Make Music Vancouver in Gastown
Vancouver’s historic Gastown neighbourhood has transformed over the years from being part of the city’s original townsite, to a tourist destination, a creative space for living and working, and a current hub of gastronomical delight. It has hosted the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, motorcycle exhibitions, show and shines, and now it will be home to the second annual Make Music Vancouver.
Make Music Vancouver is a free music showcase featuring over 150 local musicians this Thursday, June 21st, 2012. Make Music Vancouver is a non-profit event, supporting local arts and culture. Sidewalks, storefronts, and public areas will turn into live concert venues from 5:00pm until 10:00pm. Every show is free thanks to the artists, both professional and amateur of various genres, who will be donating their time.
To promote Make Music Vancouver and notorious Gastown, I have a $50 gift card for the Irish Heather to give away. The Irish Heather is part of the Heather Hospitality Group that also includes Shebeen, Salty Tongue, Salt, and Judas Goat. The Irish Heather has a hearty pub menu with local ingredients and an impressive line-up of craft and international beer.
Here’s how you can enter to win $50 for the Irish Heather:
- Leave a comment here naming your favourite thing about Gastown (1 entry)
- Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
I will draw one winner at 9:00am on Thursday, June 21st, 2012. Must be 19 years of age to enter and win. Please enjoy responsibly and plan a safe trip home.
Follow Make Music Vancouver on Facebook and Twitter for more information about the event.
Update The winner is Jane!
Entries on this website use the 
I love the energy in Gastown. There’s always so much going on and such a diversity of people and activities.
My favourite thing about Gastown is all the different places you can go for food and drinks!!!
The restaurant options and laidback atmosphere!
It is hard to pick just one thing, but I like the way Gastown looks, like the cobbled streets and historic buildings.
The architecture!!!
I love the red brick buildings, lamps, flowers hung here and there and the sort of pavement used on the streets there. So charming!
I love the historic feel and the fun times
I love the old buildings, cobblestone roads the different restaurants from upscale to the economic establishments that all serve delicious foods and drinks, but I have to say my favourite is the variety of people who frequent and live down in the proximity of Gastown & Hastings area…makes it much more entertaining to walk around!
definitely the buildings! it’s beautiful!
My favourite thing about Gastown is Salt, window shopping at Fluevog and Jenga at Guilt and Co.
I love the history and the choice of fun pubs
I think the greatest part of gastown are the buildings. They really give the area its character and atmosphere
My favorite thing about Gastown is the Hotel Europe, as I lived there during Expo ’86.
I love the steam clock in Gastown!
Excited to head down from the Okanagan Thursday to check this groovefest out in my old hood! I miss events like this right out my back door. My favorite thing about Gasatown would be the 5 years worth of crazy & awesome & great memories & friends made there…and the Blinding Light Cinema (RIP).
A GC for the Irish would be doubly nice!
GASTOWN is INCREDIBLY AWESOME!!!
Gassy Jack statue!
I love making it a summer evening down there .. pick one of the many great places to eat for dinner, wander the interesting shops, then hop on a horse drawn carriage for a ride through the street!! Love it..
I love gastown because it is incredibly unique and always fun.
The historic architecture… and the cool restaurants.
The cobbled streets!
Steam clock has to be the most symbolic item in gastown. Still remembering seeing it for first time with my parents. All the tourists who come to Vancouver take a picture with it and wait for the music and steam at every hour and half hour
Delicious food and beer!
Make Music Vancouver, or course.
Best part about Gastown is the history.
the cobblestones!
I love that it’s where Vancouver, the city as we know it, sprang from and how the cobblestones and redbrick give the area a historic feel!
mostly people watching when sitting on patio with a beer
The iconic steam clock
I love Gastown for the many wonderful establishments that have craftbeer, great food, and fun times!
I work in Gastown, and I just got back from a two and a half week vacation in Europe to visit my family. Coming back after a well-needed break made me have a new appreciation for my favorite neighbourhood in Vancouver. I think my favorite thing is kind of a cop out — it’s just the atmosphere I get when I’m walking to work and I cross Main St. on Alexander and I can tell I’m instantly in Gastown. It’s a feeling that I don’t get anywhere else.
The laid-back, sexy-cool vibe…and the eclectic shops and eats that are all within walking distance!
BRICKS AND TRAINS!
I’ve never been – please help me make a first Gastown memory?!
The great cocktail bars!
I like having coffee at Revolver.
I love walking on the cobblestones!
The restaurants!
My favorite thing about Gastown is all the little bars and restaurants that have great food/drinks and even better atmospheres
My favourite thing about Gastown is the history!
I’ve never really explored much of Gastown but I always think of the steam clock first when someone mentions it
I love the variety of local independent restaurants
I love that is has an alley called “Blood Alley” which sounds scary but in reality, houses 2 great restaurants!
Old buildings, lamp posts, flowers, steam clock, etc
The great restaurants
I like the historic feel of gastown, its cobblestone streets and beautiful old buildings.
All the great restaurants and bars!
The Irish Heather is definitely a fav. Plus, I love the historic feel.
i love the historic feel and the quality of the pubs
I love the architecture
i love friends and drinks.
The architecture.
the cobblestone roads and street lamps make it feel otherwordly
Love the varied eating options in Gastown, and the independent shops.
I like the shopping and restaurants!
Gastown is a great part of our city! From the cobblestone streets to the historic buildings with all the little restaurants and shops in between. Definitely a must-see neighbourhood in Vancouver!
My favorite thing about Gastown is that there is no shortage of cool eateries!
Love the atmosphere and the steam clock of course! If I really had to choose though, my favourite thing about Gastown is the Old Spaghetti Factory!
The brick roads in the rain.
Waterfront cafe, and the tree lined streets with the lamposts and the one way traffic for cars,
The cobblestone roads, coupled with the Victoria street lights give it another-worldly experience.
I love Gastown for its quintessential Vancouver feel, the fresh smell of the ocean, the historic buildings, the amazing diversity of people, and the promise of delicious food and drink. Add to that it is a hub of people arriving, the bus station right there, and the cruise ships not far away. Great shopping nearby, too with the Salmugundi shop full of fun intriguing items and great shops with the latest fashion. Clearly I could go on….would love to have another excuse to visit!
the steam clock!
I love the architecture.
I love walking on the cobblestones!
So many options for great food, drink, and entertainment!
Since I was a kid I’ve always been intrigued with Blood Alley. The name, the story, the images it conjures up. Deliciously macabre.
All the great food options!
It has to be the cobblestone sidewalks and the old world feel it has. Sometimes it feels like another place despite just being a few blocks from the more city like area.
The Irish Heather! and Peckinpah’s bbq.
The best part of Gastown is bringing my friends from all over the world to experience some local Vancouver history! Tomorrow my friend Sven from Germany and I are going to rip it up at the Make Music Festival! ONE LOVE
I love gastown. I live here, and one thing you notice is not only the gentrification of new restaurants and indie retail, but also the existing markets like Sunrise, Save on Meats, and finally the personalities, and shortcomings of the downtown east side. We all live and work in harmony, and see it everyday that everyone truly cares, and love this historic area of Vancouver.
My favourite thing about Gastown has to be that it attracts tourists to our beautiful city, and therefore can showcase our heritage and culture in a concentrated area, that was the real origins of Vancouver. I hope it can become more than just a commercial area one day, and expand to be the vibrant arts and culture community we would love to see.
I love how you start really feeling Vancouver’s history when you walk around there. So many other areas of town have just been overtaken by so much newer architecture, you tend to forget about what came before.
I love the history!
The food & the drinks!
The steam clock
The sense of history… the cobblestones and the clock. Wonderful
I love the sense of history of Gastown! Walking on the cobblestone streets..friendly atmosphere and Charles Bar
Steeped in history, and reborn many times over, Gastown has long served as the city’s heart, where people of all stripes mingle and gather over food, booze, or whatever vice of their choosing. It is a place of tremendous energy and vitality, as well as of ingenuity. A place where very different communities exist at once, sometimes in collaboration and other times as if on different planes.
I love the sense of history – not to mention the food!.
i love the ancient buildings and the selection of restaurants
The steam clock!
Unique food and drink places and coffee shops
This history of it all
My favourite thing about Gastown is huge variety of different places to go and eat (and drink!).
My favourite thing about Gastown is its historical feel. The architecture, cobblestones, etc.
the buildings and the cobbled streets
Love the dainty shops and the street – very historical-like.
Shopping at different stores
Cobblestone streets!
historic buildings and the clock tower!!
Watching all the tourists taking it all in!
I love the historic atmosphere of Gastown.Everything from the cobblestone roads to the steam clock lets you know your home when your in Vancouver.
I have been visiting Gastown since the late 60′s. I have so loved to see the transition and changes; how it is a people place and such a heart of the city.
Has to be the history you can see in the style of the buildings and the awesome food everywhere!
The cobblestone
My favorite thing about Gastown is walking along the historic streets with the one I love and listening to the majestic chimes of the steam clock.
Hard to pick one thing to love about Gastown! I am a big nostalgia nut though so I love going down there and imagining what it might have been like at the start. Plus it’s a great place to catch a patio pint!
My favorite thing about Gastown is walking along the historic streets and listening to the majestic chimes of the steam clock.
My favourite thing about Gastown is the people watching! Gastown draws people from all over the city as well as being a top tourist destination so there’s always an eclectic and interesting mix of people!
The history. There’s no where else like it in Vancouver.
I LOVE the lamp posts at night and the cobbolstone streets
Historic buildings, brick walkway and of course I can’t forget about the steam clock and its wonderful charm!
restaurants!!!
The historic clock of course!
Great people watching – eclectic group of people
Love the atmosphere – it’s all the history!
the buildings