Jane’s Walk Festival Vancouver wants you to lead a walking tour

by V. S. Wells on March 15th, 2024 at 1:34 PM

1 of 1 2 of 1

When you look around Vancouver, what do you notice? The trees? The architecture? The urban gardens? The wildlife? The art?

Whatever it is, Jane’s Walk Festival wants to hear about your passions. The festival, which takes place from May 2 to 5, celebrates legendary American-Canadian planner Jane Jacobs by encouraging volunteers to lead walking tours in their cities. More than 200 metros host free walking tours every year, with locals discussing the lived intricacies of their homes.

Some previous topics of Vancouver walking tours include canopy coverage; urban gardens; the missing middle housing; and sketching the city while walking.

According to a release, “anyone can lead a walk, no experience or expertise is necessary! It just takes having an open heart to dialoguing with others in our communities while walking on our beautiful streets.”

Tours in any language, for all levels of disability, or considering diversity and accessibility, are all welcome. The goal is to engage communities—so a tour of every building owned by a billionaire corporation; an exploration of Vancouver’s worst curb-cuts; or a history of all the heritage buildings that have burned down would all be welcome. A journey through bubble tea spots! A discussion of flood-prevention architecture! An analysis of traffic-calming measures! If it’s interesting to you, chances are it’s interesting to other people in the community, too.

Interested potential tour-leaders can attend a workshop—sorry, walkshop—on March 26 at Mount Pleasant Library to find out more.

So, if lacing up your boots and telling a group of strangers about the thing that you love or hate about Vancouver sounds like your gig… here’s the perfect place to do it.