After Hours: 3 things to do in December and January

It's the darkest time of the year, but North Vancouver's Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is aglow until January 26. The Canyon Lights festival claims to have the tallest Christmas trees in the world: eight Douglas firs up to 110 feet high, lit from top to bottom and connected by seven...

See the lights, hear the music and get the scoop

Night Lights

It’s the darkest time of the year, but North Vancouver’s Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is aglow until January 26. The Canyon Lights festival claims to have the tallest Christmas trees in the world: eight Douglas firs up to 110 feet high, lit from top to bottom and connected by seven illuminated suspension bridges. There’s also a Snowy Owl Prowl, gingerbread cookie decorating and carol singalongs. 3735 Capilano Road 11 a.m.–9 p.m. daily; closed Christmas Day; holiday activities 4-9 p.m.; annual pass for B.C. residents with ID at time of purchase or per day for others from $16.95 (child) to $53.95 (adult), free for children under six

String Quartet

International Guitar Night‘s 20th anniversary winter tour of North America includes four stops in B.C. This year’s cast of exceptional acoustic guitar players, assembled from around the world by event founder Brian Gore, are British fingerstyle master Mike Dawes, Turkish fretless guitarist Cenk Erdogan, Finnish jazz artist Olli Soikkeli and Hawaiian Slack key player Jim (Kimo) West. Cowichan Performing Arts Centre, Duncan, January 23; Port Theatre, Nanaimo, January 24; Massey Theatre, New Westminster, January 25; The Farquhar at UVic, Victoria, January 26; tickets $12.50-$40 depending on venue

 

Whistleblower

After working for the Liberal Party of Canada and studying the Obama campaign’s use of social media, Vancouver Island native Christopher Wylie moved to the U.K. to study law at the London School of Economics. He eventually set up Cambridge Analytica, the data-mining operation that influenced voting for Brexit and the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America, Wylie clearly and compellingly explains how it all worked and why he left, telling his story to the media and testifying to members of the U.K. Parliament and U.S. Congress. “There are harsher punishments for athletes who cheat in sport than campaigns that cheat in elections,” he notes. Verbena 288 pages, hardcover, $37