June 6 edition: Basketball is medicine

Plus: All of Vancouver’s coolest music and arts events for June

Another month is upon us, and with it, another edition of your favourite long-running free alt paper. Our June edition is out everywhere today, featuring incredible photography, thoughtful features, and the low-down on where the city’s coolest cats hang out in summer. 

Grab your free copy, and let us know what you think. Get in the comments!

— V.
Associate Editor

FEATURE

All My Relations plays its own game

A diverse range of Indigenous women stand and sit on tiered benches in a sports facility.

There is a lot more to basketball than basketball. All My Relations, a basketball team for Indigenous women in the Downtown Eastside, isn’t just about the sport: it’s also a locus for personal growth and generational healing. “I’m not trying to go by myself,” says founder Joleen Mitton. “It’s boring and it’s lonely. And it’s not how you build community.” Read more about the incredible team in our June cover feature.

CITY & CULTURE

Naked Bike Ride is coming back to Vancouver

Three people cycle naked on road bikes

It’s time to feel the breeze on your booty. NIFTY—Naked Iconaclast Fighting the Yoke—has announced that the iconic Naked Bike Ride is returning to its hometown of Vancouver this summer. The worldwide event has been running for more than 30 years, but now the bare butts are back to the place where it all began.

*Sponsored Listing

SPONSORED BY BARD ON THE BEACH SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

Life is a carnival at Bard on the Beach

Celebrate under the tents at Sen̓áḵw/Vanier Park as Bard presents a season to delight, amuse, and inspire. The joyful, carnival-inspired Twelfth Night, with original music by Veda Hille; a tight and contemporary adaptation of Hamlet; the hilarious and immersive The Comedy of Errors; and a darkly absurd footloose take on Measure for Measure run from June 11 to September 21.

With special events like Family Days, Fireworks Nights, Wine Wednesdays, Pride Day, Bard Explored lectures, Relaxed and Vocal Eye performances, and Talkback Tuesdays, there's something for everyone.

Under 35? Create an account here to receive special offers throughout the season.

ARTS

An easy guide to Dancing on the Edge 2024

A white woman embraces a mossy tree in "Late Stage Remedy"

Why does Dancing on the Edge festival director Donna Spencer love the event? “It’s experimental, it’s exciting, it’s innovative,” she says. “And it’s also well danced; the actual rigour of a lot of the artists is amazing.” If that sounds overwhelming, never fear: we’ve picked out five of the top presentations you should be checking out.

  • Here are all the June arts events you need

  • Museum of Vancouver’s Creation Stories highlights Indigenous artists

  • Music on Main to premiere The Tempest Project at the Playhouse

  • June 13 and 14 - Award winning comedian Shane Mauss returns with his unique brand of psychedelic stand-up and storytelling with real-time visuals and animations. Tickets at the Rio Theatre.*

  • Medicine, a gripping journey through one man’s troubled past. A devastatingly funny and moving meditation on how we have treated those we call ‘mentally ill’.*

*Sponsored Listing

SPONSORED BY DRAGON BOAT BC

Summer starts at the Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival

The biggest race on the continent. The first public drone show in Vancouver. And more to do than any other weekend festival around. Your summer starts at False Creek, and it's all for free on June 22 and 23 down at Concord Pacific Place. Click here for info!

MUSIC

Music Waste looks back on 30 years of evolution

A member of Apollo Ghost crowdsurfs

Three decades is a long time for anything to survive—let alone something that lives off the goodwill of volunteers. And yet Music Waste has persevered: far outlasting the Music West event that initially inspired it, and evolving into its own cool, chaotic, community-forward festival. “If you want to keep it going,” says administrative coordinator Nicole McDonal, “you have to give it to young people.”

*Sponsored Listing

FOOD & DRINK

An exceptional edition of The Dalmore is coming to select BC Liquor Stores

A fancy bottle of whisky in a foldout case

Liquor nerds, assemble: you don’t want to miss out on The Collectible. With a sweet, floral nose and a complex palate, it’s an exceptional bottle of whisky that is only available at a few retailers worldwide. In Canada, it’s a BC Liquor Stores exclusive—and there’s a special engraving event at the Cambie and 39th location, to boot.

THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND

WORKSHOP
Draw bird skeletons and contemplate the mysteries of life. (June 6 @ Secret Lantern Society)

VISUAL ARTS
Rain Cabana-Boucher critiques capitalism and nationalism from an Indigenous perspective in $185. (June 6 to August 3 @ Wil Aballe Art Projects) 

MUSIC
Feel the groove with Uncle Strut. (June 7 @ Hollywood Theatre) 

COMEDY
Polite manners and provocative mischief: together at last in Wit & Whimsy: An Improvised Regency Romance. (June 7 @ Little Mountain Gallery)

THEATRE
Shayna Jones reflects on matrilineal journeys in No Mama, No Cry. (June 7 to 8 @ BEZ Arts Hub, Langley)

PERFORMING ARTS 
Rumble Theatre presents Summertide Cabaret storytelling in the great outdoors. (June 7 to 8 @ Woodland Park)

MUSEUM
Visit dozens of heritage and cultural sites participating in the 17th annual Doors Open Richmond. (June 8 to 9 @ various locations in Richmond)

VISUAL ARTS
Pick up a new statement piece at the Mid Main Art Fair. (June 9 @ Heritage Hall)

Want to know what else is happening in Vancouver? Check out our events listings.

That’s it!

Thanks for reading us today. If you found something useful, consider forwarding this newsletter to another Vancouverite.

And before you go, let us know:

What did you think of today's newsletter?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

• Did a friend share this with you? Sign up for free.

• Want to advertise to locals? Contact our team.

• Have a crazy or cool story to share? Drop us an email