There has been a name and venue change. Firstly this is way better than in past craft fairs as it…read moreis now under one building instead of a maze of multiple small rooms in the rec center. It is still noticeably small, however, easier and more organized to navigate through which = happier customers to spend and look at stuff more. This has always been one of my main frustrations over the years is the layout of the festival. The vendors themselves for the most part were friendly, but most seemed really unfriendly and tired which was a shame. The price was very reasonable at $3 at the door and this time you got a print out of the layout map and the vendor list, another thing that annoyed me from previous years.

A Renaissance market town at faire time, in the gorgeous summer of British Columbia -- how awesome…read moreis that! There are so many activities and features for the family to enjoy -- jousting to watch, children's games, fairies flitting around, jugglers, magicians, falconry, wandering minstrels, dancers, and all set around a total-immersion audience-participation all-day theater. Each year the plot progresses, and yet each year stands alone, entertaining and historically informative, with drama, intricate sword fights, royals and commoners, pirates and naval officers, Scotsmen and Spaniards. The enthusiastic and delightful crew of performers and musicians really make this experience special -- our family has been going to this Faire for years, and we love it! I'm particularly fond of gift shopping there with all of the amazing handcrafted items available -- I even get some gorgeous clothing items there. Also, this is one of the few places in Canada where one can hear authentic British Isles popular music from hundreds of years ago -- while drinking mead :-) The BC Renaissance Festival is truly a treasure -- long may the revelry continue!

From the owner: BCRF arose from a desire to provide an opportunity for talented performers and artisans to showcase…read moretheir historically based / inspired skills and entertain the public in a historically themed setting. We strive to provide entertainment combined with education to all ages in a safe space, producing an encompassing experience. Parents have praised us for our games and rides area as well as our safety factors around the horses and potential risks. Adults and children alike have enjoyed the fulfilling day at the faire. We are bringing World history to life within the comforts of the Modern Age. We are not confined to just the English Renaissance. 'Renfests' all over North America have features and entertainment relating to Folklore (elves, dwarves, dragons, unicorns, etc.), Viking, Asian, European Cultures, Victorian (both realistic and fiction-steampunk), Pirates, and much more. Vendors can not only be influenced by history but also fantasy, fiction, culture or myth. Time period inspired products and entertainment can reach back as far as the stone age and as modern as Victorian. GOOD NEWS!! Jousting is back - Check the webpage for more news and look for the gofundme titled Historicalhorses NOTE: We have changed our dates and location. Please see the webpage for more information.

I have been to a lot of outdoor events such as food truck festivals, Craft market, Italian Day,…read moreFusion events and etc. This one is definitely not wow. No fancy concerts here. They have low cost performances. No beer garden here either. This is basically a city event put up to teach kids to recycle. Its not wow. Food trucks were ok but not as much as say the Columbia Street festival. I would say 80% of the stalls are put up by the City of Richmond. I guess its great for kids. But for grown up not really. I also think its due to the demographic of Richmond. Maybe Richmond has more young families and Asian so this event tends to be tailored to them. If I haven't gone to so many outdoor festivals this year, I probably would have enjoyed this one. There are limited parking here and one option was to risk getting your car towed by parking inside of Richmond Center. The event is free and yes the ice rink is also open to the public for free that day (ice rink is owned by the City of Richmond). It was ok but I guess my interest is not to learn about recycling at 10+ different stalls.

Went last year but this years Fest knocked it out of the ball park!…read more Lots of food options & great entertainment from Kunda Africa band as well as Tokyo Police Club! Lots of food trucks & great food sampling at the culinary stage. Fun for the whole family & friends. For some reason this festival only runs on Friday & Saturday - on a long weekend ... why organizers!?? Tried the Pad Thai chicken dish from the Thai Box on Truck food truck - it took awhile to serve us - they were extremely busy - it was well worth the 20 minute wait! Pressure will be on for next years event to be just as good if not better - good luck organizers!

Lumière is an annual art event that's been going on since 2016, although this is the first year I…read morehad heard of it. It consists of several interactive light up art installations, as well as various performances, and it's all absolutely free! This year Lumière runs from November 1 to 3, from 5pm to 10pm at four different locations -- šxnq Xwtl'e7én Square behind the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Jim Deva Plaza on Davie Street, Morton Park at English Bay, and Lot 19 on Hornby Street (near the Salvador Dali Space Venus sculpture). There is also a free shuttle to take people between the locations which depart approximately every 15 minutes. I went with Nancy H. last night, and had a great (and inexpensive!) time. We took advantage of the free shuttle, which were trolleys from the Vancouver Trolley Company, and it took us just under two hours to make the rounds. We started off at the art gallery, where we saw the following installations: -Steely T: a large light-up, flame spewing turtle that people could enter or climb up top -Daisy: a large solar powered tricycle (unfortunately we didn't see it in action) -Alternity: a branching sculpture that lit up in different patterns when people interacted with it (it was one of my favourite pieces, probably because it reminded me of an organic molecule) -Sandscapes: sand, which people could sculpt, with different colored lights shining on to it in different patterns, evoking images of alien lands -Segmentium: a large orb with a diameter of 7 feet and 24 segments that lit up -Orchidelirium: giant orchids In additions to the above art pieces, at šxnq Xwtl'e7én Square, there was also a small exhibit, Neon at the Post, about neon signs in Vancouver. I immediately recognize the large, neon R from the Ridge movie theater. The next stop was at Jim Deva Plaza where we saw: -Tetra Velo: a large pyramid that people could walk through -Chromatic Shadows: a screen on which people's shadows were projected -Visitor: a blob-shaped structure that lit up in different colors and patterns, depending on how people interacted and controlled it -Woven: large, inflatable, illuminated arches that people could pass through on to their way to the beer garden (which also provided free water) Our third stop was English Bay. When we arrived, there was a fire show happening, although it was difficult to see, with the large crowd. The exhibits were: -Brood: an interesting metal spider, whose body served as a heat lamp -Stanley: a Great Blue Heron made up of 10,320 lights -Davie: a 24 foot tall grizzly bear -Luna: an orca made of over 6000 lights -Eugenia: a tree with lights that change color (my favourite exhibit at Lumière). It's not an exhibit of just any tree, but the oak tree that was atop of the Eugenia Place condo on Beach Avenue, that was installed in 1987 and died in 2017. *Note: Stanley, Luna, and Eugenia will remain on display until February 2020. The fourth, and last stop, was at Lot 19. There, we saw: -Telefunkin' Shadow Stage: another exhibit that involves displaying people's silhouettes on a screen -The Beating Heart: a nine-foot-high fiberglass human heart sculpture that was originally displayed at Burning Man. It beats to the rhythm of a person who places their hand on a sensor. (Note: the sensor is clearly not designed for people who don't have large man hands!) -Key to My Heart: two giant antique keys and a lock that also has a sensor to detect people's heartbeat. -Lux Memoriae: cool, geometric lanterns -Chrysafly: a large butterfly, although it was still being assembled when we were there. It was a fun night, and if you have a chance to check it out today or tomorrow, go! Lumière will be on my calendar next year. [Yelp collections: Public Art; Cheap Thrills; Being a tourist in my own city]

Lumière is an annual event of various art installations held in early November each year. Last…read morenight (Nov. 1) was opening night, and I went with Jasmine (a fellow Yelpie!), and we had a terrific time. It seems this event gets bigger and better with each passing year, and because there's been more advance promoting and advertising for this "light festival", and because the weather last night was stellar (clear and warm, considering it's November), there were fairly large crowds in attendance. And you definitely cannot beat the price. It's free! This year Lumière was held in four separate locations: two in the West End (Morton Square, at Davie and Denman, and Jim Deva Plaza, at Davie and Bute), and two downtown (the Van Art Gallery square on Georgia, and Lot 19 at the northern end of Hornby at Coal Harbor). There were free shuttles driving us attendees to each of the various sites. The buses left every 10-15 minutes, and the "tour guides" on the bus briefly described the highlighted works at the next location. There were 5-10 light-art installations at each site, and most were interactive in some way. Some, you could climb on. Some projected your image on screens in various ways. Some detected your pulse when you placed your hand on sensors and they flashed lights in various configurations. All were very photogenic and led most attendees to take selfies, and pictures of their kids or partners or dogs among the illuminated, colored backdrops. (Note: this is a very family-friendly event). As my kids would comment: this was an Instagram-friendly photoshoot-friendly kind of event. Some locales had performers who worked with lights and/or fire in some way. The fire performers at Davie and Denman had such a large audience circling them, it was hard for me to see the action (but I was glad that there was such a great turn-out for the event, so I happily checked out the other illuminated works at this site). There were neon-lit walkers on stilts at Jim Deva Plaza, too. At the Butte and Davie site, there was a makeshift tent set up for folks 19+, with a beer garden inside, bistro tables and chairs and a dj playing disco music, with disco lights and a floor for dancing! Cool! Seriously, it's hard to believe that this type of expansive exhibition, encompassing four separate sites in the city, is totally free of charge. I really recommend checking it out.

First time checking out this festival. I enjoyed the different variety of foods. There was a…read moreBlack forest mushroom stand where they sell Alder tree logs for $45 inoculated with chestnut mushroom spores. The Lummi Nation island salmon lunch plate was $18 but it was wild salmon, pasta, bread and beans + water bottle. I like how they air grilled/smoked the fish. That line was the longest. Trident also had a stall where they were giving away shirts, key chains, fish oil, chocolate swag. The boat building offered a demo on sea urchins which i missed out on. They also had a Whatcom Maritime museum station where kids can build wooden boats. Enjoy coming to this place eventhough a bit far for us. It was nice to be by the water and free parking.

So much fun packed in two days. Today's weather was perfect for the Seafeast...sunny and hot at…read moretimes but dry the whole day. We got there around 12 and stay until 5:30pmish. Parking at that time was a bit challenging but we manage to find a free parking lot close by and walk toward the festival. Once there we saw tons of vendors with all kind of marine info and education. My girls (ages 9 & 11) found the "Passport" section where the girls get their passport stamp as they go thru and learn about each booth. I find myself learning a few things too. Food court was loaded with an abundance of sea and non-sea food options. Nice that most if not all took credit cards. My meal pick was Fish and Chips from Fork & Fin food truck. A huge portion for $12( definitely shareable.) Girls got a huge hotdog ($5) from a hotdog stand. For dessert we grab some ice cream($2) next door to the hotdog stand. Only wish there was a water station so we could re-fill our water bottles instead of having to buy the plastic water bottle. Maybe next year a water conservation vendor would sponsor that to keep us water drinker from contributing to the plastic landfill and from the ocean. We headed to the main stage with all our food goodies to eat while enjoying some live music. Definitely a fun family festival for the whole family.

We came this weekend to Victoria specifically because we had lucked into this annual Festival on a…read moreprevious visit and were really impressed. However, this year the published times did not match the venues nor the performers. So we ended up seeing the same performance over and over. And apparently the venue in the Inner Harbour has nothing to do with the Festival and the performances that we saw there were just as good if not better.

A must see, they have 7 stages, shows start at 12pm and finish at 10pm. Street performers and they…read moreare great at what they do.

There is an admission fee for adults at $7 per person. Children under 7 and seniors older than 65…read moredo not have to pay the admissions fee. Parking is complimentary. We arrived slightly before 7 pm and the parking lot had plenty of spots. However, there was a line to enter. We were in line for approximately 20 minutes. A lot of the vendors only accept cash. We are from Chicago so we tried to pay with credit card and were mostly successful. We tried several items such as popcorn chicken, fried mushrooms, Taiwanese garlic sausage, eggplant bao, lamb bao, beef skewers, lamb skewers, grilled oysters, and takoyaki. There is an approximate 5-10 minute wait for each stand to prepare the food. So I would say one should expect to spend at least 1.5 hours to seek out the food, order, and eat. There are plenty of benches with seating, public bathrooms, and ATM.

Richmond Night Market has been around for 26 years now. It is a good concept to bring the night…read moremarket atmosphere commonly found in Asia to Vancouver. It is more than just food stalls and vendors selling jewelry, stickers, socks, cell phone accessories etc. There are bouncy castle, inflatable balls to run around in, zip line, fair games like the PNE etc. What I find ridiculous but common here in North America is having to pay an admission fee just so you can go spend more money on food and shopping. In other parts of the world where night market or Christmas market is a common thing, you just go stroll through the streets where vendors and shops are for free. Buy food and things when they catch your eye. So it's $7 general admission now, $5 after 10 pm for late night. Seniors (60+) and children (under 7) are free. There are some stalls offering happy hours items for the entire night ($10 under food and $7 under drinks). Otherwise food is around $15 on average. The food stalls are still mostly Asian fare. Many bbq skewers and I saw many getting the squids. I tried a frozen banana dessert which was cut up frozen banana dipped in chocolate and drizzled with pistachio sauce and that's the Dubai inspired dessert. Not that great. The cheese coin was decent with plenty of cheese. The inari bomb was pretty tasty. Many stalls are cash only. So bring cash, lots of cash. There is a 3% charge for admission ticket if paying by card. I'll say budget for minimum $100 each if you want to fully enjoy the experience of buying food from a few stalls, play a couple of games and buy things. Parking is free and well organized. There is also a lot of soccer related theme this year because of the World Cup where a few games will be held in Vancouver. I can see this place being popular for young kids, teenagers and young adults as something to do with friends. As I still travel to Asia at least once a year, I can totally skip this. If you're expecting it to be like the night markets like in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia etc, this is not it.

Having grown up in Burnaby it was quite a surprise to have recently learnt that the Blues and Roots…read moreannual festival started since 2000! It was a really nice treat to listen to some local Canadian artist right by the lake with some great food trucks available at the festival too. They also have the convenience of free shuttle to and from right in the heart of Burnaby Brentwood skytrain station so you can drink without having to worry to drive back home. For this year the line of artist included Feist, Lord of Huron, War and Treaty, Southern Avenue, Speed Control, William Prince, and Dan Mangan. The festival starts at 12 pm and lasts till 10 pm so the are hours of music to enjoy. The tickets are about $50 which is very decent for the duration of the festival and transportation that is included! Very well organized event!

One of my other loves in life, apart from food, is flowers…read more When I found out that Agassiz has a Tulip Festival, I knew I had to visit. Running from mid April to the end of April, the Agassiz Tulip Festival is a good alternative to the famous Skagit Valley Festival in the US. Of course, it's at a much smaller scale, but it's still picturesque, with the fields nestled among the mountains. Parking is $5, and adult entrance fees are $3. The vast fields are quite a spectacle. Rows and rows of vibrant tulips provide an opportunity to snap beautiful pictures. Soak in the sun, walk around the large fields, and perhaps also purchase bulbs or fresh cut tulips to bring home. With a scenic drive to Agassiz, this festival makes this a great springtime activity!