Local businesses work together to support Food Bank & celebrate the holidays

Seasonal splendour, and the spirit of giving, has arrived on Main Street in Vancouver as merchants collaboratively celebrate the holidays with hospitality, exciting gift ideas and unique holiday displays. All this while also helping to collect food donations for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.

Flake Out on Main Street involves close to 30 different businesses who are all creating their own twist on celebrating the holidays in their respective locations. Shoppers are invited to visit all the participating businesses and vote on their favourite holiday display from December 15 to December 22nd and be eligible to win one of three spectacular prize baskets (each worth around $350).

The draw will occur on December 22nd at Neptoon Records at 3:00pm (3561 Main Street). There will also be food boxes at each of the ballot locations for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.
Each participating business has donated a gift certificate or small prize to be included in each of the baskets.

Look for those with blue and white Flake Out on Main Street balloons in their display. Ballots can also be found at participating businesses and at all the ballot box locations: Plush (4296 Main), Bohemia Gallery (3243 Main), Neptoon Records & CDs (3561 Main), Arts off Main (216 East 28th), and On the Fringe Hair Design (4166 Main).

Many businesses will also be open late, until 9pm, on Friday December 22nd to accommodate shoppers and celebrate the holidays.

Come and celebrate Main Street’s favourite holiday tradition and Flake Out on Main Street. Don’t forget to vote for your favourite display!

4Cats 4529 Main Street

Abbies Sports Shop 4774 Main Street

Arts off Main 216 East 28th Ave. BALLOT BOX

Avalon Dance 4750 Main Street

Banzai Hair 4738 Main Street

Bohemia Gallery/The Loft 3243 Main Street BALLOT BOX

Dark Day Tattoo Studios 4560 Main St.

Flower Factory 3604 Main St.

Genesis Nutrition 2570 Main Street

Hazel & Jools 4280 Main Street

Kali Boutique 3740 Main St.

La Salita 4196 Main St.

Lip Lounge 3628 Main Street

Motherland 3647 Main Street

Neptoon Records & CDs 3561 Main Street  BALLOT BOX

Nester’s Market 4475 Main St

Nicole Bridger 208 East 12th Ave.

On The Fringe Hair Design 4166 Main Street BALLOT BOX

Organic Acres Market 3603 Main Street

Plush on Main 4296 Main Street BALLOT BOX

Rocky Mountain Flatbread 4186 Main Street

Shine Jewels 4307 Main Street

The French Table 3916 Main St.

Two of Hearts 3728 Main Street

VancouverHomes.Tv Realty 3731 Main St.

Windsor Packing Co. 4110 Main Street

Yinstill Wellness 3523 Main Street

Arts Off Main Gallery invites you to join them for their Local Artisan Jewellery Event which takes place next weekend Friday November 30, Saturday December 1 and Sunday December 2. Come and see the wonderful display of jewellery hand-crafted by talented local Artisans, they have lots of new work for you to enjoy. You will also be able to view paintings and ceramics all created by local artists. The gallery will be open from 11.30 till 5.30 on all three days.

Arts off Main
216 East 28th Ave.
Vancouver, BC
604.876.2785

New to ShopMain.ca is Nineteen Ten and they would like you to come and check out their Pre-Holiday Sale from November 23 to November 25th…10% off everything in the store.

Nineteen Ten
Home Boutique
4366 Main Street
Vancouver BC
604 558 0210

Saturday, October 27, 2012
2:30pm until 8:00pm in PDT
Neptoon Records
3561 Main Street

• It’s that time again! This is their FOURTH annual Halloween Hullabaloo! Come in costume! Don’t miss it! Bands: 2:30pm-8pm 2:30 – He Lazlewood – A tribute to Lee Hazlewood 3:15 – Treasure Eyez – http://treasureeyez.bandcamp.com/ 4:00 – No-See-Ums – http://noseeums.bandcamp.com/ 4:45 – Inherent Vices – http://inherentvices.bandcamp.com/ 5:30 – Birdface – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Birdface/148743001932580 6:15 – Hemogoblin – http://hemogoblin.bandcamp.com/ 7:00 – **Unfortunately, Lizard People had to cancel. Replacement to be announced soon*

There are a couple of events on Main Street this week that you might want to check out.

The Drift

Friday, September 28 and Saturday 29th/Sunday 30th

The Main Street Art Drift is back! The Drift kicks off with a Gala opening on September 28th at 8pm at Cambrian Hall (215 East 17th). Then on Saturday and Sunday the 29th and 30th you can check out the art in boutiques, shops and cafes the length of Main Street.

To get a map of which artists are showing in what venues go to The Drift website at www.thedrift.ca.

The Gluten Free Epicurean

The Gluten Free Epicurean is dedicated to hand crafting the most delicious, sustainable, gluten-free, organic, nutra-farmed, free range AND unsprayed baked goods. The owner and baker, Delainy Mackie comes from a family of gluten free bakers and has been successfully running her own bakery in the Lower Mainland.   Her foremost goal is to provide customers with the highest quality ingredients creating amazing flavor and texture in all her creations.

Vancity provided this local gluten-free bakery with some start-up capital, in the form of a micro-loan, which aided this baker to continue her exciting journey of sustainable, organic and gluten free baking with quality ingredients.

Delainy will be visiting us at the Main Street Community Branch (4205 Main Street) on:

Friday, September 28th 2012, 12pm-2ish. She will be bringing some delightful samples!  Be sure to stop in!

To learn more you can visit www.glutenfreeepicurean.ca The Gluten Free Epicurean is located at 633 East 15th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5T 2R6

Local crafters have found a year round home at Plush on Main Street. Located on the stretch between 27th and 28th Avenue, this petite boutique offers a pretty haven for beautiful and functional handcrafted items by artisans from across Metro Vancouver.

Brigitte Stroud runs the boutique with the support of her sister Barbara and together they offer the perfect outlet for the local craft scene. Although Plush has been on Main Street since 2003 providing custom work for designers and decorators, the retail aspect of their shop only emerged in 2008.

According to Barbara “it took a while for Vancouver to be open to the craft/artisan market. In 2005 there were a lot of clothing designers but less was available in terms of local crafts.” Brigitte adds that with the explosion of the craft market scene they were finally able to fulfill their dream of opening up a boutique for locally handmade crafts while also offering do-it-yourself (DIY) workshops.

As crafters themselves, they understood how tough it was to make a living only at craft fairs that were primarily focused on the holidays. And they were keenly aware that “if you don’t support what you love, it will disappear.” So together they slowly transformed the storefront into a charming boutique while still maintaining their 600 square foot studio space in the back for custom work and to also offer DIY workshops.

Both Brigitte and Barbara are self-taught and absolutely love making things. Everything they carry is handmade and local. They also specifically chose to be on Main Street as it “was already a bit of a Mecca for people who wanted local designer clothing. But no one was selling local hand crafted items that were not clothing.”

They now carry 20-25 artisans as well as their own work which includes felting kits, jewellery, bottle caps, tooth fairy kits, and popular seasonal items such as the stiletto Christmas stockings. Some of their favourite new items from local artisans include new art cards by Crystal and the Figo wishing dolls which are a creation of local artist Claudia Segovia.

According to Brigitte “each little wishing doll has a special pocket to put wish in, keep in pocket until wish comes true. Claudia started doing making the dolls four to five years ago to help fund her son’s speech therapy which wasn’t covered by medical.” The popularity for Figos grew and they were even able to host a fundraising event over Christmas to help raise funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. They also offer small Figo kits for those who would like to make their own dolls.

Some of their upcoming workshops include a free Steampunk Craft Drop-In on March 17th, Easter egg needle felting on March 24th, a hair fascinator workshop on March 31st, rain cloud needle felting on April 7th, a no-sew T-Shirt modification workshop on April 21st, and card making on May 13th (Mother’s Day). For more information on the workshops visit DIY or DIE!! Workshops on Facebook or visit their Web site at www.plushonmain.com

Plush on Main
4298 Main Street
Vancouver, BC
(604) 708-5199

Please join us for our 8th Anniversary Celebration & Annual Food Bank Drive.

Enjoy cookies and cider while you browse the wonderful selection of locally crafted jewellery, pottery, sculpture, gift items, art cards and original art.

10% of all sales will be donated to the Vancouver Food Bank December 2nd, 3rd & 4th
Donations of non-perishable food items for our annual holiday food bank drive will be accepted.
Also vote for your favorite decorated store in FLAKE OUT ON MAIN STREET DEC 3RD – 18TH

ARTS OFF MAIN Gallery
216 East 28th Ave, Vancouver, BC Tel: 604-876-2785

The ‘Get Warm Project’ is a community blanket and coat drive that strives to ensure that members of our city will be safe and warm this winter.

Lüt Boutique is thrilled to be hosting a ‘Get Warm Project’ donation box where you can donate blankets and coats needed to keep homeless members of our community warm this winter.

We are offering a 20% discount on all regular priced clothing as our Thank You to YOU for donating and partaking in this project, that is so close to our hearts. Donations are accepted starting Nov 1st.

(Please note: donation is needed at the time of purchase, some restrictions apply.)

Here is a link to the Get Warm Project Facebook page
Here is a link to info on our blog

Lüt Boutique
4219 Main Street
Vancouver, B.C
V5V 3P8
t. 604.568.1188
f. 604.586.5918
c. 604.782.0920
www.lutboutique.com

Holy cow!! The mother of all Figos has landed at Plush! Like all Figo dolls, this one is here visiting us from a world of dreams and possibilities with the express purpose of helping to make our wishes become reality. Just drop by Plush this month, write a special wish on a piece of paper, slide it into one of the Figo’s many magic pockets, and give the Figo a big bear hug. Come December, artist Claudia Segovia will be posting the collected wishes on her website.

Also, come in to support the 1st Annual Figo Project, a fundraiser for Make A Wish Foundation. There will be a wrap up part of November 29th from 7pm-9pm. People can come in and make their own Figo doll to take home. Fee is by donation and proceeds go to support Make a Wish Foundation.

Plush
4296 Main Street
604 708 5199
Open Tuesday to Saturday, 11-6