Featured Events in Nanaimo A in July 2025 (July Updated)

We would love to see you at the event of the season. The ‘Picnic en Blanc’ is as fun as it is quirky, with equal parts sass and class. It is a wonderful evening where everyone wears fabulous white. More than just an excuse to dress up, ROAR's Picnic en Blanc brings people of all ages, genders, orientations, ethnicities together — sharing food, drink music and laughs, creating memories, and building community in Nanaimo. The picnic will be held Saturday, July 12 at 5pm, rain or shine, at 3341 Landalt Road. This beautiful setting offers a big lawn and shade trees. Tickets are $60. You will receive a delicious boxed meal. There is a vegetarian option. ‘The Pickups’ will be playing wonderful sets throughout the evening. We promise a unique experience. Please dress in white. If you really want to have fun, join friends to dress up and decorate your own table and chairs, in white of course. White tablecloths are provided. There is a prize for best table. Or you can simply join a round table of 8 people. A variety of non-alcoholic beverages will be available at the bar. There will be a 50/50 to delight all. Parking is free. Please carpool if possible. Disability parking is about 150 meters from the picnic area. If needed, bring mobility devices to assist with some mild slopes and uneven terrain. Enjoy the picnic! Information Source: Reaching Out Assisting Refugees | eventbrite

Join us in this hands-on workshop planting up a bowl full of fragrant plants such as lavender and scented geranium to perfume the air on summer days. *Selection of plants and materials may vary based on availability, and may differ from the example in the photo. Please allow for sufficient time to ensure on time arrival to the workshop. Information Source: GARDENWORKS Canada Nanaimo | eventbrite

Dancestreams brings together talented and focused dancers from diverse communities and training backgrounds to explore contemporary dance in an enriched environment. A performance-based company, Dancestreams educates young dancers about opportunities for professional post-secondary training and careers in the arts. Company dancers learn about the creative process while working in studio with guest choreographers ranging from emerging to established professionals. They learn professional performance standards by working in a wide-variety of venues. An extraordinary number of Island dancers have gone on to professional careers following their time in the Company. Dancestreams artists have the opportunity to: -learn and perform commissioned choreography -receive professional development and mentorship -connect with active industry professionals -dance alongside like-minded dancers from across Vancouver Island Rehearsals are typically 11am-5:00pm and traditionally on Sundays from September to May. Rehearsals are often held in the Qualicum area, but the location can shift if it better suits the group. In 2020-21, for example, Company dancers were from Campbell River, Courtenay, Tofino, Qualicum Beach, Parksville, Gabriola Island, Duncan and Victoria. Throughout the season, it's common to have a couple of weekend retreats to watch professional dance performances and/or perform throughout the region. Performances traditionally happen throughout the region in the spring. A typical Sunday rehearsal schedule: Masterclass: 11am-12:30pm Lunch: 12:30-1:00pm Creation Session: 1:00pm-5:00pm (with breaks) 2025/26 Season Auditions: Sunday March 23 | class led by Artistic Director, Kiera Shaw @ Qualicum Beach School of Dance Sunday April 27 | class led by Artistic Director, Kiera Shaw @ Qualicum Beach School of Dance Sunday July 6 | class led by Guest Artist TBC @ Harbour Dance Studios, Nanaimo Pre-registration is required. Dancestreams is not a dance school. We are here to enhance your training. Your home-studio schedule, including competitions and performances, gets prioritized. Photo: 24/25 Dancestreams Artists by Dayna Szyndrowski. Information Source: Dancestreams Youth Dance Company | eventbrite

With your help, this year our event will be supporting the Nanaimo Home Away from Home project through the Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island . Located on the NRGH campus, the Nanaimo Home Away from Home will provide accommodations for out-of-town families whose children are receiving medical care in Nanaimo. NRGH is currently one of only two hospitals on Vancouver Island with a NICU and specialized pediatric units. More than 50% of pediatric patients come from outside Greater Nanaimo. Caring for a sick child is stressful enough without also being away from home and typical supports. The Nanaimo Home Away from Home will provide much needed amenities for families in an environment that fosters supportive relationships and peer-to-peer connections among families travelling similar paths. What to expect: Join us for an evening of food, laughter, networking and fundraising! This event is our biggest and most popular of the year, bringing together a community of amazing women to enjoy a night out and give back. Welcome snacks, games, silent auction, a delicious dinner, prizes and more! Doors open at 4:45 PM! Thank you in advance to our sponsors, contributors and attendees for making this another great event! Information Source: Vancouver Island Construction Association | eventbrite

Doors open at 6pm. Bring a Yoga mat or blanket. We will also have chairs for those who do not want to lie down. Information Source: Spirits Of The Sea Wellness by Nicole Glover | eventbrite

We are gladdened to offer this 7-night, Residential Silent Meditation Retreat with Rachel Lewis and DaRa Williams at the Bethlehem Retreat Centre in Nanaimo, BC, from July 22 - July 29, 2025. Retreat Description Cultivating Love and Wisdom Gather with us at the height of summer to take a deep dive into practice! An extended retreat like this one gives us an opportunity to pause and relax amidst the busyness of our lives, as well as to learn things we can’t learn any other way. We will be undertaking practices that strengthen the qualities of peace, love, and wisdom in our minds and hearts. There will be practice instructions at the beginning of each day and the practice schedule will be made up of alternating periods of formal sitting and walking meditation. There will be practice discussion groups and time for questions and answers each day. This silent retreat is suitable for people with some prior retreat experience: at minimum an in-person day-long. (If you haven't yet done something like this, check out the events that Rachel is offering most months as well as the weekend nonresidential retreats offered by BCIMS .) We welcome people from all backgrounds, communities, and life experiences. We will offer at least one “affinity sit” during the retreat for folks who self-identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of colour), and at least one for folks who self-identify as LGBTQIA2S+. In an affinity sit, members of that group have the choice to gather in a separate space and sit in silence together during a scheduled sitting period. If you have questions about why we offer this as an option, please email rachel.lewis@gmail.com before the retreat starts. Retreat Information PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE REGISTERING. Registration: This retreat will go on sale April 22, 2025 at 10am PST. We anticipate tickets will sell quickly. We recommend you register as soon as possible once the tickets go on sale. Pease note that the deadline for for financial assistance is April 8 - see Financial Assistance/DEI Financial Assistance section below for details. COVID-19: It is anticipated that small gatherings will be allowed by the BC Provincial Health Authority at this time. All health guidelines in place at the time of the retreat for small gatherings will be followed and communicated to attendees. Vaccinations: Attendees are strongly encouraged to be fully vaccinated, including the boosters, though we will not be requiring proof during check in. Masking: Masks are optional and encouraged in shared indoor spaces. If a yogi has or develops a cough/runny nose/cold symptoms, they will be asked to take a COVID test and mask while in shared indoor spaces. COVID Testing: ALL yogis will be asked to take a home-COVID test sometime 24 hours BEFORE arriving at the retreat and indicate they have tested negative at check in. All yogis will also be asked to take a COVID test on day 3 of retreat. Commuters will be asked to take a COVID test daily. Room Rates/Fees: Private Room - $1,995 Shared Room - $1,750 Commuter (includes meals) - $1,320 If you are in the position to offer a Benefactor Rate, please consider a donation to BCIMS' Donations Page (Canada Helps). We are deeply grateful for any amount you are able to contribute to support BCIMS and the sangha, as donations help us to honour requests for financial assistance. Donations via the link above will receive an automatic tax receipt from Canada Helps. If you select the Shared Room option, please indicate your room-sharing preferences in the order form (ie: wish to share with a partner or friend also registered for this retreat, gender preference, etc.) Fees do NOT include a financial offering (dana) to the teachers. There will be an opportunity to offer dana to the teachers once you are at the retreat. Financial Assistance: We are gladdened to offer Financial Assistance for this retreat. You may apply by filling out this online form , or by emailing jess@bcims.org . For this retreat, we are offering financial assistance any amount up to 50% of the retreat fee. If you require additional assistance, please share your request on the form. DEI Financial Assistance: We also offer financial assistance from our DEI fund (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). This is intended to offer support to folks from underrepresented and systemically marginalized communities to attend residential retreats. For this retreat, we are offering DEI financial assistance of any amount up to 50% of the retreat fee. If you require additional assistance, please share your request on the form. We encourage folks who identify as BIPOC (black, Indigenous, and/or people of colour), 2SLGBTQIA+, have a visible or invisible disability, or are from other underrepresented and systemically marginalized communities, to apply by filling out this online form , or by emailing jess@bcims.org. Please specify in your email that you are interested in applying for the DEI fund. The deadline for all financial assistance applications is April 8, 2025. BCIMS Cancellation Policy: 30 days or more before the start of retreat: refund offered, less a $125 cancellation fee. Between 30 days to 10 days before start of retreat: 50% refund offered. Within 10 days of the start of retreat: no refund guaranteed. Please note, our BCIMS Cancellation Policy applies to all ticket holders, including those with discounted tickets. Accessibility Needs: There will be an opportunity on the Registration Order Form to specify any special needs or accommodations, including any needs or requests on washrooms, dietary, and access needs. We may not be able to meet everyone’s preferences but we will do our best to accommodate needs and make the retreat as safe and accessible as possible. We encourage you to please reflect on the difference between needs and preferences for your stay as you fill out the Form, as this allows us to more easefully accommodate all retreatants. Ridesharing: The information collected during registration regarding ridesharing will be distributed by email to all interested retreatants about four weeks prior to the retreat. Each individual is then responsible for directly making any ridesharing arrangement. Dana: In the Buddhist tradition, teachings are given freely because they are considered priceless; in the Buddhist tradition we also practice dana, or generosity, by making monetary offerings to the teachers. Dana is not payment for goods or services rendered; it is given from the heart. Your generosity is a gift that supports not just the teachers, but also the Sangha, the larger Dharma community, and your own practice. Note that your registration fee goes toward BC Insight Meditation Society organizational expenses which allow us to continue offering retreats such as this one. More information will be shared with registrants. About the Teachers DaRa Williams is a trainer, meditation teacher and psychotherapist. DaRa has been a meditator for the past 25 years and is a practitioner of both Vipassana and Ascension meditation. She is a graduate of the Spirit Rock/Insight Meditation Society Teacher Training Program and is an IMS Emeritus Guiding Teacher. She is the program manager and a core teacher in the current IMS Teacher Training Program. DaRa has been a clinician and administrator in the field of mental health for over 25 years and currently maintains a private practice in Manhattan. She is a certified trainer and practitioner of Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy and Complex Trauma. DaRa integrates these skills, understandings, wisdom traditions and world views in her intention for contributing to the ending of suffering for all beings. It is my belief that vipassana meditation and the dharma are ideal for transforming suffering, particularly the trauma of oppression and its many vicissitudes-where the chains around our minds and hearts can be broken and dissolved. Awareness and wisdom become the vehicle for freedom and transforming lives. - DaRa Williams Rachel Lewis began practicing insight meditation in 2003, while completing her physics PhD at Yale. Since 2011, she has taught dharma and meditation classes and retreats in British Columbia and beyond. She completed the IMS/IRC 4-year teacher training in 2021, and is a guiding teacher of the British Columbia Insight Meditation Society. Her dharma teaching interests include the power of music, humour, and creativity to increase our capacity for learning, as well as the way that practice supports and is supported by social justice work. See her other events at http://rachelmeditates.ca/ With heartfelt gratitude, BCIMS acknowledges we are based in what is now known as Vancouver, BC, the beautiful, traditional, and unceded lands of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples, who live on and have stewarded this land for thousands of years. Information Source: BC Insight Meditation Society | eventbrite

Hey Wellington! In case you missed it, it's been 10 years! Join us for a casual catch-up at the Old City Station Pub in downtown! Let’s reconnect, share memories, and see where life has taken us since graduation. Based on est. attendee's it's currently planned to be max. capacity 50, where you'll order your own food/drinks. If we have a larger demand, we may have to shift to being catered with a higher ticket fee. The event will end at 9PM, at which point Old City will shift into a bar. You're welcome to stay, or continue the night elsewhere. ANY EXCESS FUNDS RAISED FROM TICKET SALES OR DONATIONS WILL BE DONATED See you there! Information Source: eventbrite

In this unstructured setting, children thrive as they climb trees, build forts, and immerse themselves in the beauty of the outdoors. Our experienced leaders foster a sense of adventure and curiosity, empowering children to make choices, solve problems, and connect with their peers. Note: Forest School is different than our Outdoor Learning Program. While Forest School focuses on self-directed play and exploration, the Outdoor Learning Program offers slightly more structured activities with themed lessons that blend outdoor exploration and hands-on learning. Both programs encourage growth, but in different ways, allowing families to choose the approach that best suits their child. For more information on the differences between them please visit our website www.openairlearning.com. No classes on all statutory holidays. Information Source: Open Air Learning | eventbrite