Tree chipping
Bid a final adieu to the holiday season as you watch the last vestiges get shredded in a wood chipper at various charity Christmas tree chipping events, including for the SPCA in Nanaimo (spca.bc.ca/nanaimo), for the Lions Club in Vancouver (at various community centres through Sunday, vancouver.ca), or at the Chip-in for the Kids in Victoria and Duncan (lionsbc.ca). Or drop your tree off at the UBC Botanical Garden, where your chips will help nourish the garden's plants and trees, and line its winding walkways (through Sunday, botanicalgarden.ubc.ca).
Jim Cuddy Band
Catch Blue Rodeo lead man and Canadian music icon Jim Cuddy, who is braving a mid-winter cross-country tour with his latest album Skyscraper Soul – an effort that began as music for his wife's short film and ended with a full-length homage to Toronto. With favourite homegrown country artist Doug Paisley (at the Vogue Saturday, at the Clark Theatre in Mission Sunday and at the Community Theatre in Kelowna Jan. 10, ticketmaster.ca).
Vancouver Symphony
Vancouver-born, Paris-based violinist, mathematician and pianist Corey Cerovsek returns to home turf to perform Korngold's Violin Concerto with the Vancouver Symphony in a concert that also features Berlioz's opium-fueled Symphony Fantastique and Debussy's famed symphonic poem, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (through Monday, vancouversymphony.ca). For more classical treasures, don't miss Early Music Vancouver's performance of Mozart's Late String Quartets (at the Christ Church Cathedral Saturday and the Kay Meek Centre in West Van Sunday, earlymusic.bc.ca).
Freeskiing World Tour
Watch jaws drop as some of the world's best big mountain freeskiers and snowboarders converge in Revelstoke for the Swatch Freeride and Freeskiing World Tour. What's freeskiing, you ask? Imagine high-flying skateboarders and BMXers performing breathtaking jumps, flips and tricks – then add snow (until Jan. 11, freeskiingworldtour.com).
Okanagan Bridal Expo
Get set for the big day at the Okanagan Bridal Expo, where you can see a fashion show of beautiful gowns and tuxes, pick up tips from Rich Bride, Poor Bride wedding planner Heidi Allen, and meet all the wedding photographers, cake makers, invitation designers, music makers, and even "day of" co-ordinators to make sure your wedding stays in the fairytale category (Sunday, okanaganbridalexpo.com).
Andrei Tarkovsky Retrospective
Catch a retrospective of films by Russian master and mystic Andrei Tarkovsky, widely considered one of the most influential directors to emerge from postwar Europe. Among the offerings are Tarkovsky's previously banned film about a 15th-century Russian Orthodox monk who won renown as an icon painter, his award-winning first feature about a war orphan whose determination to avenge his parents' deaths leads him behind German lines and a quirky history of 20th-century Russia that incorporates his father's poetry (until Feb. 19, cinematheque.bc.ca).
The Life Game
See a stranger's biography come to life as a pre-selected guest is interviewed on stage, and actors turn his or her life story into theatre on the spot in The Life Game – a concept created by Alberta theatre veteran Keith Johnstone and performed by local improvisers (at Studio 1398 on Granville Island Sunday; also Jan. 29 and Feb. 5, thelifegamevancouver.com). For more offbeat theatrics, find kings, queens, pirates, trolls, fairy godmothers and a lonely hermit in …And Some of Them Lived (An Absurd Fairytale) – at the Cultch Saturday (thecultch.com).
Pete Johansson
He's part of the Snowed in Comedy Tour that will be blowing through the province starting Tuesday, but you can get a few early laughs from Canadian comic, writer and actor Pete Johansson, who has performed at Just for Laughs, appeared on T he Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, and landed award nominations, including Best Newcomer, at Edinburgh (at the Comedy Mix Saturday, thecomedymix.com).