Your Guide to the Top Summer Festivals in Vancouver

Summer Festivals

Summer is here,
let’s give a big cheer!

Vancouver is a popular destination for winter sports enthusiasts. If you want to go skiing or snowboarding or take in a hockey game, this is the place. But even more popular than Vancouver in the winter is Vancouver in the summer. In the summer months, we get to briefly say goodbye to our Vitamin D deficiencies with long, sunny days and warm weather. It’s not unusual here to see some Vancouverites break out the shorts on the first sunny day in March in anticipation of the warm weather to come.

Summer is also when all the festivals happen. And whether you are interested in art, culture, music, or fireworks, Vancouver has got you covered.

If you don’t like pizza, yakitori, souvlaki, Greek salad or jerk chicken, then there’s clearly something wrong with you and need to re-examine your life. For everybody else, you can check out festivals celebrating Italian, Greek, Japanese, Taiwanese and Caribbean cultures. These happen in different neighbourhoods throughout the summer.

Summer fun has begun.

Sure, cars have brought us Mcdonald’s drive-thrus, global warming, urban sprawl, congestion and road rage, but sometimes it’s nice to take a break from all that progress and enjoy the simple pleasures of Car Free Day. And Vancouver has five of them! These are family-friendly events with live music, food vendors and street entertainers. Make sure to leave the Hummer at home for the day and take transit, walk or cycle to get there.

We love summer.

Summertime is just memories waiting to happen.

Are you a huge fan of Glass Tiger, Aldo Nova and Trooper? If not, you probably missed out on the 1980’s Canadian rock radio. But it’s not too late for you. You can check out those bands and many others at the Rock Ambleside Park music festival on August 14th, 15th and 16th. You can buy tickets for one day or for the whole weekend.

If free music festivals are more your thing, there’s always the super popular Khatsahlano Street Party in Kitsilano on July 11th. There will be food trucks, vendors, beer gardens and, of course, lots of music.

The biggest summer event in Vancouver is the Symphony of Fire. It’s three nights of fireworks that take place at English Bay and attracts around 1.4 million people. Three countries compete over three nights to see who has the best fireworks display. The show starts around 10:00 because it doesn’t get dark here until about 9:30 in the summer. Get there early to claim a good spot on the beach—or even better, watch it from the less busy Kitsilano side of English Bay.

The final night of the Symphony of fire is Saturday, August 1st. The Pride Parade is Sunday, August 2nd, making that weekend the busiest of the year in Vancouver. But don’t let that stop you. Just don’t try to drive into the West End. The Pride Parade marks the end of Pride Week, a week-long celebration of the LGBTQ community and is one of the most popular events on Vancouver’s summer calendar. Even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been known to attend the parade to shake hands and pose for a few selfies.

With so many events going on in Vancouver over the summer, you’re sure to find a few to interest you during your time here.