It’s a highlight of summer in Vancouver, and one of the most diverse festivals in the city. The Vancouver Pride Society will host over 50 Pride events throughout the season and none draws as many people as the legendary, inclusive, and super fun 41st annual Vancouver Pride Parade!

Vancouver Pride Parade

Where: Downtown Vancouver along Robson, Denman, and Beach Ave
When: Sunday, August 4, 2019 12:00pm to 3:00pm

The parade will travel from Thurlow, down Robson St towards Denman. It will turn left on Denman all the way to Beach Ave and flow into the Sunset Beach Festival.

“A celebration. A protest. A party.” The diverse and colourful Pride Parade is a staple of the Vancouver summer calendar, and with 100+ parade entries, there will lots of amazing floats you won’t want to miss.

Be on the lookout for volunteers along the route again this year collecting donations that will help fund another year of amazing events for the LGBTQAI2S+ community and beyond.

Vancouver Pride Parade Road Closures

There will be road closures and transit re-routes in place until about 4:00pm. Check the City’s VanConnect app for more info.

Sunday, August 4, 2019 7:00am to 1:00pm closures
Robson St from Burrard St to Bute St
Thurlow St from W Georgia St to Nelson St

Sunday, August 4, 2019 10:00am to 3:00pm closures
Robson St from Bute St to Denman St

Sunday, August 4, 2019 10:00am to 4:00pm closures
Denman St from Robson St to Beach Ave
Beach Ave from Denman St to Jervis St
Pacific St from Jervis St to Burrard St

Sunset Beach Festival

The parade ends in style with the Sunset Beach Festival, which will be rockin’ from 11:00am onward at Beach and Broughton. Catch Main Stage entertainment, the Sunset Beach Oasis, a Community Zone, Family Fun Zone, beer garden, food trucks, interactive art and more.

For all of this information and more, follow the Vancouver Pride Society on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Call it Insta-worthy, call it memory-making, but you’re going to want to bring your camera to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park during its 130th anniversary this summer. From the local history, to exciting attractions and spectacular natural elements, you’ll want to capture – and share – the fun. Here are my top picks for the best photo ops at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park:

Eating fresh and local this summer is as easy as visiting one of our awesome farmers markets that come into town, but with a lineup of farm festivals around Metro Vancouver, you can get your goods right from the source – and enjoy some extra fun in the process!

Farm Festivals You Won’t Want to Miss

Farm Fest at Garden City Lands

When: Saturday, August 10, 2019, 10:00am to 3:00pm
Where: Garden City Rd & Lansdowne Rd, Richmond
Admission: Free
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Things to do: Richmond celebrates local food, sustainability and its agricultural past, present and future. Visit the Farmers Market, see local performers on the Community Stage, and enjoy children’s activities, local food trucks, agricultural demonstrations and displays by local farmers, community partner displays, and more.

Coquitlam Farmers Market Corn Festival

When: August 11, 2019 at 9:00am
Where: Dogwood Pavilion (Poirier and Winslow) in Coquitlam
Admission: Free
Website | Facebook
Things to do: The Coquitlam Farmers Market is hosting their first ever Corn Festival, celebrating all things corn. They’ll have an expanded kids area, cooking demos, a corn boil, and of course lots of delicious BC corn.

Richmond Garlic Festival

When: Sunday, August 18, 2019, 10:00am to 3:00pm
Where: Terra Nova Rural Park (The Sharing Farm) 2771 Westminster Hwy, Richmond
Admission: By donation. All proceeds from the festival go to supporting The Sharing Farm in their mission to grow fresh healthy produce for families in need.
Website | Facebook | Twitter
Things to do: Over 1,000 pounds of locally grown garlic for sale! The festival will also feature live music, garlic ice cream, a large selection of The Sharing Farm’s own produce, giveaways and a children’s area with family friendly activities. To celebrate the 10-year milestone for this event, The Sharing Farm is partnering with the City of Richmond to create an enhanced festival. Along with the usual foods and local farmers market, expert bird handlers will educate and entertain event attendees with flying demonstrations of native birds of prey.

Chilliwack Garlic & Harvest Festival

When: August 24 & 25, 2019 from 9:00am to 3:00pm
Where: Fantasy Farms (9423 Gibson Rd, Chilliwack)
Admission: TBD
Website | Facebook
Things to do: Local music, great food trucks, fun contests. Make it, back it or grow it, artisans. More details coming soon!

Chilliwack Sunflower Festival

When: Opening August 1, 2019
Where: 41310 Yale Road, Chilliwack
Tickets: Available online now with single day or season pass options
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Things to do: Food trucks, vendors, and of course the flowers! Wander through 35 different varieties of sunflowers planted over 6 acres with some that can reach heights of 12 feet and taller.  There is also 5 acres of Sunrich Orange, 2 acres of display garden, and 4 acres of u-pick sunflowers. This year there will also be a 3 acre field of Dahlias to enjoy, over 50 varieties of beautiful blossoms.

Abbotsford Corn and Peach Festival

When: August 10 & 11, 2019 from 11:00am to 4:00pm
When: Lepp Farm Market (33955 Clayburn Road, Abbotsford)
Admission: Free to attend.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Things to do: Enjoy barbecue treats like Lepp’s signature shaved brisket sandwich, premium Angus burgers, hotdogs, and their new plant-based burgers. Mexican street corn is always a favourite too! Live music, free kids activities, and free canning demos. Sign up to judge to compete in the peach pie competition.

There’s also the 147th annual Chilliwack Fair (August 9-11, 2019) and the Abbotsford Agrifair (August 2-4, 2019).

Stay on top of these events and more by following Miss604 on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. If you have one to add, send in your event for a free listing!

The 19th annual Vancouver Chinatown Festival will be held at the Keefer at Columbia Street in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown on August 10th. This family-friendly event, presented by the Vancouver Chinatown Business Improvement Area Society (“VCBIA”) and Coromandel Properties, is one of the largest summer multicultural events in BC, attracting over 50,000 attendees.

Vancouver Chinatown Festival

Where: Keefer at Columbia in Vancouver
When: Saturday, August 10, 2019 from 11:00am to 9:00pm
Admission: FREE!

This year’s festival theme features martial arts (Kung Fu) performances. Around the event you’ll find traditional arts and crafts, Chinatown walking tours, an open-air market filled with exotic goods, multicultural stage performances, live music, outdoor movie, and games for kids of all ages. Keep an eye out for the Chinatown Mascot, Van Van, who will also be around during the day.

Other attractions include Lion Dance and Opening Ceremony, Kung Fu competitions, Climb the Wall, Mobile Aquarium, over 20 food trucks, a photo booth, Wheel of Fortune, Tamiya Mini 4WD racing, a magic performance and more.

Parking for the event will be limited and biking, walking or transit is encouraged. This year, there is a free shuttle bus to our festival and bike valet on site. The bus stop will be across from Waterfront Station on West Cordova St (600 W Cordova St, Vancouver) and the shuttle will run every 30 minutes from 10:00am to 7:00pm. 

Follow the Vancouver Chinatown Festival on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for more information. Miss604 is proud to be a media sponsor of this event.

Create Vancouver Society with support from Canadian Heritage, the Province of British Columbia, BC Arts Council and Mount Pleasant BIA, proudly announce the 4th Annual Vancouver Mural Festival (“VMF”) from August 1-10th. Drawing crowds of 120,000+ to the streets of Mount Pleasant over 10 days, the Vancouver Mural Festival has fast become one of the city’s most popular public celebrations.

Vancouver Mural Festival

• When: Thursday, August 1 to Saturday, August 10, 2019 from 12:00pm to 7:00pm
• Where: Various locations, Mount Pleasant (Main Street, Jonathan Rogers Park, and more)

This year’s festival, taking place on August 1-10, features several returning favourites such as the VMF Gallery, showcasing artwork created by some of the city’s most talented artists, all available for sale; Super Snag live painting/battle; SFU Public Square; THRIVE Talks; and an expanded 2-day Flash Tattoo with 35 artists.

Exciting new additions for 2019 include the inaugural MEC x VMF Run the Murals series running tour and after-party; OBEY Pop Up Party and Shepard Fairey DJ Set; Nach`i`m: A Night of Indigenous Femme Excellence; 12-hour Pride Special party; Plein Air Painting in the Park with Opus; and an Open Air Movie Theatre featuring, Exit Through The Gift Shop. 

All this on top of 25 local and international artists painting new murals throughout the week, and daily guided mural tours to learn about the 120+ existing murals in the neighbourhood. Another notable highlight is this year’s VMF Gallery serving as the hub for many of the festival’s events. Open for the duration of the festival, the VMF Gallery is located at 14 W. 7th Avenue in the alley dubbed ‘7-½ Lane’, thanks to its location between W. 7th and W. 8th Avenue.  

As always, the festival culminates in the Vancouver Mural Festival’s main event, the highly-anticipated Mount Pleasant Street Party on Saturday, August 10th from 12:00pm to 7:00pm. Spanning over 14 blocks in and around Main and Broadway, the Street Party transforms Mount Pleasant’s streets and laneways into a dynamic living art space, with free, accessible attractions to bring the community together, including live music, 4 beer gardens, skate jam, Family Zone, 2 markets, street dance battles, DJs, and much more.

Plus, the finale of the festival marked by The Park Show at Jonathan Rogers Park in the evening (tickets $40) with acclaimed New York singer-songwriter LP, with guests electronic instrumentalists badbadnotgood, award-winning Canadian Indigenous pop-electronic artist iskwē, plus local Vancouver legend MY!GAY!HUSBAND DJ’ing throughout the show.

2019 MURAL ARTISTS

At its core, VMF creates a platform to showcase the creativity and diversity of our city’s talented artists, while bringing communities together through the creation of accessible public art and meaningful events and conversations around socio-cultural issues facing our city and artistic communities.  For more information follow Vancouver Mural Festival on Twitter and Instagram #VanMuralFest.