For more music on Sunday, Justice Rocks at Strathcona Park and yelpers host a “UYE” at David Lam Park… where we’re going Back to the Future!

And it’s not to late to head to UBC for the Anime Evolution, the only convention of it’s kind here in the 604/778. Flipping at you all weekend long!

From Sin City’s Fetish Sextravaganza on Saturday night to the Shore Fest’s Rogue Folk Stage pre fireworks, Saturday is one big dance party that’ll continue right into Sunday with Pride festivities.

Even if you’re thinking of going a bit more chill, The 34th Annual Powell Street Festival in Oppenheimer Park runs all weekend long and is perfect for adults and kiddies alike!

Finish the weekend off with Yelp at Vanier Park. We’ll be having a Potluck in the Park. To join, just grab your favourite food (homemade or store bought) and RSVP here. Have some sunny fun this weekend, just remember your sunscreen!

The Hot & Wet Women’s Pride Cruise

It’s the sexiest ship to sail the Strait, the hottest ticket, and if you missed it last year, you missed THE boat. Five hundred women celebrating with Pride! Always sells out fast ­ Don’t miss this cruise! DJ Tracey D will be spinning her hot mix of classics to cutting edge.
More Info

Bride of Pride

Kink/BDSM/sex play party for queen women. Costumes and fetish gear encouraged.
WISE Hall at 8pm.
$15 from Little Sisters (1238 Davie) or $20 at the Door.

Celebrities Pride Ball

Arrive before 10pm to take in the Big Roger’s Underwear launch.
$25 from from Little Sisters (1238 Davie) or Priape (1148 Davie)

Social Butterfly

Pride mixer featuring DJ Betti Forde and G-Luv with House of La Douche, Pussy Willow and Miss Cotton.
Junction Public House. $20 at the door. 9pm

Night Market

Two rooms and five DJs.
J-Lounge $10 a the door

Telus Davie Street Dance Party

Start celebrating Vancouver pride weekend early with a street dance party, featuring beer gardens, DJs, live entertainment on multiple stages and much more!
Davie Street between Burrard and Bute. 7pm til Midnight
$15 “Fast Track Ticket” from the Pride Office (603-1033 Davie Street) or Little Sister’s (1238 Davie Street)
Regular Admission is $7 at the Gate

Chicks Ahoy Boat Cruise

Queen of Diamonds Boat Cruise at 750 Pacific Blvd (Plaza of Nations Marina)
Boarding 7pm til 12am.
$45 Tickets

Sunday, August 1st

Sunset Beach Pride Festival

Before and after the pride parade, join over 1000,000 pride partiers for live music on the Festival Stage, and marketplace featuring 125 booths representing artisans, community organizations and plenty of family-friendly fun. Drinking and dancing are in private beer gardens.
11am-6pm at Sunset Beach
Free!

The Pride Parade!

The pride parade is definitely not to be missed as one of the biggest events that attracted over 600,000 people last year.
The pride parade begins at noon at Robson Thurlow then floats head west down the hill to Denman Street, follow along Denman to Pacific and then finish at Sunset Beach at the Pride Festival and Beer garden.

The pride parade gets very crowded so snag your spot early!

CHICAS – Hot House of Hotties!

Canada’s most anticipated lesbian Pride party of the year. Our new venue comprises of 13,000 square feet of lush, landscaped greenery distinguished with a 2000 square foot recirculation pond and two separate massive outdoor dj/ live performance patios. Just literally steps away from the Vancouver Pride Parade route.
Coast Plaza Hotel Rooftop Patiossss – 1763 Comox St. @ Denman. NOTE: Entrance is on NELSON ST. only
3pm-9pm
Ticket Info

Gay 80s Night

80s Night at Junction Public House
Back by popular demand, for one night only, G80z Pride Edition! Come down and dance to [[DJs G-Luve, Antonia Jane, Cobly B & P Deady]] spinning all the party classics from the 80’s, 90’s & today!
80’s drink prices! $3 well highballs, $3.50 sleeves of pilsner
80’s cover! $5 at the door.
Open til 4am.

Monday August 1st

Show Us Your C$CK

Amateur strip evening hosted by Jeff St. Germain, with celebrity judges and cash prizes.
9pm at Numbers. $3 Cover.

Upcoming Vancouver Boat Cruises

July 16th

Level Boat Cruise 2010

July 17th

Universal Promotions Miami White Boat Cruise Party

As far as Vancouver boat cruises go, this one is a must for the lime light lovers.

July 25th

6th Annual Heineken White Boat Party

MUST WEAR ALL WHITE!!

July 31st

RETRO 80s Boat Cruise Party!

The 2nd annual (Dress code is all 80’s: Neons, suspenders, head bands, leg warmers, knee highs and the works!)

August 6th

Luxury Yacht Party

Boat Cruise with the Queen of Diamonds

August 7th

Catalina Fucking Wine Mixer Boat Cruise

Vancouver Boat Cruise by FISHY & FEEZY of Efishent Entertainment on the Queen of Diamonds

August 14th
Boat Cruise with Greg Myers
HED KANDI – The Yacht Party Experience w/ GREG MYERS (UK)
Brought to you by ginger62 and Twisted Productions…
In 2008 Greg was rated number one in ‘69’ magazine’s guide to the hottest new DJ talents in the UK, Greg Myers has definitely stuck to this roll!. Leeds based DJ, Greg already boasts a myriad of club nights on his CV .

August 21st
Yacht 02 Burrard Queen Cruise
KlubJunkie & WayDoper present the second YACHT event before summer fades away. Your Party Rock firstmates Blondtron and Demoe return with their patented Yacht-Rockin’ Party-Hopping Beats alongside mixmaster SKLA, as we set a course direct for a non-stop party in Burrard Inlet!

August 28th

Sail Away – Last Vancouver Boat Cruise

8 DJs Spinning on two of three floors (including the massive roof-top dance floor):
Skla, Right Hand Barber, Sheps, Sage, Eric Carver, Those Twins, Pritosys, Delirious, and Hosted by Fullhouse
Tickets $35

August 29th

GORG-O-MISH BOAT CRUISE PARTY

THE 2ND ANNUAL GORG-O-MISH BOAT PARTY
2 LEVELS With GORG-O-MISH Resident Djs
TIMELINE: PK, SAGE, TYLER JOHNSON, SKLA, TAZIX, VEHEMENCE, ALKATRAZ, ERIC ALLEN

Want to shake your salsa maker? Dancing in the Street at Granville and Robson will work off your Saturday night cocktails in a hurry. Learn salsa from 2-6pm for free before Here We Go Magic gets its mojo moving at the Media Club Sunday night.

Wanna get more ibox action? Subscribe to the Weekly Yelp!

Want MORE music? This is the Vancouver weekend for you! The Folk Music Festival is rocking into it’s 33rd year with performances from the likes  Shane Koyczan and Short Story Long, Deep Dark Woods and Sarah Harmer. Get your weekend passes here! And save room for more tunes because Surrey’s Fusion Festival is happening at Holland Park, with headliner Arrested Development (who coincidentally headlined The Folk Music Festival last year!)

That’s just about enough for one weekend! If you want a bit of R&R come Monday, join us for an “Unofficial Yelp Event” I’m On A BOAT at Deer Lake: rowing, kayaking or canoeing the evening away!

(To be clear, this is a rant on the area between Arbutus and Main on Broadway)

We’ve all been there. We’re running down Broadway between the hours of 11:30pm and 1am. We’ve just finished work, got out of a show, escaped a bad party, or a weird dinner. Everyone in our alcohol seeking posse is scouring the street for a cab, a way out, or better yet: an open bar. Suddenly, there it is! A group of rambunctious smokers! That place must still be pouring the sweet honey of liquor! A scout goes in. And we already know the answer. They stop serving in 15 minutes.

What’s the deal man?

Is it just me? Is the corridor on Broadway between Arbutus and Main not the most disappointing nightlife area in Vancouver? If the place serves booze past midnight, it is unimpressive, uninspiring, or ridiculously expensive.  Usually all of the above.

Yes, if it can be helped, we spend our nights at a specific venue in this area so that we know to get there at an appropriate time for liquid consumption of all flavours. Or we avoid the area altogether. But sometimes we are caught here! Broadway is a convenient place for meeting, it is easily accessible to transit including the new Canada Line, and connects the worlds of the character driven East side, the beach driven West side, bright lights big city downtown and the suburbs. (This is how I classify Vancouver anyway.) I spend a lot of my commuter life on Broadway. So why can’t a girl get a drink at a decent hole on this street?!

The answer to this question is out there. I myself hold closely to the hope that in a few years it will all be different. Broadway is due for a rejuvenation and one would hope that any change to this thoroughfare would affect the bar scene even remotely. Fingers crossed. Until that day comes, refer to the list below: what you CAN find on this long, cursed road.

Chains

Scattered along Broadway you will find a Boston Pizza, a few Cactus Clubs, and Earls’, and a Joey’s. Points for consistency, medium pricing and generally staying open past 11pm, with your best bet for a late night drink on Cactus Club. Pretty sure Denny’s serves beer too.

Academic Public House

If you like Library Square, the newly renovated Metropole, and generally generic places then this will do. They have a nice whiskey list and friendly staff, and do serve until 1am but it can get a little noisy on weekends. I believe there is a small cover on the noisy nights too.  Located at Broadway and Fir.

Gigi’s

This hole in the wall pizza and spaghetti joint used to be open later but still serves liquor until 2:30! Good last resort. Located at Broadway and Columbia.

Martini’s

I’ve never actually been inside but it is right next to Gigi’s and just looks so much cleaner! Every time I go in, they have just stopped serving and I have to make the sad, Charlie Brown walk back towards Columbia. But I will never stop trying!

Bin 942

A gem.  At the corner of Broadway and Granville. Amazing food, great for wine and classy cocktails and of course, delicious tapas. Great atmosphere. Open until 2am on weekends.  Too pricey for regular or rowdy drinking.

Fairview Pub

A regular, local bar that seems to stay open until midnight or 1am. Live music, cheap beer. Broadway and Laurel.

Hennessey Dining Lounge

Open late but closed Monday and Tuesday. Manitoba and Broadway. Sleek. And somehow sketchy in a way that doesn’t satisfy. Like it is trying to cover up something. Just a feeling.

 Photo attribution to http://www.flickr.com/photos/denial_land/2930975001

Chug, chug, chug-a-lug at Nando’s Canada Cup of Beer Friday and Saturday where you can taste over 200 beers and then take a load off at Yelp’s Picnic Pitstop booth. When you see mullets, you’ll see us. Spicy Saturday’s are here with the First Annual East Van Chili Cook Off: For a mere $10 you can eat as much chili as you please at Trout Lake. If you can’t stand the heat take a stroll through Stanley Park, Saturday at 1pm, where Vancouver’s Largest Water Fight will be soaking up Lumberman’s Arch, flashmob style! And Saturday night’s bumping with Big John Bates and the Voodoo Dollz @ The Chapel and Deadmau5 @ PNE.

On a hungover Sunday pubs, restaurants, and TV’s all around town, and the world will be tuning in to catch the World Cup, including Yelp. There’s an UYE (That means Unofficial Yelp Event) happening at 11 am at Rogue Kitchen. Come on by and if I’m there, mention you saw Vancouver Bars’ Blog and I’ll buy you a drink!

See you outside this weekend or over on Yelp soon!

Crystal H, Community Manager of Yelp.com in Vancouver