The Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival is offering up some insane party events for this years final festival weekend.
Go to one. Go to em all. Just make sure you go hard because the time is now. There will be plenty of time to chill in the off season.
Smirnoff Experience with a wink and a smile
The elusive extended hour soiree at this years festival is the domain of the folks from Smirnoff, who bring their famed international Smirnoff Experience party series to Whistler on Saturday night.
The party kicks off at 10:30 p.m. at the Whistler Conference Centre and wont stop until the wee hours of Sunday morning.
Headlining the Smirnoff decks is longtime East Coast American trance/house music master Josh Wink.
Winks strong supporting crew includes funky tag-team house music DJ duo The East Coast Boogiemen (a.k.a. Ken Christensen and Juan Zapata), U.K. breakbeat DJ Ali B, and house music DJ/Producer Hipp-e.
The events local flavour comes courtesy of Czech, a Vancouver DJ/producer and former Whistler resident who is known around these parts as the founder of the 13-year strong Soul Kitchen club night at Tommy Africas on Sunday. Czech is also know for his ability to throw down everything from the worlds most cutting edge breakbeats to notorious "rewind" sets of old school club anthems from mid-nineties warehouse raves.
Tickets for the Smirnoff Experience are $10 in advance or $15 at the door.
Speaking of Tommy Africas the club has secured another illustrious Smirnoff Spinner house music DJ Mark Oliver, best known as a longtime resident of Toronto superclub The Guvernment, for Friday night.
Battle of the Beats goes big
Leading up to the Smirnoff Experience on Saturday, April 16, the festival is hosting an outdoor urban music street party of epic proportions theyre calling Battle of the Beats.
Beginning at 8:30 p.m. the outdoor main stage in Skiers Plaza will host an urban music lineup that includes local favourite DJs Mat the Alien and Vinyl Ritchie, visiting Montreal DJ duo Team Canada a.k.a. Grandtheft and DR One. Adding the rhymes is a deep MC talent pool that includes Swollen Members Moka Only and Prevail, Emotionz and Torontos Knaan.
Battle of the Beats will be accompanied by a visual orgasm of performance artists that includes go-go gals, Brazilian Capoeira dancers, breakdancers and firespinners, all going off at the same time.
Things wrap up around 10 p.m., conveniently just in time to make it to the Smirnoff Party.
Unlike the Smirnoff Party however, Battle of the Beats is absolutely free, part of the festivals DKNY Jeans outdoor concert series lineup.
If Saturday nights one-and-a-half-hours of Mat the Alien isnt enough, go by Garfinkels on Sunday evening where hell be hosting a regional elimination round of the DMC World DJ Championships.
Glow forever
If Saturday nights one-and-a-half hour set of Vinyl Ritchie isnt enough, you can catch him at the Freeskier Party at the Longhorn on Friday night.
Whatever you do, save something for Glow Me, the festivals official closing party on Sunday, April 17.
Vinyl Ritchie will trade off on the decks with Czech, a refugee from the previous nights Smirnoff Experience in a room made totally neon by celebrated local party gurus Ace MacKay Smith and Michael Ziff, who have been planning festival parties since the festivals humble beginning.
Theres really no better way to glow out.