once saw my brother yell at a wet, gray Vancouver sky. He’s not crazy (clinically speaking) - the city was on its 27th consecutive day of rain and just like they say in the movies – he just couldn’t take it anymore. If only he knew about Winterruption.

Because rain is as sure to fall in upcoming months as the US housing market, a fine plan to dodge the winter blues is this local festival, taking place February 21 - 24 on Granville Island.

Now in its third year, Winterruption was designed specifically to drop-kick the Pacific Northwest winter blahs out of the city and make room for a few days of colourful distraction. With the simple goal of celebrating arts and culture in all its forms, Winterruption mixes a sweet elixer of chocolate, beer, theatre, film, art, and dance, leaving all who attend with a warm memory to fondle until the sun starts shining again.

A co-production of Granville Island and Coastal Jazz and Blues of Vancouver International Jazz Festival fame, it’s a given that the musical performances at this festival will be bang-on for anyone with an ear for killer cadence. The line-up includes a huge range of free concerts from the likes of local indie stars Mother Mother & Said the Whale, improv greats Stop Time, jazz vocalist Karin Plato and more.

Like a little action with your tunes? Take in the Theatrical Variety Showcase, or The Best Italian Variety Show, EVER! Prefer to gape at fearless acrobats in leotards (fearless because they wear leotards in public as well as tossing their bodies across great chasms of space)? Take in the Aerial Dance, where performers will groove in mid-air while hanging from the underside of Granville Street Bridge. If height doesn’t impress you, there is always Firebelly, a troupe that fuses dance and physical theatre with fire performance, aerial acrobatics, and stilt dancing. More serious theatre-goers will appreciate Steel Kiss, named one of Canada’s ten quintessential gay and lesbian plays by the CBC, or for more lighthearted performance there is always Theatresports or the sensual Bombay Black.

Art lovers will lap up the Artisan Walking Tour, or watching the thousand year old art of Haida totem carving. Not to be left at home, the kidlets will have a plethora of things to do, whether signed up for various workshops, watching performances, or enjoying the Family Winter Carnival. Ornery pre-and-real-teens (10 – 14 years) can be plunked into the Video Winterruption Workshop.

Winterruption offers more than can fit on this page, so be sure to click here for a complete event listing.