Richmond Night Market Returns

…and more ways to have fun over the long weekend

Choosing to remain within city limits during a holiday weekend is no compromise. One handily avoids having to pack, traffic and airport nightmares, a stressfully overambitious to-do list, and the simultaneously frenzied yet forlorn journey home on Monday. Why not just stay put—especially when there’s plenty to do close by! Here are our top picks for the three sunny, blissfully temperate days ahead.• The ever-popular Richmond Night Market makes its seasonal return tonight, running every Friday and Saturday (7pm-midnight) and Sunday and statutory holiday (7-11pm) through October 12. Explore dozens upon dozens of vendor stalls offering hundreds of things to eat and drink, plus (we’re betting) more Hello Kitty tchotchkes than you can shake a yakitori at. The Canada Line makes it easy to get there and back; it’s just a short walk from Bridgeport station. Also in Richmond is the International Summer Night Market (to Sept. 27), which, in addition to being named “one of the top four night markets in the world” by Travel & Leisure, offers free admission, parking, and shuttle service from Bridgeport. Meanwhile, Friday nights in Lonsdale boast the Shipyards Night Market (to Sept. 25). Just steps from the SeaBus, it offers locally made artisan goods (think jewelry, beauty products, clothing, and baked goods), live entertainment, a craft-beer garden, food trucks, and much more.• From Saturday through June 7, Vancity Theatre presents Welles 100, a film series celebrating what would have been the master auteur’s one-hundredth birthday. It kicks off with the acclaimed documentary Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles. See the complete schedule here.• Tonight and Saturday, the VSO pays tribute to the legendary duets jazz giants Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong recorded in the late 1950s. For Ella and Louis!, singers Byron Stripling and Marva Hicks join conductor Jeff Tyzik and the orchestra as they perform classic songs by Irvin Berlin, George & Ira Gershwin, and other masters of popular song. Tickets and info here.• Saturday from 10am to 4pm, gaze in awe upon more than 500 classic British-made vehicles and motorcycles at All British Field Meet, hosted on the Great Lawn of VanDusen Botanical Garden. Now in its 30th year, the world-renowned event promises impeccably maintained and restored sports cars, luxury cruisers, and much more. Tickets and info here.• One of the region’s most anticipated (and greedily consumed) seasonal bounties is the sweet, beautifully firm spot prawn. Returning for its ninth year, the Chefs’ Table Society of BC’s Spot Prawn Festival is helmed by four Sunday afternoon Spot Prawn Boils at False Creek Fisherman’s Wharf, where local chefs serve the fresh-from-the-boat crustaceans alongside specially prepared side dishes, fresh bread from Terra Breads, Salt Spring coffee, and more. The boils are currently sold out, but you can register on the festival’s waitlist and—fingers crossed!—net a last-minute plate, plus you can watch chef demos and buy prawns to take home. If you miss out, you can still find spot prawns for a limited time on the menus at many of the city’s top restaurants. Find out more here or follow the fest on Twitter @SpotPrawnFest.Happy long weekend, everyone!