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Top 5 things to do in Burnaby for the B.C. Day long weekend

Celebrate B.C. Day on Monday, Aug. 3 at the Burnaby Village Museum from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The museum is hosting Market Monday, where local vendors hawk their goods.
Jennifer Moreau
B.C. Day
Head to the Burnaby Village Museum on B.C. Day this Monday, Aug. 3. There will be roving entertainers for the kids, scavenger hunts and a market with locally made goods.
  1. Celebrate B.C. Day on Monday, Aug. 3 at the Burnaby Village Museum from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The museum is hosting Market Monday, where local vendors hawk their goods. There will be jams, jellies, children’s books, pies, tarts, pastry dough rolls and handmade kitchen items for sale. Many of the vendors only take cash. The usual museum attractions include the demonstration garden, blacksmith and platen press displays, scavenger hunts and carousel rides. There are also roving entertainers wandering the museum grounds. The museum is a great, low-tech place to let your kids burn off some energy. Bring your camera or smartphone, because there will be a few photo stations.  The museum is at 6501 Deer Lake Ave. Admission is free.
  2. Go for a walk or a bike ride along the Central Valley Greenway in Burnaby and pick some blackberries.The bike route runs along Still Creek Drive, and there is a section west of the Burnaby eco-centre that is lined with tons of blackberry bushes. Cyclists and pedestrians regularly stop to pick berries there. Serve them with ice cream or yogurt for a locally foraged treat or eat them straight off the bush, warm and sweet from the sunshine.
  3. Head up the hill for Starry Nights@SFU on Saturday, Aug. 1 for a star-gazing party. The folks at SFU are teaming up with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, whose members set up telescopes for the public to peer through. These helpful volunteers are happy to share their knowledge of celestial objects. The event is on from 9:30 p.m. to midnight. Admission is free, but if you want to take a peek inside the new Trottier Observatory, werecommend you get there early to line up, as this attraction is very popular and the observatory can only accommodate a handful of people at a time. The courtyard surrounding the observatory is full of backlit star maps, showing the seasonal changes to the night sky. There’s no free parking, but visitors’ lot B is your best bet. No flash photography. These events are weather dependent, but the forecast is showing nothing but sunshine all weekend.
  4. Learn how to make your own pickles on Sunday, Aug. 2 at the Burnaby Village Museum. The pickle-making lesson is part of the Harvest Homegrown workshop series hosted by the museum and Burnaby Food First. Chef and holistic nutritionist Andrea Potter is leading the workshop, which runs from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the meadow. The session is free, and there’s no need to pre-register. Just show up. The museum is at 6501 Deer Lake Ave.
  5. Check out the Mingei show at the Nikkei Centre from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. this weekend. Mingei is a term for hand-crafted folk art, and the collection contains morethan 100 colourful utilitarian objects from all over Japan. Materials include wood, straw, bamboo and paper. The centre is at 6688 Southoaks Cres., and admission is by donation.

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