Events

5 Things to Do in Vancouver This Week (November 18-24)

By Alyssa Hirose /

Follow Your Strut

November 18-21

Check out a celebration of fashion, family and future at Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week. This year’s VIFW is a trio of glam events, including the Red Dress Event (which honours, respects and elevates Indigenous women and girls), Indigenous Futurism, and All My Relations. Don’t miss Evan Ducharme on on opening night—he’s already walked the walk on our 2019 Best Dressed List.

When: Monday, November 18 – Thursday, November 21
Where: Orpheum Theatre and Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Cost: From $20
More Info: vifw.webflow.io

Movie Maestro

November 19

The VSO is officially giving us permission to start watching holiday movies (thanks, band buddy!) with the first-ever Polar Express In Concert in Vancouver. Hear every note from the movie played live by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. The film’s composer Alan Silvestri will be there for a pre-show discussion, so you can get an extra behind-the-scenes scoop before the polar premier.

When: Tuesday, November 19 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: The Orpheum Theatre
Cost: From $26.50
More Info: vancouversymphony.ca

Everything Fest

November 20-24

With so many cool events hip-happening in our city, it can be hard to make up your mind—and the Big Fun festival is not making it any easier. This five-day event is like the world’s most entertaining identity crisis. It features comedy, music, art and food, plus local and international acts (including local comedian Alicia Tobin and international drag queen Trixie Mattel). Take out that calendar and go wild, Vancouver.

When: Wednesday, November 20 – Sunday, November 24
Where: Multiple venues
Cost: Prices vary
More Info: bigfunvancouver.com

Beach Fest

November 22

The Beach House Restaurant in West Van is celebrating Newvember this week—after extensive renovations and a total revamp of the food and beverage menu, the reopening is scheduled for this Friday. Earls Culinary Development Chefs David Wong and Hamid Salimian focused the new menu on West Coast eats (think monkfish, grilled octopus, and prawn and scallop spaghettini) while sommelier David Stansfield and Beverage Director Cameron Bogue have concocted a killer drink menu, including over a hundred wines and a tableside martini program. Nothing to beach about here.

When: Friday, November 22
Where: Beach House Restaurant
More Info: thebeachhouserestaurant.ca

Sassy Ceramics

November 22 – March 29

BC-based ceramic artists are getting loud at the Museum of Anthropology’s freshest exhibit. Playing with Fire: Ceramics of the Extraordinary features 11 artists with strong opinions on urgent social issues (so yeah, it’s gonna get heated). It challenges the idea that works made from clay have to be functional, and provokes possibilities as hardy as the material itself. Artists include Judy Chartrand (work pictured above), Ying-Yueh Chuang, Gathie Falk, Jeremy Hatch, Ian Johnston, David Lambert, Glenn Lewis, Bill Rennie, Debra Sloan, and Brendan Tang.

When: Friday, November 2 – Sunday, March 29
Where: Museum of Anthropology
Cost: Ticket price varies, adults $18
More Info: moa.ubc.ca

Alyssa Hirose

Alyssa Hirose

Alyssa Hirose is a Vancouver-based writer, editor, illustrator and comic artist. Her work has been featured in Vancouver magazine, Western Living, BCBusiness, Avenue, Serviette, Geist, BCLiving, Nuvo, Montecristo, The Georgia Straight and more. Her beats are food, travel, arts and culture, style, interior design and anything dog-related. She publishes a daily autobiographical comic on Instagram at @hialyssacomics.