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Community Calendar: A birthday for Bloedel Conservatory

Food Bank Day with CBC

QE Park
The Bloedel Conservatory celebrates its 45th anniversary this Saturday with face painters, a steel drum band, photo booth, Gnomes in the Tropics and an opportunity to ask questions of aviary and botanical experts. Another highlight is Bird Time with Agnes and Shirley.

From its not-so-humble beginnings to its recent face lift, the conservatory has faced many challenges over the years. Learn how this little gem in the city came to find a home on Little Mountain and how it continues to thrive with the help of big-hearted supporters. Visitors can also learn about the unique features and behaviours of the birds of the conservatory and how they came to call the attraction home. Also, discover the importance of preserving the conservatory’s botanical diversity for future generations. As a special treat, the Scandinavian Gnomes will join the celebration and delight kids and adults with their charming musical tributes and hijinks while enjoying the sounds of the tropics with Soul Survivors.

This free celebration, with free parking, runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 6. A ceremony and cake cutting takes place at 1 p.m. No pets please.

Stanley Park

Scuba Claus is making his annual visit to the Vancouver Aquarium where he’ll make a daily dive in the Strait of Georgia exhibit, a display of colourful marine life found on B.C.’s coastlines, including halibut, rockfishes, sturgeon, crabs and sea stars.

A visit to see Scuba Claus is also an opportunity to check out the recently expanded aquarium, which is celebrating the holidays until Jan. 4. Meanwhile Scuba Claus will be spreading holiday cheer and reminding visitors of ways to keep our oceans healthy — daily at the aquarium until Dec. 24. As well, discover the wonders of the electric eel-powered holiday tree and jelly swarm exhibit.

Hop onboard the 4-D theatre film adventure Polar Express and celebrate the 10th anniversary of this beloved story, which allows kids of all ages to be swept away to the North Pole through an exhilarating sensory experience of sights, sounds and more. Don’t forget to check out the Marine-Debris Tree art installation by Pete Clarkson, which was built with garbage collected during a shoreline cleanup of the West Coast Trail. Other highlights include an arctic photo exhibit, an outdoor tree maze and crafts and stories with Scuba Claus’s elves.

Downtown
This Friday, Dec. 5, CBC hosts its 28th annual B.C. Food Bank Day with live broadcasts of the Early Edition with Rick Cluff, a special three-hour edition of B.C. Almanac with Mark Forsythe and Sheryl MacKay of North by Northwest and On the Coast with Stephen Quinn.

Visitors can tour CBC Vancouver’s integrated newsroom from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and meet some of their favourite on-air personalities and reporters, including CBC Marketplace’s Erica Johnson, Dragons’ Den’s Vikram Vij, Cathy Jones (from one of my fave TV shows) This Hour Has 22 Minutes and David Suzuki, host of The Nature of Things.

The public is invited to drop by the open house at the CBC Broadcast Centre, 700 Hamilton St., to see how they make radio, television and digital programming. Bring the kids to have their photo taken with Santa and enjoy musical performances on the CBC Plaza. All CBC B.C. Radio local and regional shows are broadcasting special programs to help inspire the public to donate. Contribute to the food bank of your choice at the open house, online anytime by texting “FOODCBC” to 41010 or by calling the CBC’s pledge lines 1-866-226-4642 or 604-662-6470.

Downtown
Learn how to find, check out and download books from the Vancouver Public Library’s to-go ebook collection as well as from free resources provided by the library and through the Internet.

Ebook Basics takes place Dec. 10 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and Dec. 13 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 350 West Georgia St. The session is free but registration is required by calling 604-331-3603.

The library is also hosting a free creative writing club for teens, where they’ll have an opportunity to discuss writing projects and exchange ideas during this monthly meet-up. Teens can get their creative juices flowing with writing exercises and have fun starting Dec. 16 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 350 West Georgia. For more information, call 604-331-3690. For a complete list of events, visit vpl.ca/events.

Chinatown
Tinsel Town has once again been transformed into a fantasy-themed Christmas shopping and entertainment experience, thanks to International Village Mall in cooperation with the fantasy gift store Vikings, Dragons & Fairies.

The Imaginarius Fantasticus Game of Gnomes is an event designed to reintroduce fantasy into Christmas — the event features more than four hours of musical and theatrical performances on stage each day, including professional harpists, swordplay by Academie Duello, Tribal Fusion Bellydance and more. The Society for Creative Anachronism will also have an interactive medieval artisan exhibit at center court. Plus, professional stilt walker Ariel Amara will be on hand as the Gnome Princess handing out free balloons to kids. Check out the free action Dec. 6 and 7 from noon to 7 p.m. at International Village, 88 West Pender.

sthomas@vancourier.com
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