only three B.C. drive-ins remain: in Enderby, Langley, and Prince George.

For the month of July, Mayfair Shopping Centre has been hosting a revival of sorts, projecting ’50s flicks and nostalgic pre-show promos onto a three-storey-high inflatable screen in their parking lot. “It’s totally ’50s,” enthused Perkins, before admitting to the CBC host that she’s actually too young to have experienced the real thing.

I, on the other hand, have many fond drive-in memories. I remember going with my family in the late ’60s, cozying under a scratchy red-plaid car blanket and enjoying greasy popcorn in the darkness. I went as a teenager, too, and remember my dad’s frown as I headed out the door. “Passion pit!” he’d mutter.

Victoria’s last drive-in, the Tillicum Outdoor Theatre, closed in 1979. But local residents can enjoy an outdoor flick at Mayfair’s final drive-in evening. The mall will screen the Elvis classic Jailhouse Rock on Wednesday, July 30, at 9 p.m. The movie is free, but parking is by pass only, available at the shopping centre’s Concierge Desk.

Bring the family, or snuggle up with your sweetheart. Just don’t forget the car blanket.

For more information about the Mayfair Drive-In event, click here.

Do you have any memories of B.C. drive-in movie theatres? We’d love to hear from you. Post a comment here, or e-mail editor@bcmag.ca

My new 2008 calendar, British Columbia, 150 Years, was like a book I didn’t want to put down. So I didn’t: I just downloaded it to my desktop. And you can, too.

The Canadian Encyclopedia and the Historica Foundation have produced this attractive calendar to commemorate British Columbia’s sesquicentennial—it has been 150 years since B.C. was named a Crown colony in 1858. Each two-page monthly layout includes intriguing images and historical trivia. Daily squares profile the fascinating people, politics, events, scandals, science, and discoveries that helped shape this province.

Originally distributed in print format to 200,000 students across the province, British Columbia, 150 Years is now available online only. Download the calendar—absolutely free—to view on your computer desktop, or to print it out on 8.5” X 11” pages. 

Of course, British Columbia Magazine will also be celebrating B.C.’s sesquicentennial. Look for a dramatic 18-page “visual history” of the past 150 years in our Summer 2008 issue—the largest and most fascinating collection of archival images we’ve ever published—plus a mix of colourful characters and tales from the 1858 Fraser Gold Rush that started it all.