Blog - Quickies

This year, B.C. Day falls on August 4 and will mark 150 years of the province’s history and culture. With festivals, concerts, and parties set to take place all over the Lower Mainland, here’s a rundown of some of the biggest events so you can make the most of your long weekend.

Granville Island presents its first ever Art on the Street Festival in celebration of B.C. Day. Learn about silk-weaving, sculpture, glass-blowing, and Japanese ink-painting at free workshops and demonstrations with Granville Island artists. Or enjoy urban hip-hop, improv comedy, and traditional Chinese and aboriginal dance performances.

Visit the Public Market or restaurants for a taste of local cuisine; Dockside Restaurant will start the day off with blueberry pancakes from 7 to 11 a.m., with $1 from each breakfast going to Lasting Magic charity.

The HSBC Celebration of Light fireworks competition concludes on Saturday (August 2) at 10 p.m. at English Bay. Canada, the U.S., and China will all provide music and pyrotechnics for the BC150 free grande finale show. Check the Web site for safety tips and the best viewing points.

The Burnaby Village Museum’s will hold a Salute to Our Veterans on August 4. Memorial ceremonies, pipe bands, wartime songs, honour rolls, and a veteran parade will mark the 150th anniversary of the British government passing an act that established British Columbia as a Crown Colony. Admission will be free.

Festival Vancouver kicks off on August 3 and will feature classical, jazz, and world-music concerts at nine venues across the city. Check out the free events and buy tickets for the festival’s two-week run on-line.

The 32nd Powell Street Festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday in Oppenheimer Park. This celebration of Japanese Canadian culture will include tea ceremonies, martial arts, storytelling, mask-making and face-painting, a sumo wrestling tournament, and food vendors.

Sunday August 3 is Vancouver Pride Day and the 30th Anniversary of the Pride parade. Some 500,000 people are expected to turn out for the 140 colourful floats and to show their support to the LGBT community. The parade begins at Robson and Thurlow at noon and finishes at Sunset Beach, where celebrations will continue into the evening with live music, vendors, and a beer garden.

From tomorrow until August 4, the Abbotsford Agrifair takes place at the Abbotsford Exhibition Park. The weekend festival feels like a mini-Stampede, complete with free pancake breakfasts on Sunday. The fair will also feature a tradeshow, a youth rodeo contest, and a lumberjack presentation, as well as fiddlers, circus performers, pie-eating competitions, and country-music concerts, capped off with fireworks on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. The fair will celebrate the province’s birthday on Monday with a cake-cutting ceremony.

The North West Boogie Skydive Festival in Abbotsford will also keep your eyes on the sky. Last year’s festival saw more than 120 skydivers performing jaw-dropping free-falling stunts and large group formations.

If you don’t feel up to braving the crowds, select yoga studios across the province will be offering a relaxing way to unwind on August 4. Yoga newbies and converts alike are welcome to participate in Free Yoga Day. Check the Web site to find a free class in your neighbourhood.

If you’re hoping to get out of the city for the long weekend, there’s no place better to celebrate B.C. Day than the province’s capital. Victoria’s Inner Harbour will host Festival 150 festivities to August 4. Buskers, dancers, Victoria Symphony performances, an international cricket tournament, a Snowbirds demonstration, historical reenactments, and the Victoria Electronic Music Festival are just some of the events scheduled for the celebration. Burton Cummings, Colin James, Sarah McLachlan, Feist, and others are slated to perform on August 4 at the free outdoor festival.